Springer-Bize-Farley House, 934 Fifth Avenue, Columbus

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA,108-COLM,38-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Architecture: This house is significant as one of very few late Victorian (Eastlake) cottages in the downtown black area. It and its neighbor are exact copies of one another with the plans reversed. History: This house is significant as it was one of two identical houses built by Emelie Springer, widow of influential Francis J. Springer, who created the city's opera house.

Description: Late Victorian (Eastlake); one story, ell plan, truncated hipped roof with gable over ell, two interior chimneys with heavily corbelled caps; front porch runs from projecting ell to the end of the house; weatherboard frame construction, brick foundation, asphalt shingle roof; front facade consists of five bays, two on ell, and three on main facade; gable end roof has boxed corner returns and diamond vent, porch has turned supports and balusters, spool gingerbread; interior is variation of central hall plan with four rooms; situated in residential area of late Victorian cottages with some commercial intrusions; landscaping consists of grass and occasional shrubbery and large trees; good condition.

History: This house was built as rental property between and The lot had been in the Springer family since The houses were constructed when Emelie Springer, widow of Francis J. Springer, owned the property. It passed to her daughter, Anna J. Bize in still as rental property. One of the renters in the early twentieth century was Abraham Lafkowitz, who lived there only for a short time. In Anna Bize sold the house to E.E. Farley, a well-to-do and influential African-American in Columbus. Farley lived in the house for a number of years. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Abraham Lafkowitz House in