Old West End District

Toledo's Old West End grew after 1870, when prosperous merchants and later industrialists moved away from the commercial riverfront. They built large houses on oversized lots with park-like landscaping, and most were designed by architects. The district covers about 210 acres and includes Chateauesque, Romanesque, Queen Anne, Eastlake, Shingle, French Second Empire and Colonial Revival buildings. Residents included glass manufacturer Edward D. Libbey, who helped found the Toledo Museum of Art, along with produce exchange officers, bankers, and oil and iron company executives. The Dunn-Blair House copies a 1909 English manor addition, with landscaping by the Olmsted Brothers. The Mansionette Apartments are described as the best example of the Shingle style in Toledo. Today the area remains mainly residential, though many houses serve as apartments, businesses and charities. It was listed as one of the most important surviving examples of late Victorian and Edwardian residential architecture in the country.