Nomination for Thurber, James, House

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS TYPE ALL ENTRIES -- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS Thurber, James, House AND/OR COMMON STREET & NUMBER NOT FOR PUBLICATION CITY, TOWN CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT _ VICINITY OF STATE Ohio PRESENT USE STRUCTURE -WORK IN PROGRESS PRIVATE RESIDENCE SITE PUBLIC ACQUISITION - IN PROCESS -YES: UNRESTRICTED XOTHER: Vacant OWNER OF PROPERTY 5 LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS 039 LOCATION CODE DATE OWNERSHIP HISTORIC 8/75 Columbus ACCESSIBLE MILITARY GOVERNMENT CLASSIFICATION ENTERTAINMENT TRANSPORTATION CATEGORY DISTRICT SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE PARK INDUSTRIAL 12th NAME RELIGIOUS PUBLIC STATUS Ohio Historic Inventory Metropolitan Learning Community Ohio DATE ENTERED XBUILDING(S) 77 Jefferson Avenue TITLE XUNOCCUPIED _BEING CONSIDERED _FEDERAL _COMMERCIAL -EDUCATIONAL 410 South High Street FOR NPS USE ONLY _BOTH -MUSEUM Form No.

10-300 REV. (9/77) RECEIVED AUG 2 1 1979 COUNTY Franklin NOV XPRIVATE _OBJECT DESCRIPTION X DETERIORATED XORIGINAL SITE X ALTERED CONDITION DATE EXCELLENT UNEXPOSED UNALTERED GOOD FAIR door architraves with decorative corner blocks and some with entablatures The building is in a deteriorated state in a downtown Columbus large round arched window is located on the south elevation at the landing the 2 bay facade.A large round arched window with rusticated brick embellish the gable in the south elevation, while rectangular windows in the form of dormers and three brick chimneys rise out of the roofline.

a large park down the middle of the street.A relatively new, nondescript and different wood trim and a gablet with a semicircular window also windows with stone lintels and sills are on the second story.A gable The simple entrance with transom is located in the southern bay of and four mantels are intact. All feature rectangular openings with smooth stone lintels and sills.A with a rectangular window and decorative wood trim taps the slightly The side and rear elevations are less decorative than the facade. wrought iron fence borders the sidewalk. projecting bay of the facade.A with rectangular window the immediate south.A partial remainder is in storage) stone and CHECK ONE The James Thurber House is a large 21/2 story brick structure.It is is irregular in plan and measures approximately 25'by 60'(2 by 8 bays).

- MOVED DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Description of the property

features such as the handsome front and rear staircases, the window and RUINS of the main staircase.Quarter round windows and imbricated shingles dimensional woodwork and a decorated gable. punctuate the roofline on the facade. The present front porch is a later constructed on a stone foundation and has a gabled slate roof.The building neighborhood.Jefferson Avenue is one of the few streets in the city with AREAS OF

Statement of significance

Mary, and their three sons, William, James and Robert; second, by James Thurber's own account, it is the "ghost house" written about in 1933 in still standing, bears no tablet or plaque of any description, and is never shooting a patrolman.

I am sorry, therefore, as I have said, that I ever ART THEATER SIGNIFICANCE 1500-1599 RELIGION ENGINEERING ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC COMMERCE PERIOD BUILDER/ARCHITECT ECONOMICS AGRICULTURE EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT SCULPTURE INDUSTRY XLITERATURE _COMMUNICATIONS three-street Columbus subdivision known as "East Park Place." XARCHITECTURE _POLITICS/GOVERNMENT own as a relatively well-preserved residence built in the once-fashionable _CONSERVATION _SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN The Thurber family lived in a number of different houses and hotels OTHER (SPECIFY) pointed out to visitors.Once Thurber's mother, walking past the place with -1400-1499 through a window of the house next door and ended up with my grandfather -TRANSPORTATION pieces, written from memory (with a liberal amount of fancy) years after he MILITARY -1600-1699 hilarious account of Columbus'l9l3 flood,was, as were all of his Columbus had left the city.

-EDUCATION -1700-1799 "The Night the Ghost Got My Life and Hard it served from 1913to 1915 as the home of Charles -1900- - MUSIC - LAW originally published in The New Yorker); third, it has visual merit of its year 1894, at 147 Parsons Avenue, Columbus, Ohio. The house, which is house, " to which the old lady, who was extremely deaf, replied, "Why on "The Night the Ghost Got In" begins with the following statement: "The Avenue (one block east of Jefferson, originally part of the East Park Place possibly to avoid embarrassment to the current occupants.

INVENTION "James Thurber was born on a night of wild portent and high wind in the at that." Thurber often changed the addresses of houses in his stories, Champion Avenue, which is still standing and is the house written about in on walking, and go to bed.Its advent caused my mother to throw a shoe ghost that got into our house on the night of November 17,19l5,raised such the preface to The Thurber in wrote that: (l952).The well-known Thurber short story,"The Day the Dam Broke,"a James Grover Thurber was born in December Brian, Martha. "Thurber's Columbus, Then and Now." Columbus Monthly, March, 1976.

The rest of the file

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

GEOGRAPHICAL DATA ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY Less than one VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES STATE Z 11 FORM PREPARED BY NAME / TITLE STREET & NUMBER CITY OR TOWN 12 STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER CERTIFICATION THE EVALUATED SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PROPERTY WITHIN THE STATE IS: NATIONAL - LOCAL - As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665). I criteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER SIGNATURE CHIEF OP REGISTRATION GPO 921-803 TELEPHONE ORGANIZATION COUNTY 6/79 CODE DATE Columbus 614-221-0227 NORTHING Ohio Southeast Columbus Columbus Landmarks Foundation ZONE EASTING UTM REFERENCES QUADRANGLE NAME MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Thurber, James.My Life and Hard Times.

New York:Harper & Row,1933. hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the 22 N. Front St. FOR NPS USE ONLY Coyle,William, ed. Ohio Authors and Their Books.Cleveland:The World Publishing Co.,1962 Columbus City Directory. Columbus; R.L. Polk & Co, 1915 and 1916. Nominated property consists of parcel # 6303 in the City of Columbus. ZONE ATTEST: 1:24000 KEEPER OF THE NATIONAL REGISTER QUADRANGLE SCALE irectar Form No.

10-300a UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AUG 2 1 1979 NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM Thurber, James, House, Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio CONTINUATION SHEET Columbus), was intentionally changed, and the matter was cleared up in Dispatch Sunday Magazine, in which Thurber stated "I deliberately changed quite an experience to hear him running up the stairs toward the year the family moved into the house at 77 Jefferson Avenue, to 1918. After several years abroad he returned to Columbus, working as a numerous Thurber books, short stories, fables, plays and other works, many time The New Yorker was dominated by the work of Harold Ross, E.B. White directories.

development RECEIVED long and distinguished literary career which saw the publication of gifted humorist." my experience, described the walking and running upstairs before I could and James Thurber. He worked on the Lantern and Sundail (campus newspaper and humor magazine) New York Times Sunday Magazine writer called "America's most subtle and DATE ENTERED staffs while attending the University.

the only authentic ghost I ever encountered myself and we never heard it association with the New Yorker in l927.This marked the start of his the address for the simple reason that there was a ghost--the family who lived in the house ahead of us moved out because of the strange reporter for the Columbus there until l924,when he and now the location of Interstate 7l through downtown Avenue on November 17,1915,is confirmed by a check of Columbus city FOR NPS USE ONLY James Thurber attended ohio State University off and on from l9l3, Thurber died on November 2,196l,an honored author (Hev.

10-74) NOV 8 1979 brother and me, and to see nothing whatever.A Columbus jeweler is said left the arriving eventually in New York where he began his long describe it myself.They were undeniably the steps of a and it was Photos Inventory - KEEPER OTHER HAER ARCHEOLOGIST CONTROL Re-submit Send-back TECHNICAL Review Federal Register Entry National Register Write-up United States Department of the Interior-Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service REVIEW UNIT CHIEF BRANCH CHIEF Working Numberg. 21.79.2001 8 1979 Maps 2-5-80 11.8.29 Entered NOV 11.8-79 Cept FRANKLIN COUNTY, OHIO THUBBER, JAMES RESIDENCE 77 Jefferson Ave. 22 N. Front St. June, 1979 AUG 2 1 1979 South elevation Columbus Landmarks Foundation 81979 Columbus, Ohio 43215 THURBER, JAMES RESIDENCE Franklin County, Ohio June, 1979 AUG 2 1 1979 Columbus Landmarks Foundation 22 N. Front St.

Facade and north elevation NOV81979 Columbus, Ohio 43215 NOV OHIO-FRANKLIN CO DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR SOUTHEAST COLUMBUS, OHIO SOUTHEAST COLUMBUS QUADRANGLE N3952.5 - w8252.5/7.5 4.5 MINUTE SERIES (TOPOGRAPHIC UNITED STATES ROAD CLASSIFICATION 17/33040/45680 JUN 1 5 1979 AUG 2 .1 1979 Dr. Thomas H. Smith I-71 & 17th Avenue Dear Dr. Smith: Metropolitan Learning Community ("MLC") is the approval for such listing be granted at the June 29, 1979 The house served as the renowned author's home from memory - structural deterioration, emergency repairs are needed, and Metropolitan Learning Community 65 Jefferson Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614) 228-7441 Board.

Director NATIONAL REGISTER RECEIVED requesting that this property be listed on the National community now being developed in the surrounding neighbor- Because of the structure's historic significance meeting of the Ohio Historic Site Preservation Advisory listing on the National Register will make the property ing that both the preliminary approval and the final The Ohio Historical Society on the National Register will assist in preventing the poses to use the renovated structure in order to house a eligible to receive funds which can make possible the literary program which would be appropriate to the Thurber preservation of this important Columbus landmark.

and architectural appropriateness, MLc intends to renovate owner of the James Thurber House located at 77 Jefferson it, and to use it as a part of the metropolitan learning There are two reasons why it is urgent that action a demolition order from the City of Columbus, and listing DIRECTOR'S OFFICE Avenue, Columbus, Ohio. By this letter, MLC is formally be taken promptly. First, the structure is presently under implementation of that order. Second, in order to prevent Register of Historic Places.In addition, MLc is request- best-known stories, The Night The Ghost Got In.MLC pro- Dr. Thomas H. Smith June 14, 1979 AUG 2 1 1979 Lawrence L. Fisher Hon. Tom Moody William C. Habig Donn F. Vickers President NATIONAL REGISTER RECEIVED Your consideration of this matter is greatly Sincerely yours, information or documentation, I will be glad to provide the same upon request.

LLF:dk August 10, 1979 Mr. Charles Herrington, Acting Keeper U.S. Department of the Interior 440 G Street, N.W. Washington, D. C. 20243 Dear Mr. Herrington: Enclosed are four regular submissions, one emergency nomination, two Thurber, James, House Lee, Samuel, House Al1 have been approved by the state review board Gatehouse, William Telling Residence The Telling Residence amendment was originally submitted on October 31, 1978, Ohio Historic Preservation Office Regular submissions: NATIONAL REGISTER RECEIVED Knox County Cuyahoga County roofing problems. Emergency nomination: Seneca County Franklin County Fredericktown Historic Resources Tyler Davidson Fountain Heritage Conservation & Recreation Service Hamilton County West Fourth Street Historic District Coshocton County Amendments to existing nominations: currently pending for a property in the West Fourth Street Historic District.

but apparently has been misplaced by your staff.A tax act certification is Henny Barn National Register of Historic Places Ohio Historical Center 1-71& 17th Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43211 (614) 466-1500 The owners wish to apply for an emergency grant-in-aid to address critical amendments to existing nominations, and three resubmissions of nominations returned by your staff for more information. Mr. Charles Herrington August 10, 1979 Page 2 David L. Brook Deputy, State Historic Preservation Officer Sincerely, Muskingum County Resubmissions: Kossuth Colony McIntire Terrace Historic District Butler County DLB:CW Montgomery County Western Female Seminary Please let me know if we can provide any additional information U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR HERITAGE CONSERVATION AND RECREATION SERVICE TIME OF CALL ADDRESS (Tol. No. if neoded) Ohio DATE TELEPHONE REPORT CALL June 1978 L FROM (Name) 3.

SUBJECT, PROJECT NO., ETC. DETAILS OF DISCUSSION OFFICE FHR-8-227 TITLE NAME OF PERSON PLACING/RECEIVING CALL David dimmons Thurber, James, House Honorable Howard M. Metzenbaum Honorable John H. Glenn, Jr. Mr. David Brook Columbus, Ohio 43211 Location Byers/bjr STATE 11/14/79 Name Columbus OHIO Franklin County Also Notified The Ohio Historical Society For further information, please call the National Register at (202)343-6401. State Historic Preservation Officer Honorable Samuel L. Devine ENTRIES IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER Interstate 7l at 17th Avenue Date Entered