Chagrin Falls West Side District

Chagrin Falls West Side District is a residential neighborhood of about 29 acres beside the Chagrin River, covering parts of eight blocks and roughly six dozen houses. Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, Second Empire and Queen Anne buildings stand side by side along open, tree-lined streets, mostly white frame houses with some brick. The houses date from 1845 to 1900, a period when the village grew into a mill and manufacturing center powered by the river. Local industrialists lived here, including Curtiss and John Bullard of the wooden ware factory and J.D. Williams of the thimble skein and sad iron works. The building at 55 West Washington housed a select school in the late 1830s. Much of the architecture is credited to two builders: William C. Hutchings, who worked in brick Greek Revival and vernacular forms, and Joseph O'Malley, who favored Italianate, Eastlake and Queen Anne designs. The district was listed as a well-preserved example of a small nineteenth-century village neighborhood with a distinctive riverside character.