WHAT IS THE TOP OPPORTUNITIES LIST?
Heritage Ohio announce their Ohio’s Top Ten Opportunities List at their statewide preservation and revitalization conference each year. Ten buildings are chosen across the state representing a variety of building types and a variety of opportunities to investors and communities.
Heritage Ohio’s Top Ten Opportunities List, new in 2007, is intended to draw attention to buildings that may be under-utilized or await redevelopment. It also seeks to show the public that what may appear as a vacant building today, may be tomorrow’s hot spot: offering a location that may provide loft housing, the latest restaurant or retail establishment or a new center of commerce. Communities should look at their historic assets as opportunities to create individualized local destinations as opposed to the generic America of contemporary strip centers, shopping malls, and office parks.
CRITERIA FOR SELECTION
The criteria for selection takes into account the historic significance; the potential impact for the community; and the readiness and availability of community support.
The 2009 Top Opportunities List
The Clifton School in Cincinnati, Ohio
The Clifton School is not listed individually on the National Register, but is a contributing building to the Clifton Avenue National Historic District, which was added to the National Register in 1977. Historically, the land on which the school is located was purchased in the 1850’s by a group of early Clifton residents, including Supreme Court Justice Salmon P. Chase and Robert Buchanan, cousin to President James Buchanan, and George Resor to establish the Resor Academy. Prophetically, later directors of the Academy, including Alexander McDonald, President of Standard Oil of Kentucky, deeded the land to Cincinnati Public Schools with a restrictive covenant mandating that the land henceforth be used “to promote the education of youth of both sexes” and to cultivate “a taste for science, literature and the fine arts.” Architecturally, the Clifton School, completed in 1906, was designed by E. H. Dornette, who served as architect for the Cincinnati Board of Education in the early 1900s and whose school designs are among the most admired of the twentieth century. Only two other Dornette schools in Cincinnati survive today–Central Fairmount School and Hyde Park School.
The Holland Theater in Bellefontaine, Ohio
The Holland Theatre is the only Dutch themed theatre in the United States. It was built by the Schine Brothers as an environmental theatre and has a replica of the buildings of a street in Amsterdam along the walls including operating windmills and flower boxes with tulips. It is a unique structure in the city of Bellefontaine and has the distinct crow-stepped gable that is a signature feature of Dutch buildings. It and the Logan County Courthouse are the two most significant buildings in our town.
The Trautman Building in Columbus, Ohio
The Trautman Building is a five-story office building that dates back to ca.1893 with two three-story annexes. The original building has large windows facing the street, but is currently obscured by a ca.1963 façade. An investigation several years back by architects led to belief that historic façade is extant beneath the 60s alteration.
Bell’s Opera House in Hillsboro, Ohio
Primary landmark and structurally intact example of a Midwestern Opera House of the late 1800 time period. It is the major focal point of the Hillsboro downtown area and restored could add significantly to the revitalization of the area community to provide a facility for numerous civic and cultural activities.
Cleveland’s Catholic Churches: St Coleman’s and St. Ignatius of Antioch, in Cleveland, and St. James, Lakewood
These City and inner ring churches strengthen the neighborhood, provide outreach to the local community, and are still quite active.
The Gunning House in Columbus, Ohio
The Gunning House is a stunning stone and cypress building perched at the edge of a ravine, just east of Columbus, Ohio. Built in 1940, the Gunning House, also known as Glenbrow, is located on a 2.5 acre parcel that maintains a rustic ambiance despite its proximity to adjacent commercial development. Designers included Tony Smith (Frank Lloyd apprentice), Theodore van Fossen and Laurence Cuneo (Wright apprentice, interior designer). This is an example of Tony Smith’s early work. He also went to be a nationally known artist and sculptor in the mid 20th century. The Gunning House was a catalyst for the development of van Fossen’s philosophies of organic architecture. This had particular influence over his other work in the surrounding Columbus landscape, including Rush Creek Village. The Gunning House is a rare and early example of mid-20th century Organic-Modernist architecture in central Ohio.
The Sorg Mansion in Middletown, Ohio
Located at 204 S. Main Street in Middletown’s South Main National Register Historic District, the Sorg Mansion is one of Ohio’s most elaborate historic homes. Constructed in 1887, the mansion was designed by the noted Cincinnati architect Samuel Hanniford. A significant renovation and expansion was completed in 1902.
Tremont House in Bellevue, Ohio
From HistoricBellevue.com:
Built by Loel Chandler as the largest three-story brick building in the area in 1846, the Tremont House was named after a prominent hotel in Boston. It was first used as a hotel and stage stop. The second floor contained the lobby and rooms, and the third floor a ballroom. The railroad replaced the stagecoach and the building changed with the times. The building has housed a restaurant, a grocery store, a cigar factory, real estate and other offices, meeting rooms, the IOOF, an Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company store, the Green Front Grocery, and Leonard’s Pharmacy.
Stone Eagle Farm in Avon, Ohio
From StoneEagleFarm.com: The Greek Revival style house was originally built on more than 600 acres on Detroit Road and was considered to be one of the largest homes on Cleveland’s west side.
Johnny Clem Birthplace in Newark, Ohio
From CivilWarHome.com:
Born in Newark, Ohio, 13 Aug. 1851, Clem ran away from home in May 1861 to join the army and found the army was not interested in 9-year-old boys. When he applied to the commander of the 3d Ohio Regiment, the officer said he “wasn’t enlisting infants,” and turned him down. Clem tried the 22d Michigan next, and its commander said roughly the same. Determined, Clem tagged after the regiment, acted “just the same as a drummer boy,” and wore down resistance. Though still not regularly enrolled, he performed camp duties and received a soldier’s pay, $13 a month, a sum donated by the officers.
The next April, at Shiloh, Clem’s drum was smashed by an artillery round and he became a minor news item as “Johnny Shiloh,” the smallest drummer. More than a year later, at the Battle Of Chickamauga, he rode an artillery caisson to the front and wielded a musket trimmed to his size. In one of the Union retreats a Confederate officer ran after the cannon Clem rode with, and before the drummer killed him, said, “Surrender you damned little Yankee!” This pluck won for Clem national attention and the name “Drummer Boy of Chickamauga.”
Clem stayed with the army through the war, served as a courier, and was wounded twice. Between Shiloh and Chickamauga he was regularly enrolled in the service and thereafter received his own pay. After the Civil War he tried to enter West Point but was turned down because of his slim education. A personal appeal to Pres. U.S. GRANT, his general at Shiloh, won him a 2d lieutenant’s appointment in the Regular army 18 Dec. 1 871, and in 1903 he became colonel and assistant quartermaster general. He retired from the army as a major general in 1916. d. San Antonio, Tex., 13 May 1937.
