Huron-Superior Streets Warehouse-Produce Historic District

Just south of downtown Toledo, this 14-acre district groups 29 mostly brick warehouse and produce buildings along Huron, Superior, Washington and Market Streets. Built between 1870 and 1942, they are generally two to five stories tall, with stone lintels, arcaded round-arched windows, corbelled cornices and surviving storefronts and painted signs. The five-story Berdan Building of 1901-02, influenced by Richardson's Marshall Field Warehouse in Chicago, anchors the district, while the 1897 Spaghetti Warehouse restaurant marks its northeast corner. The area grew as a junction between Toledo's retail and warehouse districts, near the canals, Swan Creek and the Maumee River. It has long housed produce wholesalers and related businesses, and a 1924-25 municipal garage reflects the role of automobiles. The district was listed for its contribution to commercial and transportation history and for its representative commercial architecture. Twenty-five buildings contribute to its character, and several are still used much as originally intended.