Schilder Brother's Produce Warehouse
41 and 43 South Walnut Street, Chillicothe, Ohio, USA

27 January 2004 [?]

Members of the Chillicothe Design Review Board:

With the recent drawn-out discussion of the Walnut Street Methodist Church's proposal to develop a parking lot at the northeast corner of South Walnut and West Fourth streets, I present my professional observations regarding the structures on the property for the sake of a wise and informed decision concerning their fate - especially regarding the duties of the Design Review Board as stated in city ordinance 1197.02(a).

I am an architectural historian with a dozen years of field experience and a masters degree, and a local historian who has presented several lectures and written many articles on architecture and history. I grew up in Ross County and have become only more familiar with its history and architecture after my return from Columbus last spring. The Ross County Historical Society, Ross-Chillicothe Convention and Visitors Bureau, South Central Ohio Preservation Society, Chillicothe Restoration Foundation, and other groups can attest to my knowledge and skill.

The criteria of the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is a standard model to gage the importance of a historical building, place, or site. In this context, there are two subjects of significance (architecture and history) and three levels of significance (national, state and local). A fourth level of significance can be considered, that of "neighborhood" or "streetscape" significance, as simply a contributing part of the district NRHP nomination.

This property under consideration is within the Chillicothe Central Business National Register District (entered 6/11/79) and Chillicothe Old Residential National Register District (entered 11/28/73), and so all the buildings are officially included in the National Register. As part of a district nomination, not all the included buildings may be individually eligible to the National Register, but are included as part of a larger context, are significant as a grouping, and can be listed.

There are six buildings or additions on the property. (The * asterisked information was graciously supplied by historian John Grabb.)

1. Eichelberner-Wood House, 95 West Fourth Street (and 47 South Walnut Street)

   This building is significant in architecture and history both locally and in a statewide context.

   It was begun by Jacob Eichelberner in 1826 or 1827, who ran out of money after building the walls and putting a roof on the house. It stood unfinished for almost ten years until John Wood bought and finished it. John and Ellen (Strong) Wood were the fourth grandparents of the late Princess Diana of Wales.*

   Grocer Martin Schilder's family lived in the house after the Woods, moving from it to their new home on Caldwell Street in 1882. (Schilder built the large commercial building at the northeast corner of Paint and Fourth streets as an investment property.)*

   The house is New-England type, 1-1/2 rooms deep, two stories tall, two rooms wide with a central stair hall. It has several fine elements of the Federal style on its façade, a style found on many of the earliest buildings in Chillicothe. These elements are the Flemish-bond brickwork, splayed window lintels with carved keystones, doorway with an elliptical arched transom and possibly original double-leaf door, and understated hipped roof.

2. Schilder Brother's Produce Warehouse, 41 and 43 South Walnut Street

   This building/addition is locally significant in architecture and locally significant in history.

   It was built sometime between 1890 and 1894 by Charles, Ed and Tom Schilder, who were partners as "produce and commission merchants" dealing in potatoes, apples, beans, onions, and onion sets. It was the onion sets that required the most space in the warehouse. The local onion set industry, mainly grown by German families just south of the Paint Street bridge beyond the south edge of town, gave Chillicothe the reputation as the onion set capital of the world around the turn of the twentieth century.*

   This is one of a declining number of brick vernacular warehouse/factory/commercial buildings surviving in Chillicothe. Inside are characteristic thick wood support posts with squanch braces under the ceiling beams.

   This is a very important part of the streetscape on this block of Walnut Street. Its long, tall, blunt, massive form gives a unique appearance to the local character, and is a counterpoint to the low, thin, modern form of the Post Office opposite it.

   Three examples of this utilitarian building type were demolished about five years ago at the northwest corner of Water and Walnut streets, and one survives, at 125 West Water Street; others include the group of four buildings at 54, 56, 58, and 60 West Water Street.

3. Schindler Cold Storage Warehouse, 37 South Walnut Street

   This building is significant in architecture as a part of the neighborhood/streetscape. It may be locally significant in architecture as an example of an uncommon building type, and as part of the Schindler warehouse group.

   This was built by the Schindler Brothers as cold storage for some of their produce.* It was probably built around the same time as the larger warehouse, probably either earlier or later since its function was not incorporated into the larger building. It is similar in appearance to the "Chillicothe Brick Cottages."

   This building has lost some of its character by its windows and doors being sealed up or significantly altered. As a small building in good condition, this could be easily undone. The building is most significant as a corner anchor: It visually maintains an edge of the streetscape. With the large architectural void on the north side of the alley, its loss would allow a larger and more disruptive gap in the streetscape.

4. James Bungalow, 89 West Fourth Street

   This building may be locally significant in architecture if it is a catalog house. If not a catalog house, its significance in architecture is primarily as a part of the streetscape, and secondarily as a representative house of the post-WWI housing growth of Chillicothe.

   This house is a "Semi-Bungalow" or dormer-Front Bungalow type, built about between 1918 and 1930. It was the residence of the Russell James family in 1938.

   This building has little "street presence" since it is overshadowed by the Eichelberner-Wood House next to it, on whose lot it was built. Its relatively small size and setback make it less noticeable than the houses around it on West Fourth Street. The building is most significant as a part of the continuity of the streetscape, and its loss would negatively impact the variety and solidity of the streetscape on this block.

5. Metal-Sheathed Addition, 35? South Walnut Street

   This building / addition has practical merit as usable warehouse space, but no architectural or historical merit. It is a utilitarian, unstyled, recent construction that is barely visible from either streets and contributes nothing to the streetscape.

The Metal-Sheathed Addition is unquestionably expendable, and could be demolished soon to provide immediate parking.

I urge to the Design Review Board to not allow demolition of the Warehouse Addition. Its significance far outweighs the desire for more parking, however well-designed and screened.

The James Bungalow and the Schindler Cold Storage Warehouse are significant primarily to the streetscape; I would regret their loss, but if appropriate screening is built in their place, their loss can be sufficiently mitigated. If demolished, I recommend that they be recorded by photographs and drawn plans, to be archived in Chillicothe and at the Ohio Historic Preservation Office in Columbus. (I could perform this at no charge.)

Appropriate screening would best be in the form of a brick wall along the street and alley sides of the parking area to hide parked vehicles and the architectural void (as proposed already). A 4.5 to 6 foot wall capped with stone and with regular pilasters would be most appropriate; the Chillicothe Telephone parking lot on East Fourth Street is an excellent example. Adding appropriately styled lights atop the wall would further enhance its appearance, such as at the "Dock on Water." Other than being a bit too low, the wall beside St. Mary Church is also a good example. If the Bungalow is replaced with a parking lot exit, the drive should be carefully screened and designed to blend into the residential streetscape.

However, I urge the Board to consider carefully the loss of these two buildings. The more a downtown district is depopulated of contributing buildings, the more difficult it is to retain and enhance its character. Chillicothe's downtown and inner residential areas have suffered too many demolitions in the last fifteen years, and few of what has replaced the lost contributing buildings has been equal to their character and utility.

The traditional downtown is the opposite of modern suburbia; widening streets and alleys, creating too many parking lots or landscaped voids and leaving them unscreened, and eliminating too many buildings of any significance will only hasten the demise of the downtown as a place to shop, tour and live in. Parking is a modern necessity, but too often parking "crises" are more the result of bad parking habits, poor utilization/coordination/cooperative management of existing parking areas, and skewed perceptions based on suburban commercial parking.

The Design Review Board is charged by law with a duty to "maintain and enhance the distinctive character of the Preservation District by safeguarding the architectural integrity of the various period structures within it, and to prevent intrusions and alterations within this district that would be incompatible with this established character" (ord. 1197.02(a)). Furthermore, I ask why the dilapidated blue warehouse (88? West Fourth) on the corner opposite the Eichelberner-Wood House has not been considered for its parking potential. Like the Metal-Sheathed Addition, is a recent building that has no architectural or historical merit, and additionally is a dangerously unsecured eyesore that has been begging for years to be replaced with anything and is probably in a legal state that would make that easy to do.

I trust my professional opinion will be considered by the members of the Chillicothe Design Review Board for a wise and informed decision in this matter. I have given my professional time to research and prepare this letter in the hopes of improving and enlightening stewardship of the irreplaceable Chillicothe downtown.