Bavarian Brewery

Built in 1857 at 1816-1820 W. Jefferson Street in Sandusky, this three-story limestone building housed one of the city's early breweries. Two German residents of Sandusky, George Beier and Charles Pusch, constructed it and also operated a cooperage there, so beer and the barrels to hold it were both produced on the premises for a time. The walls are rubble limestone with quoins, and cut stone lintels, sills and steps provide the only accents on the plain vernacular design. Four small windows sit under the eaves on the east and west sides. Later changes include cement over part of the first floor, filled-in windows and one west window lengthened into a loading door. The building changed uses over the years: the Sandusky Pickling Company in 1896, a rectifying house for the Sweet Valley Wine Company in 1915, and a dairy from the 1930s to the 1950s. It once stood near other breweries and wineries, all now closed and demolished or burned.