Columbus Avenue Historic District

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.