of Chillicothe, Ross County & South-Central Ohio
of Chillicothe, Ross County & South-Central Ohio August 2005
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The house back in 1991, while still occupied by Ross County. |
The Zimeroy F. Downs House is the large, arcaded, blond-brick house at 53 West Fourth Street in Chillicothe, directly behind the Gazette building.
This high-style architect-designed house was built in the mid-1890s and is one of Chillicothe's landmark houses, with styling that was ahead of its time and rare outside of major metropolitan areas. (It is at par with the contemporary early work of Frank Lloyd Wright, before he moved onto his full-fledged Prairie style.)
The house is in (or above) the class of Adena, the Walke House (Western Avenue at Locust Street), the Jacob Atwood and Moses Bartlett houses (South Paint Street), the Mountain House (Highland and East Main Street), the Queen Anne styled houses on East Fourth Streets, the Boggs House (58 East Main Street), the RCHS' Franklin House (80 South Paint Street), and others.
It is a house that was allowed to deteriorate by its previous owner, our local government. Its current owner, the adjacent First Baptist Church at 65 West Fourth Street, is now seeking to demolish it.
The church has an application for demolition that will come before the Chillicothe Design Review Board Thursday, June 16th. With the track record of the Design Review Board (DRB) over many years, they will undoubtedly approve demolition, despite the DRB's charge by city 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" (city ordinance 1197.02a).
In their DRB application of June 3d, the First Baptist Church includes documents that state that Gillums will be the demolition contractor, with the start date undetermined. Another is a letter by architect Dan Marsh, who states for the church that a tour of the historic Zimeroy Downes House showed them "a building that had been left open to the elements for far too long. The roof has been leaking for quite some time. This water infiltration had caused severe deterioration of much of the roof and upper floor structures." See more of the letter below.
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Zimeroy F. Downs House on a Sunday midday, February 20th this year. |
First Baptist Church graciously hosted a South Central Ohio Preservation Society meeting last winter, on November 16, 2003. As SCOPS coordinator Kezia Sproat wrote in the preceding newsletter
Around 1900, Zimeroy Downs, a Chillicothe banker, commissioned Frank Packard, then a very well-known architect working in Columbus and New York, to design a house for his family on the east side of First Baptist.
Former Ohio Supreme Court Justice William B. Brown was born there.*
At the November 16 SCOPS meeting, Zimeroy Downs' granddaughter-in-law, Jane Stone Brown, will share stories she heard directly from Zimeroy Downs' daughter Mabel, who was Jayne's mother-in-law. One "typically Chillicothe" story has to do with the honeymoon of a then-stuggling young Chillicothe doctor, Henry Brown.
*You can read more on Judge William Brown on page 426 of the Chillicothe Bicentennial Commission's Chillicothe, Ohio 1796-1996.
Zimeroy Downs was the first Vice-President of the Citizens National Bank after it was founded in November 1900. When it opened April 8, 1901, the bank was located across from the courthouse at 15 to 17 North Paint Street, where Ross County Offices are now located. It remained there through at least the 1930s. (Source: Chillicothe Bicentennial Commission, 1995, p.312; Polk's Chillicothe City Directory, 1938, p.63)
The bank built its current building, one of Chillicothe's few "International" styled buildings, at 27 West Main Street after the "Old Rock" First Presbyterian Church there was gutted by fire in 1956.
(I have also seen the name spelled "Zimaroy.")
The Downs Home became the home for the Fraternal Order of Eagles by the late 1930s. In 1956 it became the home of the Ross County District Library, founded in 1951. This was a facility in addition to the Chillicothe Library still on South Paint Street ; both library systems established branch libraries out in the county and villages before merging in 1968. By 1960, the home also housed the Ross County Superintendant of Schools, Board of Education, Soldiers & Sailors Relief Commission, Welfare Department, and the State Auto Title Department.
The Ross County offices eventually moved to the Ross Service Center in the former Harts Store on Western Avenue in the 1990s.
(Source: Chillicothe Bicentennial Commission, 1995, p.67; Polk's Chillicothe City Directory, 1938; Mullin-Killeand Gazette Chillicothe Ohio ConSurvey City Directory, 1960, p.297)
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Joseph Yost, who may have helped design the house |
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Frank Packard, the primary architect of the house |
The architecture firm who designed the Downs House was Packard & Yost. The Grandview Heights / Marble Cliff Historical Society is based in a suburban city of Columbus, and they have a webpage on Packard & Yost. There you can see many other designs by Frank L.Packard and Joseph W. Yost, mostly in central Ohio - with several significant examples on the OSU campus and being downtown Columbus high-rise hotels.
Frank Packard is usually credited as the sole architect of the Downs House. He was born in Delaware, Ohio in 1866. He moved to Columbus in 1892 and formed his partnership with Yost. Yost left the firm in 1899, and Packard then practiced alone. He was the leading architect for institutions in the U.S., and designed more than 3,400 public, business, and residential buildings.
See "Downs House Endangered : Packard Designs" for examples in Chillicothe, Ross County, and Wellston.
The Chillicothe Design Review Board will meet at 4:30 pm in the City Administration Building, 35 South Paint Street, on Thursday, August 18th. (The church was not prepared to make a presentation at the July DRB meeting.)
That job includes informing and educating the public about the value, importance, and role of historic architecture and preservation in Chillicothe. It includes working with owners to make sure that buildings are preserved. It includes saying "no" to actions that would damage and destoy historic buildings regardless of superficial justifications - and sorry, even overlooking all but the strongest monetary justifications. It includes understanding and being educated about basic principles of preservation and architecture!
Contact me, Kevin B. Coleman if you would like further information.
In their DRB application of June 3d, the First Baptist Church includes a letter to the church by architect Dan Marsh, justifying demolition. (The DRB information is on file in the city Safety/Service Office and is open to the public; you can also request to have each meeting's packet emailed and/or mailed to you.) The letter is dated March 9th, addressed to Reverend McReynolds:
Some time ago, I toured the adjacent, 'old' Board of Elections Building with you, or consulting engineer and Mr. John Brown, of your congregation. At that time we were evaluating the structure for possible renovation and reuse.
We observed a building that had been left open to the elements for far too long. The roof had been leaking for quite some time. This water infiltration had caused severe deterioration of much of the roof and upper floor structures.
The heat had been turned off. The lack of heat had initiated freeze-thaw cyclical movement, which further damaged the streucture. Although it had been drained, the piping system was in poor condition.
We observed a building that was in need of; 1) a completely new electrical service and distribution system, 2) a completely new plumbing supply and waste system, and 3) a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.
The floor plan layout and existing structure are in need of major reconfiguration to become compliant with today's building code requirements, for accessibility and clearances.
The structure is approximately 9,000 square feet. I estimate that the required rework will cost approximately $90 to $100 per square foot. The total cost to renovate this building into a code compliant usable facility will cost roughtly $810,000 to $9000,000. This is an estimate of a renovation project using mid range products and modifications.
I hope this information satisfies you needs at this time [sic]. If you need anything else, please let me know.
A few thoughts to consider:
Another, undated, page in their DRB application of June 3d briefly describes the "problem" of "53 West 4th St." The conclusion was to demolish it, "use the space in the short range for parking," and build there in the long-range.
"In the interest of preserving the appearance of the area, a quality wrought iron fence will be erected on the 4th st side [sic] of the parking lot."
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