Monroe Street Commercial Buildings

Two blocks of Victorian brick commercial buildings line the southwest side of Monroe Street in Toledo, Ohio, with additional turn-of-the-century buildings on Huron Street. Constructed between roughly 1872 and 1905, they feature bracketed cornices, curved and rectangular pediments, and ornament in a variety of styles. The most elaborate group, at 607-611 Monroe, recalls the Second Empire style, and one building at 619-623 carries a stone banner reading "Hannon's Block - 1894." Ground floors have been altered, but the upper stories largely survive. The district matters because it is the largest surviving concentration of commercial buildings from this era in Toledo, a city that was the third largest rail center in the nation by 1870 and home to over 750 manufacturers. The area was a center for wholesale food merchants and importers, and many food businesses still operate here, though some buildings now serve as bars, storage, or stand vacant.