{"nrhp_refnum":"07001296","name":"Rhodes and Watters Apartment Buildings, The","other_names":["Nela Manor Apartments"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"614, 608, 610, 612 W Market St. & 16 Rhodes Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Akron","county":"Summit County","state":"OH","lat":41.09358600000007,"lon":-81.53731676499996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2007-12-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Transportation","Social History","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Two garden-style apartment buildings, the Rhodes (1912) and the Watters (1925), on West Market Street in Akron's West Hill neighborhood, Summit County, Ohio. The Rhodes was built for Edith Hardie, and the Watters was built by Charles Watters.","why_significant":"The buildings are argued to represent early twentieth-century garden apartments that gave Akron's rubber-boom population a respectable middle-class alternative to tenement housing. The Rhodes is unusual for combining Craftsman and Tudor Revival styles. The Watters is distinguished by its more contemporary 20th Century Commercial style with Chicago School influence, in contrast to the Revival-style apartments nearby.","narrative":"Two apartment buildings on West Market Street in Akron's West Hill neighborhood document how the city housed its growing population during the rubber boom. The Rhodes, built in 1912 for Edith Hardie, is a three-story brick building with stacked screened front porches, wide eaves, false beams, and stucco and half-timbered gables that blend Craftsman and Tudor Revival features. The Watters, built by Charles Watters in 1925, is a brick building of three to four stories arranged in four blocks around courtyards, with stone accents and ganged casement windows showing 20th Century Commercial and Chicago School influence. Both are called garden apartments because they have front yards, a rare feature for urban multifamily housing of the period. They were presented as respectable middle-class alternatives to tenements, and their styles differ from other West Hill apartment complexes, which were designed in various Revival styles. Both have remained apartments throughout their history.","period_of_significance":"1910-1938","architect_builder":"Rhodes: UNKNOWN, Watters: Charles Watters (Builder)","architectural_style":"Craftsman Style; Tudor Revival Style; 20th Century Commercial Style; Chicago School Influence","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Both buildings have always been apartment buildings and are still used as multiple-dwelling apartments; the rear of the Rhodes has been altered by enclosure of the rear stair.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:07.74989-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/07001296.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07001296/d841ef5ae7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07001296/d841ef5ae7-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rhodes_and_Watters_Apartment_Buildings_from_Rhodes.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rhodes_and_Watters_Apartment_Buildings_from_Rhodes.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71991623","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138687798"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/summit-county/rhodes-and-watters-apartment-buildings-the-07001296/"}