Spring Grove Historic District
Why it's listed
This small East Toledo neighborhood near Mason Street, Spring Grove Avenue and Greenwood Avenue contains 33 buildings: 19 single-family houses, 3 contributing outbuildings and 11 noncontributing outbuildings. All were built between 1910 and 1917 by the Toledo contracting firm Breyman & O'Neil, which specialized in railway, street and sewer work and also built homes on the East Side, often as speculative investments. Fourteen of the houses are made of cast-concrete block, including their Ionic-capped porch columns. No other part of Toledo has so many of them in one place, and the nomination calls them the best local examples of cast concrete used as masonry. The houses are one-and-a-half or two stories with full front porches and gabled or hipped roofs. The district was listed for architecture because it reflects the housing boom that followed industrial growth in East Toledo, when factories drew workers and builders put up homes for them. The four frame houses have been resided, but the block houses are largely unaltered.
Significance in brief: The district is significant under Criterion C as an example of vernacular working-class residential architecture in East Toledo. It has the heaviest concentration of cast-concrete block houses in the city, and the nomination calls them the best examples of cast concrete used as a type of masonry. All 19 dwellings were built by Breyman & O'Neil, often as speculation housing during a period of industrial growth.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 96000832, listed August 8, 1996. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly bounded by Mason, Spring Grove, Greenwood, and Conrail Tracks, Toledo |
|---|---|
| County | Lucas County |
| Listed | August 8, 1996 |
| Reference number | 96000832 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1910-1917 |
| Architect / builder | Breyman & O'Neil (local Toledo contracting firm) |
| Architectural style | Late 19th and Early 20th Century American Movements; Vernacular (Residential Architecture in Ethnic and Working Class Neighborhoods) |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Described as completely intact, with 19 single-family dwellings still in residential use; some frame houses have been resided and the concrete block houses are largely untouched. |
| Acreage | 2 |
| Coordinates | 41.65130, -83.50715 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 96000832.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.