Historic Structures

Mud River Covered Bridge, Milton West Virginia

Mud River Covered Bridge is patterned after the innovations in the use of iron as a supporting material developed by William Howe, but this bridge uses the added strength of an arch. For a long while the commerce of the central part of Cabell County, West Virginia, depended upon this valuable link across the Mud River. The town of Milton began growing and prospering with the coming of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in the early 1870s. Increased business activity required better means of transportation, so the Cabell County Court let a contract to construct a wooden bridge across the Mud River in late 1874. The local postmaster won at least part of the job of building the structure, and he and his workers brought it to completion by late 1875 or early 1876 despite high water in the spring. The bridge's prominence as a landmark became immediately clear, for when the town of Milton was incorporated in 1876, its boundary listing began "at the south side of the Milton bridge across the Mud River."

Carrolton Covered Bridge, Carrolton West Virginia

Nineteenth-century maps show an "M. F. Pike", which crosses the Buchannon River at the present location of the Carrollton bridge. The "M. F. Pike" is probably the "Middle Fork Road", which is mentioned in the 1855 and 1857 Annual Reports of the Virginia Board of Public Works. Included in these reports is reference to a contract for a "Buchannon bridge", which was constructed on the Middle Fork Road and spanned the Buchannon River. The bridge's length was the same span (approximately 142 feet) as the present-day Carrollton bridge. Emmett J. and Daniel O'Brien were the contractors for the Buchannon bridge. A native of Beverly, West Virginia, Emmett had been the masonry contractor for the more famous Philippi bridge. The O'Brien brothers raised the superstructure prior to November 25, 1855, and construction was completed in the fall of 1856.

Southern Railway Passenger Depot, Lexington Kentucky

The Southern Railway Passenger Depot is a remarkably intact early twentieth-century Georgian Revival-style railroad station. It has experienced very few architectural changes and is a Lexington landmark with its highly visible location on South Broadway. It has the dubious distinction of being the last major railroad station standing in Central Kentucky. According to a 1906 newspaper article, the building was designed by H. Herrington; it was constructed in 1906-08. As Herrington was not a local architect, it is assumed he was an architect with or under contract to the Queen and Crescent and Southern Railway Company. Paul Anderson, who was a professor of engineering at State College (later the University of Kentucky) was appointed supervising architect and Arthur Giannini was involved locally as the staff architect for the construction company, Hendricks Brothers. This imposing structure retains much of its original woodwork, floors, windows, and doors; and although some of the first-floor interior space has been redesigned over the years, the main mass of the building is unaltered. Lexington, which is the second largest city in Kentucky and a county seat, has been involved with the railroad industry from the first half of the nineteenth century. From the 1830s, railroads were essential to the economic prosperity of Lexington, since it depended on them for the flow of agricultural goods, manufactured products, passengers, and later, coal. Kentucky's first railroad, the Lexington and Ohio Railroad Company, was incorporated in 1830 and was completed from Lexington to Frankfort in 1834. The Frankfort to Louisville section was not completed until 1852. Their depot was built in 1835 at Water and Mill Streets in Lexington, and the building was razed in 1959. The Southern Railroad was completed to Lexington in 1877, and that company built a depot near the site of the present station. This building was gutted by a fire in 1906, although the new and old depots are shown on the 1907 Sanborn Insurance map. The downtown depot, Union Station, was designed by the architectural firm of Richards, McCarty and Bulford of Columbus, Ohio, in the Beaux Arts style to accommodate three of the four railroad lines that served Lexington. Located at the intersection of East Main Street and the Harrison Street Viaduct, Union Station was demolished in 1960. The four lines serving Lexington at that time were the L & N (Louisville and Nashville), the C & O (Chesapeake & Ohio), the Kentucky Central Railroad and the Southern Railway. The 1906-08 Southern Railway Passenger Depot is the only building remaining to attest to Lexington's association with this mode of transportation for over 150 years. The Southern Railway was the most important line in Lexington from the point of passenger train service and through freight movement. The Southern was the only railroad whose main line came through Lexington, all the others being branch lines. By 1930, the Southern had sixteen daily passenger trains operating in both directions over this line, attesting to the use and importance of the Southern Railway Depot.

Valentine Schneikert House, Louisville Kentucky

The Valentine Schneikert House is an early example of Italianate-style architecture in the Irish Hill neighborhood. It was built circa 1868 by Valentine Schneikert, a prominent figure in Louisville's brick-making industry, and is one of the earliest extant brick houses constructed in this eastern portion of the city. The Irish Hill neighborhood, as it would later be named, was largely rural in character in the 1860s. During the third quarter of the nineteenth century, the eastern perimeter of the city extended only to the Phoenix Hill and Butchertown neighborhoods. Both were populated primarily by German and Irish working-class immigrants who worked at nearby breweries or meat packing houses. The architecture in these areas reflected the ethnic and social origins of its early inhabitants.

Fifth District School, Covington Kentucky

The first discussion about the construction of a new school for the Peaselburg area came about in 1897. The school board met to discuss the need for 2 new schools in the area; one for the southeastern part of the city, and one for the southwestern section. The growing school-age population in the southwestern part of the city finally led the school board to break ground for the new elementary school on the site at 18^th and Holman streets in 1901. Construction of the building took about a year, and was completed in 1902. Schofield & Rabe, architects from Covington, were chosen to design the school. The firm was only in business for six years, from 1898-1904. There is no apparent history on Schofield, but William A. Rabe was a native of Covington and a first-generation American. His parents immigrated to America from Germany. His father was a leading builder and contractor in Covington. Young William was educated in the Covington parochial schools, and then went on to study at St. Mary's Institute in Dayton, Ohio, where he studied other subjects before pursuing studies in architecture. Upon his return to Covington, Rabe worked as an estimator for several years and was employed by architect Daniel Seger, who designed several buildings in the city, including the Richardsonian Romanesque Fire Station No. 1 in 1898. The former Fifth District School building is a well-known landmark in Peaselburg, a working and middle-class neighborhood in the southwestern part of the city of Covington. The construction of the school was finished on July 22, 1902, according to the Kentucky Times Star. A grand opening for the public was held on Sept. 3, and the public was invited to tour the new school building. Addresses were made by H.B. McChesney, state superintendent of schools, along with Dr. Alston Ellis of Ohio State University and local faculty members. A brass band played from 2:00-5:00, and the school building was declared, "one of the finest schools in the Western country" by the Kentucky Times Star on Sept. 2, 1902. The building opened the following week for the first week of classes. The new school was very different from the former schools, in that it had many amenities not found in previous buildings. The building contained cloakrooms in the classrooms, inside bathrooms, and water fountains. The building also contained bathtubs in which the teachers could bathe any students who came to school needing a bath.

Louis Levey Mansion, Indianapolis Indiana

Built in 1905 the Louis Levey mansion may have been designed by the Indianapolis firm of Rubush and Hunter, who designed the Levey Brothers Printing Plant, which was also occupied in 1905, and still stands on the north side of the Statehouse. The architects use the same style on the Masonic Temple, the former First Church of Christ Scientist, Old City Hall (now the Indiana State Museum), and the American Central Life Insurance Company Building. The construction of the mansion and the choice of its location were the concrete expression of the commercial success of the second generation of a family of printers. Louis H. Levey, the owner, was born in Madison, Indiana, to William P. Levey, who had engaged in binding, printing, and book-selling since 1848. By the time Louis was 21 years old, he was a principal in the firm. In partnership with an older brother, he moved the business, renamed Levey Brothers & Co., to Indianapolis in 1883. The brothers located their operations on South Meridian Street until a building was constructed for them in 1890 at 15-19 West Maryland Street. Despite the depression of the 1890s, the company, which was one of the nation's leading bank supply printers and which conducted its entire business by mail order catalog, expanded its facilities in 1900 and built a new plant, occupied in 1905. The growth of the company coincided with the heyday of the mail-order business, including Sears and Montgomery Wards.

Montgomery Ward Store Building, Evansville Indiana

It was not unusual for national corporations to use stock plans for their buildings when Montgomery Ward came to downtown Evansville in 1933. The firm extensively remodeled another building on this site, and distinct similarities can be noted between the Evansville store and stores throughout the Midwest. The significance of the Old Montgomery Ward Building rests upon its association with an important national corporation and its reflection of an important passage in the social history of the country and of Evansville. The 1933 construction of the building in Evansville as part of the Ward retail system followed a pattern of retail shopping and consumerism which had its genesis in the large Eastern department stores of the late 19^th century. The preeminent Midwestern/rural catalog shopping phenomenon had begun its gradual erosion in 1925 with the establishment of Sears-Roebuck's first retail-only store (in Evansville, the McCurdy-Sears Building). The Ward Building in Evansville reflected the Chicago company's regard for the growth of city-based markets in the early 20^th century and its program of cementing its retail shopping thrust (begun falteringly in Plymouth, Indiana, in about 1928). Ward's approach to marketing also illuminated the pattern of democratization which had occurred over the quarter century of department store shopping preceding the Evansville Ward Building, whereby products and advertising were aimed at a broad range of economy-minded buyers instead of just the well-to-do.

Harvard School, Cleveland Ohio

The Harvard School is in a working-class neighborhood of Cleveland known today as Slavic Village. Located nearly five miles southeast of downtown Cleveland's Public Square, the neighborhood around the school became home to many immigrants of Slavic background who arrived in Cleveland from eastern and southern Europe in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. The city's rapid industrialization during this period meant many opportunities for low- and semi-skilled jobs, particularly in the numerous steel mills and factories located both to the south and west in the Flats area of the Cuyahoga River valley, and to the northeast in an industrial corridor located north of Broadway and east of East 79^th Street. Today the Harvard School is surrounded by modest working-class houses dating primarily from the early 20^th century. Harvard Avenue, which is a busy east-west corridor, passes the north side of the school, and East 71^st Street, an active north-south commercial street, passes to the east. The building is surrounded by flat lawn and playground areas; an industrial building is located close to the school's east end on Polonia Avenue. The area has a strong, dense urban working-class character, and the Harvard School was built to educate the many children living here in the early 20^th century.

Park Building, Cleveland Ohio

The Park Building is a large, prominently sited and highly intact example of the style and form of commercial buildings that were being erected in the larger cities of the United States in the years shortly following the turn of the century. The building utilizes steel frame construction and features a symmetrical exterior clad in brick with cast stone trim. Stylistically, the building has elements of Neoclassical and Tudor Revival forms that relate to Chicago skyscrapers of an earlier decade. Its restrained exterior is a sharp departure from the buildings of downtown Cleveland erected around this same time and reflects the desire of the building's developers to achieve a highly functional building that provided a large amount of light and display window area. Its design by Cleveland architect Frank S. Barnum is sophisticated, yet largely devoid of historical imagery that helped to shape the exteriors of his other commercial buildings, such as the Caxton Building, built just one year earlier, which features a massive cornice and robust yet intricate entrance portal. It is the tallest and most prominent commercial building designed by this important Cleveland architect. Frank Seymour Barnum (1851-1927) was a prominent Cleveland architect who began his career as a draftsman for Cleveland architect Joseph Ireland, designer of some of the finest late nineteenth-century residences along Euclid Avenue's famed Millionaires' Row. While in the office he met Forrest A. Coburn and the two went into practice together under the name Coburn & Barnum in 1878. During their twenty-year practice together, ending with Coburn's death in 1897, the firm planned some of the city's most distinguished buildings, including the Furniture Block and the Blackstone Block, the latter an example of fire-resistant mill construction that featured a four-story interior light court. The firm designed numerous churches, including Euclid Avenue Congregational, and residences for George Howe, William J. Morgan, and the Washington Lawrence House in Bay Village, since transformed into condominiums. They also designed the Olney Art Gallery on West 14^th Street and the former home of the Western Reserve Historical Society. During its final year, the firm became known as Coburn, Barnum, Hubbell & Benes, in recognition of two talented younger members of the firm who, after Coburn's death went on to form their own highly successful practice which included the design of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Caxton Office Building, Cleveland Ohio

The building was constructed in 1901-1903. The president of the Caxton Building Company was Ambrose Swasey (1846-1939), founder of Warner and Swasey and a great promoter of the benefits of engineering to mankind. The Caxton Company was a commercial printing and graphic arts business. The building has been devoted to occupants in the graphic arts trades. It was named after William Caxton, the first British printer in the fifteenth century. In 1905 it was occupied by the business of Alfred Cahen which subsequently became the World Publishing Company. The architect was Frank S. Barnum, official public school architect beginning in 1895, who initiated a "new era" in functional, fireproof, utilitarian school construction. He also designed the Park Building of 1904, called one of the earliest in Cleveland to use floor slabs of reinforced concrete.

George Stoudt House - Octagon House, Mount Pleasant Pennsylvania

This octagonal house was a local landmark and conversation piece from the day construction was completed. Local residents still marvel at this radically different way of planning a farmhouse. The original owners of the house, George and Adam Stoudt, were known to be the type of strong-minded individuals that would be willing to make a sharp break with long-standing local building traditions. "The eight sided home," writes John Maass in The Victorian Home in America, "defiant among its foursquare neighbors, was always the choice of an individualist". The circumstances surrounding the construction of the house are also noteworthy. Under the terms which George Stoudt purchased the property in 1865, he was obligated to pay Lydia Dundor $50 per year and allow her use of the original farmhouse (an interesting log and stone building which was constructed in 1812, and enlarged in 1848) until her death. This was a Pennsylvania German custom known as a widow's dowry. George Stoudt thus has to construct a new house for his family on the property; this house became the octagon house. George soon retired to nearby Mt. Pleasant (his lot is clearly marked in the 1876 Berks County atlas), leaving the farm to his son Adam (1835-1923).

Philippi Covered Bridge, Philippi West Virginia

The wooden, two-lane covered bridge, crossing the Tygart's Valley River, at Philippi, Barbour County, West Virginia was built in 1852. It is one of only six remaining two-lane covered bridges in the United States. It is the only wooden bridge to accommodate busy federal highway traffic, U. S. 250. The bridge was constructed in 1851-52 to facilitate the 1848 Beverly and Fairmont Road, which had been built to stimulate the use of the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike, an important link with Richmond and Norfolk. The Beverly and Fairmont Road ended at Fairmont on the Monongahela River, a terminal on the new Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The Clarksburg Democrat printed a request for bids for the bridge at Philippi in May 1850. Contracts were awarded to Emmett J. O'Brien for the masonry work, and to Lemuel and Eli Chenoweth, of Beverly, Virginia, now West Virginia, for the superstructure of the bridge. The foundation proved a lengthy task and an outbreak of typhoid fever further delayed progress. Late in 1852, the bridge was completed at a cost of $12,181.24.

Chesapeake Beach Railroad Engine House, Seat Pleasant Maryland

Otto Mears (developer of Colorado's Rio Grande Southern Railroad, among others), the Russian-born Colorado-based entrepreneur known as the "pathfinder of the San Juan" was the principal promoter of the Chesapeake Beach Railway. Mears had planned that his direct link to Chesapeake Bay would be a high speed line, 28 miles long, run by electric power from a third rail system. Notably, once the engine house was completed and steam locomotives were fully 1n service, Mears resigned as General Manager of the Chesapeake Beach Railway. David Moffat, the richest man in Colorado by 1900 (President, Denver and Rio Grande Railroad and president, Denver National Bank), was the major sponsor before 1902, when the engine house was completed. The work accomplished during the tenure of these men essentially remained intact for the whole course of the history of the railroad. Beginning when Washington had developed into an urban area and government employees were an identifiable holiday market for the railroad, the Chesapeake Beach Railway was planned as a passenger rail line to the Bay resort which Mears hoped would rival the renowned New England casino resorts. While occasional freight to and from the local agricultural area was carried at night, the passenger business to and from Chesapeake Beach was the focus of the railroad. The company ceased operation In 1935, the victim of a major economic depression. By 1903, the yard located in rural Maryland near the District limits, in an area called Seat Pleasant after 1906, was occupied by the engine house, a turntable, sidings and storage tracks, a paint shop, and a water tank. Other secondary structures were added between 1903 and in 1936.

Blithewold Mansion, Bristol Rhode Island

Ground was broken for Blithewold in 1895, but the house was destroyed by fire only eleven years later in 1906. The present house dates from 1907. The property which became Blithewold has a long history of social gatherings. It was first developed as a summer retreat in the mid-nineteenth century by John Rogers Gardner, a prominent New York banker. While Mr. and Mrs. Gardner owned the property, it was the setting for visits and (following Mr. Gardner's death), rentals by numerous native and foreign luminaries, M. de Struvee, the Russian Minister to the United States, General Burnside, and Nelson W. Aldrich among others.

Poplar Point Lighthouse, North Kingstown Rhode Island

Established in 1831 at the entrance to Wickford Harbor on the site of a Revolutionary War battle, Poplar Point Light is significant as the oldest surviving lighthouse in Rhode Island on its original site. Earlier lights were established at eight other locations, but only one of these structures survives. It, however, is not on its original site and was disassembled during the move. Although the Poplar Point lantern is not original and the dwelling has been altered and added to since the light's active period, the oldest section is a good early example of a keeper's dwelling with an attached tower. The tower and dwelling were constructed in 1831 by Charles Allen of Kingston at a cost of $1,888. In 1869 the Lighthouse Board recommended that the dwelling, which was in need of repairs, be renovated, and that the original lantern be replaced. This was done two years later, but in 1878 the Board cited the need for an additional navigational aid to mark the entrance to Wickford Harbor. It proposed the establishment of another lighthouse on Old Gay Rock, 500 yards north of Poplar Point. When the new Wickford Harbor Light was completed on November 1, 1882, Poplar Point Light was discontinued after fifty-one years of service.

Bank of Surrency - Post Office, Surrency Georgia

Located on the corner of Hart and Main streets in the small, rural town of Surrency in Appling County, Georgia, the Bank of Surrency is the only remaining historic commercial building in the downtown and service first as a bank and later as a post office. Constructed in 1911 to house the local branch of the Baxley Banking Company, the building is a good example of a small-town bank, which anchored the once-thriving community of Surrency. It was the only bank in town until 1921. The Baxley Banking Company closed in 1922, and the building was sold to F.D. Kennedy and J.M. Kennedy. The building served as a post office from 1926 to 1960. A new post office was constructed in 1960 and the building was sold for storage.

Eleventh District School, Covington Kentucky

The former 11^th District School building is one of the chief landmarks of the small (population about 2,000) community of West Covington, an area annexed by the city of Covington in 1916. Set near the top of a ridge surrounded by the hills of Northern Kentucky to the south and by the Ohio River Valley to the north, the building, a restrained Tudor Revival design typical of the post-World War I era, is highly visible from many directions. It was built in 1920-22 to extend the benefits of the traditionally excellent Covington public school system to the newly annexed community, which is geographically somewhat separate from the 19^th-century city, located around a bend of the hills in the adjacent Licking River Valley. The 11^th District School was designed by the prolific and highly competent Columbus, Ohio, architectural firm of Richards, McCarty & Bulford, who also were responsible for the design of many important buildings in central Kentucky. A compatible 1931 addition was designed by northern Kentucky architect Chester H. Disque. In the vicinity of several other community institutions, the school building remains a visual landmark, although it was reluctantly, closed because of Federal student~busing requirements in 1979. A group of local investors is currently (1983) considering renovation and adaptive re-use of the structure for apartments, utilizing the Tax Incentives available under the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981. West Covington was originally known as "Economy." It was established about 1846 on the estate of Israel Ludlow, a prominent early Cincinnati and northern Kentucky land-owner and developer. The town was incorporated in 1858 as West Covington. The population grew from 554 in 1860 to 993 in 1870 according to Collins. As early as the mid-1870s there was a movement to annex it to the city of Covington, whose population continued to expand after the Civil War. Annexation was not accomplished, however, until 1916, during a period when a number of adjacent areas to the south and west of the 19^th-century city were also annexed.

Lima Pennsylvania Railroad Passenger Depot, Lima Ohio

The land on which the depot is located is part of McHenry's (first) addition. William McHenry and his wife Malvina obtained the addition as part of a larger portion, the east lot of the northwest quarter section of section 31, township 3 south, range 7 of the Piqua Land District from Joseph Edwards and his wife Comfort in 1845 for the sum of $600. The property was approximately 29 acres. On July 13^th, 1853, Dr. McHenry's 29 acres were subdivided into a rectilinear grid system of streets, blocks, lots, and alleys continuing the original Lima town plan pattern. It became part of the McHenry's Addition surveyed by John P. Haller. More than a year later, on November 27^th, 1854, he sold for $1,200 to the Ohio & Indiana Rail Road Company, two acres and 64/100^ths of an acre, more or less, and another parcel containing 18/100^ths of an acre, more or less, for the site of the future Ohio & Indiana Railroad station in Lima. The lot was bounded to the west by Main Street, and along the line between sections 30 and 31, reached Accommodation Street (the north-south railroad axis).

Samuel M. Nickerson House - American College of Surgeons, Chicago Illinois

The house was designed in 1883 by one of Chicago's earliest architects, Edward Burling, for Samuel M. Nickerson, a wealthy banker. Nickerson spared no expense in creating his "Marble Palace," so-called because of its elegant interior which was finished in marbles, rare woods, and other rich materials. The original character of this spectacular home is beautifully preserved to this day. The Nickerson Mansion was one of the most expensive and lavish homes built in Chicago before the turn of the century. "Nickerson's Marble Palace" as it was widely known, was the showplace home of Samuel M. Nickerson, a prominent Chicago banker and one of the wealthiest men of his time. Nickerson was born in Massachusetts and came to Chicago in 1858 to enter the distilling business. He soon became involved in banking, being one of the founders of the First National Bank of Chicago in 1863. He was president of this, the oldest bank in the city, when he built his North-Side mansion in 1883. Nickerson was also the first president of the Union Stockyards National Bank, as well as the founder and president of the old Chicago City Street Railway Company. Nickerson was an active participant in the cultural life of Chicago, leaving a large collection of artifacts to the Art Institute.

Fisher Building, Chicago Illinois

A very thorough account of the construction of the Fisher Building and a complete description with photographs are found in the article "The Fisher Building, Chicago--A Building without Walls", Inland Architect, (May, 1896), pp. 41-48. Below is a synopsis of the article: The writer states: "But here, for what we believe to be the first time in human experience, one of the highest commercial buildings in the world has been erected almost without any bricks. It fronts on three streets, and on the remaining side adjoins other property. The fronts are covered with cellular terra cotta on the outside, not in imitation of a wall, but following upward the steel supporting members, and closing in the transoms between the windows, leaving two-thirds of the exterior to be enclosed by glass..." Thus, the building is covered in a thin skin of terra cotta, a curtain wall: "Only two bricklayers were employed at any time in this part of the work" (The backing of the terra cotta fronts with brick).

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