{"nrhp_refnum":"83001961","name":"Columbus Avenue Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"102-162 Columbus Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Sandusky","county":"Erie County","state":"OH","lat":41.456449256500065,"lon":-82.71160451138847,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-01-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A commercial historic district on the east side of Columbus Avenue in Sandusky, Ohio, running from East Water Street to East Market Street. It is a block of 19th and early 20th century shops, banks and offices, most built between 1853 and 1914.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that no other single retail block in Sandusky preserves the character of the immediate post-Civil War commercial period as well as this one. The buildings show the use of local ashlar and rusticated sandstone and limestone, and a high level of provincial vernacular design. Their varied occupants reflect typical retail uses in a growing 19th century town.","narrative":"Columbus Avenue in Sandusky holds a compact block of commercial buildings on its east side, a short distance from Sandusky Bay. Dating mostly from 1853 to 1914, the buildings include Second Empire structures with mansard roofs, an Italianate building with arched windows, and plainer Victorian shops. Many are faced in local sandstone or limestone, a material available because the city sits on easily reached limestone strata. Their early occupants included druggists, clothiers, banks, a bookstore, a barber shop and a hardware store. One building housed a women's shelter and training center from 1913 to 1921, and another began as a silent movie theater in 1914 and incorporates the wall of Sandusky's first stone house. The district was listed because the block keeps the look of the years just after the Civil War better than any other retail block in the city, and because its architecture shows strong provincial design.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"G. Feick (contractor, 126 Columbus Ave.); Horace and Augustus Moss (builders of the Moss Building); Anton Buderus and Cornelius Schnaitter (builders of 104-106 Columbus Ave.)","architectural_style":"Second Empire, Italianate and Victorian functional commercial buildings","criteria":[],"status_note":"Individual inventory sheets list conditions from fair to excellent. Several buildings have altered ground floors, and 110 Columbus Ave. was damaged by fire in 1973.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:15.196644-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/83001961.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"100001899","name":"Downtown Sandusky Commercial Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/ohio/downtown-sandusky-commercial-historic-district-100001899/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71984952","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":null},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/erie-county/columbus-avenue-historic-district-83001961/"}