As the current year comes to a close, many Ohio communities are looking forward to launching preservation-related projects in 2007.

Leading that list are the six Ohio cities (Delphos, Marion, Vermilion, Oak Harbor, Waterville and Wellington) that were recently awarded 2006 Comprehensive Downtown Revitalization CDBG grants from the Ohio Department of Development. Included in those local projects are a combined total of 95 facade and 58 interior renovations.

In Fremont, filling key large downtown buildings in a priority for the city’s economic development office in the coming year, according to this story in the News-Messenger.

Among members of Marietta City Council expressing wishes for the coming year was Councilwoman Katie McGlynn, who listed her wish for a historic preservation ordinance for that Ohio River community according to the Marietta Times.

In Downtown Akron, 2007 will see the launch of a $15 million investment into the area of the historic Civic Theater, according to this Akron Beacon Journal story. Five adjacent buildings will be renovated, including the 1895 Whitelaw Building, which had been previously considered for demolition, with the area to include restaurants, retail and housing.

Any review of upcoming downtown projects would be incomplete without mention of the transformation of the Fort Piqua Hotel in downtown Piqua into the new home of the Flesh Public Library. The $19.6 million project was officially launched with a ceremony this month.  Read about the event in this Dayton Daily News story.

Photo: Civic Theatre, Akron - elston/Creative Commons License

The 1890 Clarendon Hotel, a 15,000 square foot Richardson Romanesque building across the street from the Belmont County Courthouse in downtown St. Clairsville, is an outstanding investment opportunity. Such is the assertion of a unique marketing project from this eastern Ohio community – which includes its own website.

The site, located at www.theclarendonhotel.com, includes a complete overview of not only the building itself, but also for the vision of city leaders to transform the city-owned structure into a boutique hotel and restaurant. A $600,000 Phase 1 environmental rehabilitation project has already been completed. Visitors to the site can access photographs of the Clarendon Hotel, links to documents detailing St. Clairsville’s downtown plan and general market studies, and market projections concerning the desired hotel use.

The result is an outstanding and enticing solicitation for investment in one of a dwindling number of Ohio small-town downtown hotel buildings.

Photo: Clarendon Hotel, St. Clairsville/GNU Free Documentation License

The National Historic Landmark program is designed to highlight historic properties across the country with extraordinary significance to United States history. According to the program website, there are currently less than 2,500 such landmarks nationwide, which is less than 3 percent of the number properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Like the National Register, inclusion as a National Historic Landmark does not guarantee preservation – in fact, an owner can proceed without notice to alter or even demolish the property, as long as no federal funding is used. Nevertheless, it represents the most important designation an individual building, group of buildings or site can obtain.

In Ohio, National Historic Landmark status has been extended to almost 70 properties, including important sites such as Manasseh Cutler Hall on the campus of Ohio University, the Fallen Timbers battlefield in Lucas County, the John Rankin House in Ripley, and the Kirtland Temple in Lake County. According to this story in the Cincinnati Enquirer, on December 16 two new Ohio sites were approved to join this important list, both in Hamilton County – Spring Grove Cemetery and the Village of Mariemont.

Spring Grove Cemetery has been a place of outstanding natural beauty and quiet repose since its founding in 1844. The founders of the cemetery took their cue from scenic cemeteries such as the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, where the natural surroundings are important in generating an atmosphere of respect and peace. Well-known individuals interred at Spring Grove include Salmon P. Chase, former Governor of Ohio, Treasury Secretary under President Abraham Lincoln, and Chief Justice of the United States; Levi Coffin, American educator and abolitionist, and William Cooper Procter and James Norris Gamble, founders of Proctor and Gamble.  Click here to visit Spring Grove online.

Mariemont is a planned community established in the 1920s, and is known for the beauty of its setting and its collection of Neo-Tudor and Neo-Georgian architecture. The website of the Mariemont Preservation Foundation contains a wealth of information about the village, including an online tour. The mastermind behind the project was John Nolen, noted town planner from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Photo: Mariemont Inn, Mariemont/kwei/Creative Commons License

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has taken on the teardown trend. In its online “Teardowns Glossary,” it defines teardowns as “The practice of purchasing a home on a lot, demolishing it, and constructing a new, larger house in its place; the purchased home is typically small and older; the newly built house is oversized for the lot and out-of-character for the neighborhood….” In some cases, these new sprawling houses are referred to as “McMansions.” The problem is so vexing nationwide (as evidenced not only by hard data, but also by websites such as the aptly-named “TeardownsandLand.com”), that the Trust has created a specialized Teardown Resource Center. Trust President Richard Moe has declared, “I believe they represent the biggest threat to America's older neighborhoods since the heyday of urban renewal and interstate highway construction ... The pace of teardowns has amounted to an orgy of irrational destruction."

In Ohio, the problem is perhaps not as overwhelming as it is elsewhere, but it is increasingly making life difficult in some Ohio communities. This excellent coverage of teardowns in the Cincinnati Enquirer demonstrates the fact that the trend is impacting two different types of areas – inner-city neighborhoods where housing is older, smaller and often in need of extensive repair, and affluent inner-ring suburbs, where larger homes are simply “not large enough” for current tastes. As the article also points out, the primary issue tends to be one of compatibility.

This year we have profiled both proposed conservation neighborhood district legislation in Columbus, designed in part to address the issue of compatibility, as well as the ongoing efforts of city leaders in Mansfield to construct new single-family housing in the midst of older, inner-city neighborhoods. Across the country, the end of 2006 is seeing some easing of the teardown trend, as the nation’s housing boom has largely come to an end, but the issue is sure to re-surface when the economy improves.

Photo: Another McMansion rises/Dean Terry/Creative Commons License

It will be a Merry Christmas indeed for advocates of Ohio preservation if the Governor signs into law the new Ohio Rehabilitation Tax Credit, which was passed by both houses of the Ohio General Assembly last week.

The proposed legislation creates a two-year trial program for the 25% tax credit, after which an analysis will be undertaken to ascertain its impact. Each year, 100 projects can be included in the program, and each will be subject to a cost-benefit analysis conducted by the Ohio Department of Development and the Tax Commissioner to verify that a given project will have a net revenue gain in state and local taxes once the building is placed into service. Property owners can submit projects on or after July 1, 2007. To be eligible, a building must be individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places, verified as contributing in a National Register Historic District, or individually listed as a historic landmark by a Certified Local Government.

This is wonderful news for Ohioans interested in re-investment in the state’s traditional city centers. States such as Missouri, which have had similar tax credits for many years, have seen increased investment as owners combine federal and state historic tax credits for much-needed capital.

Click here to read Substitute House Bill Number 149, and stay tuned to MyHometownOhio, as we cover both this important development in more detail as well as provide practical advice for owners interested in taking advantage of the new credit.

Photo: Ohio Statehouse, Christmas 2006/fensterbme/Creative Commons License

According to a recent story in the Celina Daily Standard, Ohio ranks second in the country in the number of abandoned Wal-Mart buildings, as 20 vacated Wal-Marts dot the state. Nationally, the chain has 24,000,000 square feet of vacated buildings siting idle in what may be the largest systematic closure of retail structures in American history.

In the current edition of Old-House Journal, Youngstown’s Crandall Park neighborhood is cited as the “…nation’s most affordable historic district,” with large period houses averaging $110,000. And – if you act soon – you can own one of Crandall Park’s gems, a magnificent 6-bedroom, 3,764 square foot home now available on EBay. Click here for a video tour.

Did you know that Ohio ranks third in the United States in terms of properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places? This fact is cited in the Ohio Historic Preservation Plan, issued by the Ohio Historic Preservation Office in Columbus.

Cleveland has been ranked 28th, and Columbus 50th, among the top 50 US cities in population in terms of “urban sustainability.” The SustainLane rankings look at aspects of civic life including renewable power sources, “green” design, city commuting, public transit, air quality and more.

Photo: Downtown Youngstown, circa 1910

Here are some updates on stories previously featured in MyHometownOhio...

This week, the Mansfield News Journal profiled the first of the new homes now under construction in Mansfield’s “Chamber District,” an area of redevelopment surrounding Downtown. Our July 25th story profiled the ambitious plans of local leaders to re-populate traditional neighborhood areas through targeted construction of affordable housing in vacant lots. As the recent story points out, the houses are being fabricated off-site by inmates of the Mansfield Correctional Institution, and will sell for approximately $100,000 – although a financial incentive will forgive much of that debt should the new owners reside on-site for a given number of years.

In New Philadelphia, the controversial rezoning of an area near downtown for a Walgreens Drug Store has hit another potential hurdle. The structure is planned for a section of the City’s historic Franklin Square, as we shared in an October 11th story, and drew substantial criticism and protest from New Philadelphians concerned about preserving the historic integrity and character of their central city area. As detailed in this recent Times-Reporter commentary, on November 27, New Philadelphia City Council approved the rezoning by a 4-3 vote, however a local attorney has indicated that he intends to file a referendum action on the rezoning – thereby placing the issue on the ballot. This would also have the effect of delaying construction and, as the paper points out, the public would very likely vote down the proposal.

In a recent issue, the Tiffin Advertiser-Tribune reported that the local County Commissioners have come much closer to moving forward with demolition of the Seneca County Courthouse, choosing to close a window on submissions of qualifications on demolition on November 30. As we shared in a September 1st story, the demolition of this landmark building, designed by noted architect Elijah E. Myers, would represent the first 19th century courthouse demolished in Ohio in a generation. The other endangered courthouse, in Defiance County, is now is less danger, given the overwhelming defeat in November of a tax issue to fund its demolition.

Photo: Welcome Sign, Downtown New Philadelphia/kev72/CreativeCommonsLicense

On November 29, Preservation Ohio received a historic conservation easement on the historic Fox Hollow Farm, located in Washington Township, Montgomery County (near Dayton).

The parcel is bounded on the west by Mad River Road, and to the east and south by Holes Creek. The property was originally owned by Dr. John Hole, the first physician in Washington Township, who acquired the parcel in 1796 as part of a 1440 acre purchase in the township. The house was built over time, with its current appearance reflecting that of an early 20th century country home. The building began as a simple two story I-house in the early 19th century (c. 1815). Later in the 19th century, perhaps as early as 1840s, a two story wing was added to the southeast corner to create an L-shaped house. The final expansion occurred in the early part of the 20th century, when a two-story addition parallel to the original house was built, connected by means of the 19th century wing, giving the residence its current U-shape.

The historic bank barn is located across the circular driveway north of the residence. Built with a limestone foundation, the foundation, interior wood frame and supporting joists, and vertical board and batten siding are all intact.

Through a "preservation easement, " an owner/donor covenants to protect character-defining elements of a property, without inappropriate alterations, additions or demolition (based on the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Treatment of Historic Properties). A qualified organization, such as Preservation Ohio, is then granted the right to enforce the covenants of the easement. The owner/donor retains all other rights associated with ownership, and the easement is then held in perpetuity. Donors of such easements are entitled to important federal tax benefits and other financial incentives

Currently Preservation Ohio maintains Ohio’s only comprehensive statewide preservation easement program, which protects properties across the state. For more information on the preservation easement program, click here, or drop us a line at: info@preservationohio.org.