{"nrhp_refnum":"83004287","name":"Columbus Near East Side Historic District-Parsons Avenue (Boundary Increase)","other_names":["See Also:Columbus Near East Side District"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"43-125 Parsons Ave. including 684 Oak St. and 690 Franklin Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Columbus","county":"Franklin County","state":"OH","lat":39.96255505000005,"lon":-82.98175574962735,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-12-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A boundary increase to the Columbus Near East Side Historic District covering a 2 1/2-block strip on the west side of Parsons Avenue between E. Broad Street and Bryden Road in Columbus, Ohio. It includes nine buildings (eight commercial, one residence) built between 1886 and 1932.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that the strip was the commercial center of a prominent turn-of-the-century neighborhood as Columbus expanded eastward (Criterion A). It also argues that the buildings show the shift from Italianate commercial blocks of the late 1800s to Revival and streamlined styles of the early 1900s (Criterion B).","narrative":"Parsons Avenue, just east of downtown Columbus, once served as the main business street of the Near East Side. This boundary increase adds the west side of the street between E. Broad Street and Bryden Road, a stretch of about two and a half blocks. It holds nine buildings, eight commercial and one residence, dating from 1886 to 1932, plus a vacant lot left after a fire-damaged building was demolished. The oldest is an 1886 Italianate block built for a chemist or druggist. Later buildings include a 1910 grocery, the plainly detailed Mattlin Building of 1922, the 1928 Tudor Revival Reynolds Building, and a 1930s auto service building for a long-established blacksmith and repair firm. The street thrived until World War I, declined afterward, and was cut off from its customers by Interstate 71 in the early 1960s. Listing recognizes the strip as the neighborhood's commercial core and as a record of changing commercial architecture.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899 and 1900- (specific dates 1886-1932)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Italianate, Tudor Revival, and early twentieth-century commercial styles","criteria":["A","B"],"status_note":"Mostly occupied commercial buildings in good, altered condition; one vacant lot at 71-75 Parsons Avenue remains where a fire-damaged building was demolished.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:15.244115-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/83004287.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83004287/7642167b75-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83004287/7642167b75-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"w_lemay","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bryden_Road,_Olde_Towne_East,_Columbus,_OH.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">w_lemay</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bryden_Road,_Olde_Towne_East,_Columbus,_OH.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71988453","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_Near_East_Side_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q96650371"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/franklin-county/columbus-near-east-side-historic-district-parsons-avenue-boundary-increase-83004287/"}