From Columbus Landmarks’ office on Jefferson Avenue, about 45 people boarded a bus and made the short drive to Ohio State University Hospital East to see the hospital’s iconic tower.
The tower is perhaps the most visible feature on Columbus Landmark’s 2024 list of “most endangered” sites – historic buildings that soon could be lost. The tour for Columbus Landmarks members and local media aimed to highlight the importance of the buildings, show them as they are now and start a conversation with owners and developers.
Amanda Lucas, executive director of Ohio State University East Hospital, said the tower was designed by Leon Ransom, a prominent Black architect. Construction started in 1967 and was finished in 1971, making the building about 53 years old.
Today, the tower houses around 160 beds for patients and has outpatient care and physicians’ offices, Lucas said.
She said as of right now, there are no plans to demolish or replace the tower, though Lucas hopes one day it might be modernized.
Columbus Landmarks CEO Rebecca Kemper said the tower made the list of endangered buildings because it has been mentioned before in various development plans.
“We're trying to get ahead of any sort of changes in terms of budget or administration to make sure that it's very well known that this is a landmark that the community cares about,” Kemper said.
Other buildings on the tour have less certain fates. The former Sugar Shack building on Fourth Street in Weinland Park, for example, is boarded up.
Kemper said it was a typical commercial building in the 1920s that was later known as the Chapman Building and had a local grocer. “Which is something Weiland Park has been advocating for for a long time,” Kemper said.
In the 1960s the building became the popular music venue, the Sugar Shack. “Lots of acts would come through here, and (it was) sort of a watering hole for the neighborhood as well,” Kemper said.
Rita Dedrick, of the far west side, was along for the ride. She said she was surprised by this year's list of buildings.
“They weren't buildings that necessarily came to mind. I'm just so curious to know more about them and why they're endangered and why they're important,” Dedrick said.
She said as she learned more about the buildings, she was worried about losing them.
“There's so much history and legacy in these older buildings, and if we lose them too easily, we lose ourselves,” Dedrick said.
The other buildings on Columbus Landmarks’ current endangered list are Holy Rosary and St. John Catholic Church (located at 640-660 South Ohio Avenue), a 1920s-era schoolhouse (located at 3680 Westerville Road) and the former Spaghetti Warehouse building (located on West Broad Street) in Franklinton.
Kemper said the Spaghetti Warehouse building was originally an icehouse.
“Before we had refrigeration, individuals would need to store blocks of ice, and those blocks of ice would be transported to individual households to keep your food cold. So, those buildings had to be built incredibly sturdy and very large,” Kemper said.
Later, the building became Spaghetti Warehouse, until a partial roof collapse in 2022 forced the restaurant to move.
Kemper said the community nominates buildings to the endangered list, then Columbus Landmarks’ staff and board choose which ones they want to present to the community as places to save.
Jamee Parish, of Clintonville, is a residential architect who went on Tuesday’s tour.
Parish said she believes the city of Columbus does a good job of balancing new development and saving historic buildings.
"I think the more people are aware of the older buildings and what makes them special, I think the better everything will be, the easier it will be to do that,” Parish said.
