Decorative drawing: a nineteenth-century public building. Not a photograph of this place.

Nomination for Water Street Commercial Buildings

The case file that argued this property on to the National Register: 3,399 words across 35 pages, filed in 1975. Read by 4 independent recognisers, of which at least 3 had to agree before a line was published.

Source document Held by the National Archives in Record Group 79 as reference 75001392, where it exists only as a scan with no text layer. The words below were read off that scan by 4 independent recognisers at two resolutions. Only lines that at least 3 of them returned identically appear below; where they disagreed, the line is withheld rather than guessed, so some of the form's furniture is missing. Spelling is never corrected, so a stray character that all the readers agreed on is the recogniser's and the typewriter's.. Nothing is summarised, corrected or written by this site. See the catalogue record, or return to the property.

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

Form 10-300 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR - State (Rev.
6-72) - County NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM (Type all entries - complete applicable sections) BAR 1 8 1975 AND/ OR HISTORIC: STREET AND NUMBER: - [ 039 (Check One) - In Process - Preservation work Government - - Transportation - Comments - Other (Specify) OWNER'S NAME: LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION COURTHOUSE, REGISTRY OF DEEDS, ETC; DATE OF SURVEY: - Federal 043 1974 LOCATION Sandusky NAME Erie Site Religious Commercial ACCESSIBLE CATEGORY Building CLASSIFICATION Both STATUS District REGISTER Private OWNERSHIP Ohio Agricultural Private Residence Restricted Museum Entertainment Being Considered Educational CODE Military Yes: Structure COMMON: DATA SHEET Public Object Unoccupied CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: Park Industrial NATIONAL Multiple private ownership Erie County Courthouse Public Acquisition: ENTRY DATE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS: 323 Columbus Avenue TITLE OF SURVEY: Scientific OWNER OF PROPERTY TO THE PUBLIC CITY OR TOWN: FOR NPS USE ONLY 13 - Charles E.
Mosher PRESENT USE (Check One or More as Appropriate) NUMBER: DATE See Continuation ENTRY NUMBER OCT 101 DESCRIPTION X Good - Deteriorated - Unexposed - Unaltered as interesting as the facades, as the basic stone construction of OCT 8 1974 CONDITION REGISTER Excellent NATIONAL Ruins facades. and stone faced with stucco.There is an interesting contrast between High Victorian Italianate and Second Empire styles. design beyond the vernacular. RECEIVED building probably has the greatest pretension to an architectural Street. It includes fifteen commercial buildings erected between on the northeast corner of Water and Columbus, which has been All of the facades are original with the exception of the one district has a corbeled cornice and sandstone arches and lintels.
ianate style.The fourth building from the west has a very elaborate many of the stores is clearly revealed there.The interiors are in arched windows and bracketed cornices of the High Victorian Ital- the rusticated limestone, tooled granite, weathered brick and smooth Several of the buildings have cast-iron columns on the ground floor Block at the east end of the district retains original interior Second Empire cornice.The brick building at the west end of the two of its six exterior dormers on the mansard roof remain. With its great fanlight window in the second story facade, this The district consists of two blocks on the north side of Water 1855 and 1890 in the Romanesque Revival, Renaissance Revival, posts and a second floor hall which served asa theater.Only Various buildings are constructed of brick, limestone, granite, various stages of repair, adaptation and rehabilitation.
Fisher's Fair (Check One) Moved Original Site re-faced.The backs of the buildings facing the docks are nearly stucco walls.Several of the buildings display the hooded round UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (July 1969) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY OCT 8 1974 GP0 921-724 COUNTY Erie DATE Street; STATE REGISTER NATIONAL Ohio (Continuation Sheet) of the intersection of Jackson and West Water Streets, and proceeds ENTRY NUMBER north along the mid-line of Jackson Street to the north property Water Street Commercial District Form 10-300a South along the mid-line of Wayne Street to the mid-line of Water East along the property lines of 23l to 10l West Water Street and line of 23l West Water Street; 10l to 165 East Water Street to the mid-point of Wayne Street; (Number all entries) Form 10-300a UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY FEB2 31975 ENTRY NUMBER ular and arched treatments.
Rectangular windows have plain lintels, or story structure, the Granite Block at the east end of the west block ground floor ones are wider for display windows and three entrances. taller five-bay ones, the latter with hood moldings and a pointed corb- of height, window treatment, structural and facing materials, ornamen- tal detail and ground floor treatment expresses the variety of the been almost totally razed for parking lots, except for one altered late nineteenth century lakefront commercial district, and as such are GP0 921-724 COUNTY Erie Ohio STATE The facade fenestration is about equally divided between rectang- are additional vacant areas and nondescript structures. surround. Almost as impressive is the three-and-a-half story building Water Street Commercial District In conclusion, no two buildings are identical.The great variety cement or stucco for weatherproofing.
rical columns with distinguishable classic orders, with only one except- The rear elevations are constructed of both brick and stone.Their blocks crystallize, embody and dramatize the commercial life of an tenants and contributes to the significance of the district. (Continuation Sheet) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE windows are spanned either by plain stone lintels or segmental arches. The most important Renaissance Revival building is the only four- of transcendent significance in the history of Sandusky.These two make for an unusual degree of variety within a consistent idiom. are made of the most random and rubble type of construction, obviously small triangular or Italianate pediments.Arched windows have plain three- and five-bay division for the two stories on the ground floor.
(10l West Water).It has four stories of round-arched openings, and the type of bracketed or corbeled cornice is nearly universal.The ground- eled cornice, followed by a ten-bay facade and another five-bay one, The two blocks on the opposite (south) side of the street have Thus the two nominated blocks represent the sole remnant of the railroad tracks and modern piers on the lake.To the east and west Block has large quoins. Some of the elevations have been faced with building and a twentieth century movie theater.To the north are the Most of the windows have original small-pane sash.The stone walls ion in the east block. at the west end of the same block (23l West Water).Its facade has a MAR 1 8 1975 molding, heavy hood molding, pointed, segmental or round arches.
Some The best Italianate buildings are in the east block, A group of five, beginning at the west with a low ten-bay structure, then two DATE NATIONAL REGISTER The windows have a simple flat-faced molding making a complete story columns are in the form of rectangular piers rather than cylind- (Number all not intended to be seen by the consumer.The rear corner of Fisher's PERIOD (Check One or More as Appropriate) - Pre-Columbian| - 16th Century 1855 - 1890 SPECIFIC DATE(S) (It Applicable and Known) - Urban Planning - Prehistoric STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

Statement of significance

directly on the lake, but landfill has put them 150 to 500 feet from were produce and commission merchants, dry goods, tailors and clothiers, milliners and dressmakers, hardware, iron and stove companies. Americans. Conservation Commerce Communications Engineering losophy Transportation Architecture Theater Aboriginal Art Science Music Invention SIGNIFICANCE Literature Agriculture Landscape Political These two blocks constitute the heart of the early mercantile grocers, drug stores, boots and shoe merchants, and express itarian Social/Human- Water Street was the original mercantile center of the city, Literary Association, a national organization devoted to the dissemin- Religion/Phi which is fairly early in the profession of architecture.
merchants, upholsterers and furniture dealers, wholesale and retail Sculpture which later spread south along Columbus Avenue and east and west use of native stone, Sandusky being situated on solid limestone a few companies on the ground floor and the large public hall on the second Industry in 1850 tripled by 1890.It was served by three railroads.The number Fisher's Hall for fifty years. the present shoreline.Among the businesses housed in the buildings Education along Market Street.The backs of the Water Street buildings faced bard's Granite Block on the northwest corner of Water and Columbus. was built in 1877.
Fisher's Hall, built in 1867,housed three express There were already three public halls in 1855,and an opera house architects.There were already four listed in the directory of 1855, From 1854 to 1860 it was headquarters for the Cosmopolitan Art and of the nineteenth century.It population of between 6,0oo and 7,000 Other (Specify) AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE (Check One or More as Appropriate) Iwo factors influenced the quality of the buildings. One was the Military of German and Irish citizens about equalled the number of native-born In addition, Sandusky very early became a strong cultural center. district in Sandusky. The city was a flourishing port by the middle more substantially built than they would be in other cities of compar- feet below the ground surface. Thus many of the buildings are much ation of magazines and original art works.
Its galleries were in Hub- floor.Various traveling musical and dramatic events were held at able size.Secondly, Sandusky seems to have had its share of good

The rest of the file

Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES DEFINING A RECTANGLE LOCATING THE PROPERTY DEFINING THE CENTER POINI OF A PxOPERTY 4590 730 APPROXIMATE ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY: OCT 8 1974 FORM PREPARED BY STATE LIAISON OFFICER CERTIFICATION As the designated State Liaison Officer for the Na- I hereby certify that this property is included in the tional Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been forth by the National Park Service. The recommended Local O * U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1973-729-147/1442 3-l 039 Seconds Degrees LATITUDE LONGITUDE ORGANIZATION CORNER Ohio DATE Name CODE Cleveland COUNTY ATTEST: Minutes Western Reserve Historical Society STATE Sandusky City Directories.
Degrees Minutes Seconds NATIONAL REGISTER VERIFICATION REGISTER LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES Director, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation National Register. evaluated according to the c-iteria and procedures set NAME AND TITLE: April 1974 NATIONAL STREET AND NUMBER: 10. GEOGRAPHICAL DATA level of significance of this nomination is: CITY OR TOWN: OF LESS THAN TEN ACRES Charles E. Frohman, Sandusky's Third Dimension (Columbus, 1971), ILIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES Keeper of The National Register UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (July 1969) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY 8.
important and flourishing nineteenth century Great Lakes port and Furthermore, this commercial and social history is embodied in the point of view of both design and structure, as contrasted in the late FEB2 8 1975 GP O 921-724 Erie DATE COUNTY STATE REGISTER Ohio NATIONAL RECEIVED Water Street Commercial District (Continuation Sheet) transportation center, and some aspects of an unusual social and Victorian stylistic facades and the utilitarian lakefront elevations. a group of structures of unusual architectural variety and interest, from Form 10-300a ENTRY NUMBER cultural life for such a city. (Number all entries) MAR 1 8 1975 Send-back L2, 3,74 Re-submit2, 28, 75 MAR 1 8 1975 Entered ARCHEOLOGIST KEEPER PHOTOS Federal Register entry National Register Write-up MAPS 10.12 REVIEW UNIT CHIEF WORKING NUMBER TECH REVIEW BRANCH CHIEF CONTROL REVIEW 10.8.74.1078 10-31-74 2. Location. 4.
Owner of Property. 6. Representation in Existing Surveys. - 11. Form Prepared By. 12. Certification. Name. Acreage Bibliography. Classification. Other. Location of Legal Description. The attached National Register Inventory-Nomination form is being returned to your Longitude and Latitude Coordinates Geographical Data. preferably an original USGS, which allows us to check latitude-longitude. office for clarification of the information indicated below. Clarification or correction of the above items must be made prior to the initiation Map Coverage. Please use a map bearing an identified system of coordinates, criteria in full.
SIGNED: of our professional review.Correction of these technical errors does not necessarily insure that the nomination will then satisfy the National Register PLEASE RETURN THIS FORM WHEN THE PROPERTY IS RESUBMITTED.DATE: Photos Inventory _ OTHER KEEPER Entered Maps TECHNICAL HAER 3.3.75 Re-submit ARCHEOLOGIST Send-back ACCEPT Review HISTORIAN United States Department of the Interior National Park Service WAso No.7 BRANCH CHIEF ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIAN National Register Write-up Federal Register Entry REVIEW UNIT CHIEF 3.12.75 LEBOVICH HAR 1 8 107 INT:2106-74 5-6-75 State CONTROL Working Number 10. 8. 74.16. 78 Sheet Form No. 10-301 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE U. S. G. S. Sandusky Quadrangle 1:24, 000 TO BE INCLUDED ON ALL MAPS 1. Property broundaries where required. 2. North arrow. 3. Latitude and longitude reference. * U.S.
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1973-729-148/1441 3-1 039 1969 043 Sandusky MAR Erie sheet DATE REQUIREMENTS Ohio NATIONAL STATE NAME COUNTY 975 CODE REGISTER LOCATION COMMON: ENTRY NUMBER SOURCE: PROPERTY MAP FORM SCALE: AND/OR HISTORIC: NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CITY OR TOWN: (Type all entries-attach to or enclose with map) STREET AND NUM BER: 101-165 East Water Street; 101-231 West Water Street FOR NPS USE ONLY Rev. 7-72 RECEIVED Water Street Commercial District MAP REFERENCE 7.5 MINUTE SERIES (TOPOGRAPHIC District GEOLOGICAL SURVEY DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR SANDUSKY QUADRANGLE UNITED STATES SANDUSKY, OHIO Water Street STATE OF OHIO 41° 27 27* Form No. 10-301 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Rev. 7-72 NATIONAL PARK SERVICE FOR NPS USE ONLY MAR 1 8 1975 STREET AND NUM BER: 1" = 200' TO BE INCLUDED ON ALL MAPS 1. Property broundaries where required. 2.
North arrow. 3. Latitude and longitude reference. * U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1973-729-148/1441 3-l 043 039 1974 NAME Sandusky REQUIREMENTS Erie DATE COUNTY REGISTER Ohio STATE NATIONAL CODE COMMON: Water Street Commercial District SCALE: MAP REFERENCE PROPERTY MAP FORM NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES SOURCE: hand drawn - Eric Johannesen ENTRY NUMBER AND/OR HISTORIC: CITY OR TOWN: (Type all entries-attach to or enclose with map) LOCATION 101-165 East Water Street; 101-231 West Water Street -See continuation sheet WATER STREET COMMERCIAL DISTRICT Scale: 1" = 200' Approx. 2.4 Acres OCT 8 Arrow North NATIONAL REGISTER East Water Street 101-165 E. Water St. 101-23l W. Water St. RECEIVED Street JAN 1 5 1975 10825 East Boulevard ERIC Co.
CHIO of the property being noainated need to be verbally atated in order Reserve Historlcal Soeiety Cleveland,0hie44106 Regional Director, Midwest Region w/cy inc. Director's Reading File Sincerely yours, BASIC FILE RETAINED IN PR Attention:Judy Kitchen PR w/cy inc. FNP:W Jandl:1ml:1/7/75 Interstate #7l at 17th Avenue ce:Mr. Charles C. Pratt 10825 East Boulevard -Cleveland, Ohio 44106 - (216) 721-5722 December 18, 1974 Meredith B. Colket, Jr. Ms. Katherine H. Cole Jairus B. Barnes Siegfried F. Buerling Hale Farm & Village Dear Ms. Cole: Harold R. Cullop I would appreciate some additional guidance on the Kenneth B. Gooding Kermit J. Pike and straightforward backs is not discussed. Individ- Frederick C. Crawford Alfred M. Rankin David W. Swetland self-evident from the photographs, or it would not have David S. Ingalls, Jr. A.
Dean Perry in, but I have no documentary evidence to support this Secretary OFFICERS Director Business Manager Scott Mueller comparative description. Treasurer variety and conscious attempt by individual owners Chief Curator, Auto-Aviation Museum Morris Everett Chief Librarian Vice President Historical Museum comparing individual buildings, and front (archit- request for clarification on the Inventory-Nomination Curator, National Register of Historic Places It has been my understanding that the description and architectural knowledge of your reader, rather than National Park Service form for the Water Street Commercial District, Sandusky.
come across to the viewer without a discussion to impress the viewer.Yet these factors do not a conclusion based on the photographs and on the THE WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY a descriptive fact.I could happily put such a statement ectural elements) and the rears of the buildings. Manager of Operations, I can't prove it. a statement is unnecessary.If it needs to be proven, Your comments are: Also,"a conscious attempt to impress the viewer' is been noted.I'm not sure what I could add by way of as a conclusion. In other words, if it is an obvious point, WRHS 7. Description. The contrast between elaborate fronts Washington, D. C. 20240 ual buildings deserve discussion. There is much the photographs complement one another rather than duplicate.The comparison of fronts and backs must be Ms. Katherine H. Cole December 18, 1974 requires specific discussion and justification.
" Could you amplification? Am I correct in assuming that the statement reader that the property should be listed, but not give a Finally, we have noted that there is a considerable range For example, these comments on #7 sound like someone cc: Judith Kitchen Preservationist are included. of significance should clearly and concisely convince the happy to supply. with a special interest in architecture vs. structure, whether complete history, which is why the bibliographical references or not this is something of special significance or merely an indicate which area on the enclosed marked sheet needs You also request additional photographs, which I will be in the type of comments made by various staff members. ordinary fact. Do you have some common guidelines?
Eric Eric Johannesen Your form also states:"Each designated area of significance PERIOD (Check One or More as Appropriate) - Pre-Columbian| - 20th Century 1855 - 1890 SPECIFIC DATEIS) (If Applicable and Known) | Urban Planning - Prehistoric - Other (Specify) - Science Commerce STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE directly on the lake, but landfill has put them 150 to 500 feet from merchants, upholsterers and furniture dealers, wholesale and retail use of native stone, Sandusky being situated on solid limestone a few Literary Association, a national organization devoted to the dissemin- was built in 1877. Fisher's Hall, built in 1867, housed three express Americans. companies.
Communications losophy SIGNIFICANCE Industry Architecture itarian Music Literature Agriculture Religion/Phi Theater Landscape Conservation Sculpture Education which later spread south along Columbus Avenue and east and west Political Aboriginal more substantially built than they would be in other cities of compar- along Market Street.The backs of the Water Street buildings faced were produce and commission merchants, dry goods, tailors and In addition, Sandusky very early became a strong cultural center. Engineering Fisher's Hall for fifty years. which is fairly early in the profession of architecture. bard's Granite Block on the northwest corner of Water and Columbus. architects.
There were already four listed in the directory of 1855, Transportation companies on the ground floor and the large public hall on the second These two blocks constitute the heart of the early mercantile Water Street was the original mercantile center of the city, ation of magazines and original art works.Its galleries were in Hub- of German and Irish citizens about equalled the number of native-born Two factors influenced the quality of the buildings.One was the in 1850 tripled by 1890.
It was served by three railroads.The number There were already three public halls in 1855,and an opera house the present shoreline.Among the businesses housed in the buildings feet below the ground surface.Thus many of the buildings are much From 1854 to 1860 it was headquarters for the Cosmopolitan Art and of the nineteenth century.It population of between 6,0oo and 7,000 Invention AREAs OF SIGNIFICANCE (Check One or More as Appropriate) Social/Human- clothiers, milliners and dressmakers, hardware, iron and stove Art Military grocers, drug stores, boots and shoe merchants, and express district in Sandusky.The city was a flourishing port by the middle MAR 1 8 1975 Columbus, Ohio 43211 Location Date Entered Name 3/18/74 MMott Sandusky Also Notified The Ohio Historical Society Erie County ENTRIES IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER Regional Director, Midwest Region Interstate 7l at i7th Avenue State Historic Preservation Officer STATE Eon.
Charles E.
Mosher R NATIONAL REGISTER DATA SHEET 2 OTHER NAMES: 3dote of entry: (12)SOURCE of NOMINATION - deteriorated Oruins Omoved EO NOT INTACT-O -unexposed - Unknown Ounexcavated -O NOT APPLICABLE - 9 @ AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE : -RECREATION -28 OCLAIMS: explain - COMMERCE=6 'first'O -ARCHEOLOGY - prehistoric-2 - ENTERTAINMENT-26 - LAW- 16 ARCHEOLOGY - historic- 1 - COMMUNICATIONS-7 - LITERATURE - 17 - SCIENCE- 23 'oldest' O - AGRICULTURE -3 - CONSERVATION - 8 - HEALTH- 27 - MILITARY - 18 - ECONOMICS-9 - INDUSTRY-13 - MUSIC - 19 - SOCIAL / CULTURAL - 30 'only' D - EDUCATION-10 C INVENTION - 14 - PHILOSOPHY - 20 - TRANSPORTATION -25 2functions major alterations : @master builder: landscape architect / garden designer: ) interior decorator: @builder/contractor: EVENTS : IIF ADDITIONAL SPACE NEEDED, NUMBER & PUT ON REVERSE 043 CONDITION Erie ASSOCIATION FEDERAL historic events: SETTLEMENT-29 PERSONAL: YES-Unrestricted INSTITUTIONAL: PRIVATE ORGANIZATION ENGINEERING-11 CURRENTLY: ACCESS Midwest artisan: LOCAL ARCHITECTURE-4 county code: 3-18-75 SUBSTANTIALLY INTACT-3 Water Street Commercial Buildings WHEN HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT: Dexcellent ADMINISTRATOR: vicinity of city/ town URBAN PLANWING-31 NAME as it appears on federal register: NAMES give role & date if state who prepared form?
Dfeatures: Doriginal site SAVED? YES BNPS REGION: STATE OLOCAION street & number - No Access C RELIGION- 22 -EXPLORATION - 12 aarchitectural style(s): ROMANESQUE PEVNAL/ @engineer: 1 artist: 11CONGRESS. DISTRICT ETHNIC GROUP Dgood