{"nrhp_refnum":"92001374","name":"Fire Blocks Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Jefferson, Fourth, St. Clair and Second Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Dayton","county":"Montgomery County","state":"OH","lat":39.75843155550007,"lon":-84.18877919779598,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1992-10-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A commercial and light-industrial historic district in downtown Dayton, Ohio, one block east of Main Street, roughly bounded by Jefferson, Fourth, St. Clair and Second streets. It holds 23 contributing buildings, mostly three to six stories, built largely between 1910 and 1926.","why_significant":"The district is significant under Criteria A, B and C for industry, architecture and social history. Most of its buildings were rebuilt after the 1913 flood and fire that destroyed this part of downtown, and they show the utilitarian Commercial style along with Classical, Gothic Commercial and Italianate examples. Developer Adam Schantz Jr. figured prominently in the rebuilding.","narrative":"Fire Blocks Historic District covers a group of mostly three- to six-story brick and concrete buildings in downtown Dayton, Ohio, one block east of Main Street. They were built to house small retail shops and light industry, and most went up after the 1913 flood and fire destroyed the area. The dominant look is the plain, functional Commercial style, but the district also includes the Georgian Revival Elks Building by architect Albert Pretzinger, the Kimmel Building by Robert Dexter, the city's only Gothic Commercial building in glazed terra cotta, a Gothic Revival church, and a few surviving Italianate buildings from the 1860s and 1870s. An early reinforced concrete building, the Beaver Power Building, dates from 1910. Developer Adam Schantz Jr. helped reshape the downtown skyline by building here. The district was recognized for its role in Dayton's industry, its architecture, and the story of the city's rebuilding, with a period of significance of 1865 to 1926. Twenty-three buildings contribute to its character.","period_of_significance":"1865-1926","architect_builder":"Schantz, Adam Jr.; Pretzinger, Albert; Dexter, Robert E.","architectural_style":"Commercial style; Classical Revival","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Several buildings have altered storefronts, and some were rehabilitated in the 1980s. The Elks Building was rehabilitated in 1986.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:14.179928-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/92001374.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"100004316","name":"Downtown Dayton Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/ohio/downtown-dayton-historic-district-100004316/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71990541","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":null},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/montgomery-county/fire-blocks-historic-district-92001374/"}