{"nrhp_refnum":"85001843","name":"Middle Bass Club Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Grape and Grove Aves.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Middle Bass Island","county":"Ottawa County","state":"OH","lat":41.68437114400004,"lon":-82.82500148312567,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-08-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district of cottages and a brick pump house arranged in two parallel rows on Grape and Grove Avenues on the western shore of Middle Bass Island in Lake Erie, Ottawa County, Ohio. The buildings date from about 1874 to the 1910s and were part of a private recreational club.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district is the only private recreational complex on the Lake Erie Islands, reflecting a club-based pattern of recreation practised by members between 1875 and 1915. It also shows an evolution of cottage architecture through several styles, from Greek and Gothic Revival to Colonial Revival and bungalow forms.","narrative":"Two short rows of wood-frame, stucco and shingle-sided cottages on Grape and Grove Avenues, together with a red brick pump house, make up this district on the western shore of Middle Bass Island in Lake Erie. The buildings come from the Middle Bass Club, which grew out of a boating and fishing association organized by Toledo men in 1872 and leased an acre of a grape farm in 1874. Membership was limited to 200 men, members and their guests ate at a communal clubhouse, and the cottages had no kitchens. Eventually about 30 private cottages were built; the clubhouse and other shared buildings are gone except the pump house. The surviving cottages show five phases of style, from simple Greek Revival-based forms through ornate Gothic Revival and Second Empire detail, Italianate, and Colonial Revival to early bungalows. The district is described as the only private recreational complex on the Lake Erie Islands and as a record of a largely forgotten way of life.","period_of_significance":"1874-1917","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Cottage architecture in five phases: Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Second Empire, Italianate, Tudor half-timber, Shingle, Colonial Revival and bungalow influences","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Condition is listed as excellent and altered; the district is occupied, with cottages in private residential and recreational use. Later siding has covered some original detail. The 1882 clubhouse was demolished in 1948.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:14.986731-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/85001843.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71990837","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":null},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/ottawa-county/middle-bass-club-historic-district-85001843/"}