First in a three-part series
Earlier this year we had the chance to visit Middletown to do a site visit at the Sorg Mansion, one of our 2009 Top Opportunities. The Sorg’s nomination came courtesy of Adriane Scherrer, a downtown stakeholder active in small business incubation through the We-Can Business Incubator.
The Sorg was certainly an intriguing property, judging by the application. An 1880s residence with over 13,000 square feet, I tried to imagine what the home may have looked like the day the first owners moved in and took up residence. Plans outlining alterations & additions dating from 1900, included in the Top Opps application, added an additional tantalizing layer of intrigue. The building showed exterior hints of romanesque and chateauesque style. The interior plans marked the location of multiple bathrooms (I counted 5 1/2 bathrooms on the plans at a time when indoor plumbing was still a relatively new concept for many Ohioans). What appeared like the grandest, most modern, most ornate of European residences had been dropped on the edge of a southwest Ohio steel town.
Of course, with the amazement of how buildings were built back in the day, came the inevitable realization of how these buildings age, usually not for the better (especially the grand mansions that get chopped up into rental units). Where there was ornate plaster work - medallions, flourishes and curlicues - now there would be only stained and dingy drywall. Where there was an intricately carved wooden mantel surrounding a massive firebox, now there would be only ghosting to mark the location of a fireplace ornament, long ago stripped from its rightful home, to be displayed as an ancient curiosity in a different place.
However, if you look carefully, you can still find remnants of a building’s past glory, even if that building has been treated to a rough existence; a fragment of ornate wallpaper, forgotten in a back closet, a scrap of unmarred oak flooring, a colorful attic window… So, holding out a bit of hope, but coming in with eyes open, I was accompanied by board member, Fritz Harding, to check out the house (all 13,000 square feet of it), the carriage house (not too paltry itself, at 5,000 square feet) and a nearly 4,000 square foot duplex house on the property. We would discuss the owner’s plans for the house, and generally figure out how Heritage Ohio could be of help to insure the property’s continued use and preservation.
I was not prepared for what I was about to see as Fritz and I walked up that gravel drive…
Heritage Ohio created the Top Opportunities program in 2007 to raise awareness about historically significant properties for interested investors, developers, and funders. It is Heritage Ohio’s aim to demonstrate the economic benefits of historic preservation through the restoration and reuse of these sites.
