Tour Grafton Hill

Historical Marker, Central Avenue

• Original site of Deeds Barn

Symbolic of the architectural losses sustained along Central Avenue is this historical marker identifying the former location of Deeds Barn. It was here, in the barn or carriagehouse belonging to Edward Deeds, that Charles Kettering invented the electric ignition and self starter which revolutionized the automobile industry and led to the founding of DELCO, the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company. Though listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Deeds House was demolished and the barn was saved only by moving it to the Kettering-Moraine Museum.

212 Central Avenue

• c1888
• James Craven House Queen Anne

The relatively modest appearance of this house perhaps reflects the personality or profession of its earliest occupant, James Craven, who was principal of Huffman School. Though nearly three stories in height, the Craven house appears rather compact. The facade is dominated by a three story bay window with a pyramidal roof and ball finial. The third story of the bay is defined with a belt of decorative brick sometimes known as diaper work. Another interesting feature of the facade is the large round arched window with corresponding stone lintel above the porch. The small panes of stained glass surrounding the upper sash is a typical feature of the Queen Anne style.

Alley between Federal Street and Grand Avenue

Despite the installation of modern doors, the carriagehouses and converted garages that line both sides of this alley represent one of Dayton's best examples of the stylistic influences on service buildings constructed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The earliest buildings probably housed the family carriage or buggy, horse, and feed. But there are no barn-like structures here, such as one might find in the city's working class neighborhoods. Instead, property owners consciously tried to mimic the architectural styles of their dwellings, even for this most utilitarian of buildings.

237-239 Grafton Avenue

• c1896
• Free Classic Queen Anne

This thirteen room double parlor house was built by Eunice Cox, a Dayton teacher, as a rental. After having numerous owners and renters through the years, the property was finally rehabilitated in 1985.

Common after 1890 and especially after 1900, this subgroup of the Queen Anne style anticipated the revival of classical and colonial style architecture by nearly a decade. Here the style is apparent in the overall cleaner, simpler lines of the house, the porch columns and Palladian window. Nevertheless, traditional features of the Queen Anne style are evident, including the asymmetrical facade, dominant front-facing gable. tall chimneys and bay window.

309 Grafton Avenue

• c1910
• Free Classic Queen Anne

A small percentage of Queen Anne houses also incorporated period characteristics, in this case Tudor style half-timbering. An interesting feature of this house is the second story clipped corner bay window, the design of which appears to be a conscious response to the house's corner location. The hooded round arch window contrasts with the wide cornice which replicates the right angles of the intersecting streets.

319 Grafton Avenue

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• Prairie, Box, American Foursquare

The square house is among the most enduring to American house types. By the early 1900s a distinctly American form of the square house developed by a group of Chicago architects including Frank Lloyd Wright began to appear. Referred to as the Prairie, Box, or American Foursquare for its floor plan of four nearly equal rooms per floor this modest house type consists of a raised basement and two full stories. A verandah extends the length of the first story which is approached by steps. Foursquare houses usually have pyramidal roofs and at least one front dormer, and 319 Grafton fits this description perfectly. However, the house was constructed during the years when the California Mission style was influencing domestic building design, thus the roof is made of red clay tile and the dormer has a parapet design vaguely reminiscent of mission church facades.

Grand and Grafton Avenues Commodore Apartments

• c1920s

This ten story apartment building is typical of the multistory dwellings that began to appear in the stylish urban neighborhoods of many large cities during the early twentieth century. It is also a typical example of the way in which architects of the period attempted to articulate the design of increasingly taller buildings. Built in the Neoclassical style, it is not surprising that the architect employed the proportions of the classical column as a pleasing but very conservative design solution. The Commodore "column" consists of a three story concrete and terra cotta base, a seven story beige brick shaft and the massive cornice (capital) with medallions.

Dayton Art Institute

• c1930
• Italian Villa

Designed by Edward B. Green, the architect for numerous museum buildings in the United States, the Dayton Art Institute was primarily the gift of Dayton benefactress Julia Ward Carnell, a resident of the neighborhood at the time the building was constructed. A replica of an Italian Villa, the building features a hip red tile roof and an outstanding curving stairway which graces the classically inspired facade.

Masonic Temple

• c1928
• Classical Revival
• Herman and Brown Architects

Constructed of limestone with an elaborate Classical Revival facade, the Temple took 450 workmen two years and nine months to construct at a cost of $2,500,000. When dedicated in 1928 it was considered among the finest buildings of its kind. The Scottish Rite Cathedral, the largest room in the building, seats 1800 and has a fully equipped stage. Charles Underwood, president of the Masonic Temple at the time the building was constructed, was a Grafton Hill resident.

212, 226, 234 Belmonte Park

• c1920s
• English Tudor Revival

This group of English Tudor houses is among the finest in the Dayton area. Perhaps designed by a single architect, they exhibit many of the trademark features of the style, including false half-timbering, high pitched, gabled roofs, prominent elaborate chimneys and casement windows. The decorative possibilities of false half-timbering is particularly apparent at 212 and 226.

75 Stoddard Avenue

• c1925
• Gondert House
• Craftsman Bungalow

Once the home of Clarence Gondert of the Gondert and Leinsch Box Company, this house exhibits the traditional bungalow form of the Craftsman style.

Inspired by California architects Charles and Henry Greene, the Bungalow dominated the housing industry during the 1910s and 1920s. The design of the Greenes' bungalows were spread throughout the country by pattern books and popular magazines producing numerous vernacular examples in every state. Here the low-pitched gable roof, wide, unenclosed overhanging eaves and exposed roof rafters make the Gondert House an excellent example of the Bungalow style.

324-326 Grand Avenue

• Craftsman

Though the false half-timbering of this large double house would seem to identify it with the Tudor Revival style it is actually an example of the Craftsman style because of the tapestry brick which makes up the lower two thirds of the wall surface and contrasts nicely with the half-timbering. Tapestry brick was wire cut to achieve slight imperfections, evoking the hand craftsmanship promoted by the Arts and Crafts movement. The brick was then fired using a process that resulted in a range of soft colors including reds, purples, blues, browns, buffs, and grays. The brick was laid randomly or in patterns of one or more colors resulting in a tapestry effect.

312-14, 318 Grand Avenue

• c1890
• 318 is the Joseph H. Painter House
• Queen Anne

If there was a major goal of the designers of Queen Anne houses it was to employ any device necessary to avoid flat wall surfaces. As we see here, Queen Anne houses frequently incorporated bay windows, towers, heavy brackets and decorative shingles.

318 Grand Avenue was constructed by John Stoddard in 1895 for John L. Coan, a clerk for the Stoddard Manufacturing Company. In 1905 Joseph H. Painter, the principal of Steele High School from 1914 1932, purchased the house and lived there with his family until 1940. Like many houses in the neighborhood, it was converted to a rooming house in the 1940s, probably to accommodate the demand for housing during Dayton's war time industrial boom.

235 Belmonte Park

• c1926
• English Tudor

If you look closely, you can see the 1926 date in the strapwork detailing. The house was designed by the Cincinnati architectural firm of Smith and Chamberlain and constructed for $31,000. Converted to apartments in 1942, the house was finally condemned before being purchased in 1979 and eventually rehabilitated. Besides the Tudor style false half-timbering and banks of casement windows, this house retains a fine slate roof.

233, 227 BelmontePark

• c1910
• Prairie

Low-pitched hipped roofs, wide overhanging eaves, large square porch supports and detailing which emphasizes the horizontal combine to create two of Dayton's best examples of Prairie style architecture.

233 was built by tobacco company executive Oliver Whallon as a wedding present for his daughter Mabel Dixon. According to the purchase agreement with the landowner John Stoddard, the house was to cost not less than $4000. Daniel Mikesell, founder of the Mike Sells Potato Chip Company, owned the house from 1956 until the death of Mrs. Mikesell in 1971.

The nearly identical house at 227 Belmonte Park East was also built by Oliver Whallon on land purchased from John Stoddard. In 1920 the house was purchased by John F. Ohmer, the inventor of the taxicab meter, the parking meter, and the trolley car fare box. Ohmer remodeled and enlarged the house in 1937.

205 Belmonte Park

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• Judge T.A. Ferreding House
• Colonial Revival

The Ferreding House draws on various features of the Colonial Revival Style to create one of the grandest houses in the Grafton Hill Historic District. The house was designed by architect Robert Dexter, who built several houses in the neighborhood.

Characteristics of the Colonial Revival style evident here include a symmetrically balanced facade, accentuated front entrance with a heavy decorative crown pediment door surround and windows with double-hung sashes and multi-paned glazing in one or more sashes. The Elizabethan style windows in the twin gables and central dormer are an eclectic reminder of the Tudor style, an overlapping early twentieth century influence.

An attractive feature of the Ferreding House is the glass enclosed five sided porch with balustrade. An unusually fine stone and wrought iron wall encloses the rear of the property. Proving that nearly everything about an historic property has a story to tell, the stone for the wall came from an early 1800s Pennsylvania barn on the family homestead located where the Salem Mall now stands.

632 Belmonte Park

• c1925
• Colonial Revival

Along with the Adam or Federal style, the Georgian style was the inspiration for most Colonial Revival architecture. Although this house is not strictly symmetrical, other fundamental characteristics of the style are evident including multi-paned double-hung sash windows and the front entrance accented by a fanlight over the main double doors.

607 Belmonte Park

• c1900
• Edwin Reynolds House
• Shingle style

This unusual house is more reminiscent of the fashionable east coast summer resorts of Newport and Long Island than the industrial north. Nevertheless, the rambling structure fits well into this corner lot. According to the McAlesters, unlike other nineteenth century styles that preceded it Shingle Style houses do not emphasize decorative detailing at doors, windows, cornices and porches. Instead the aim is to create the effect of a complex shape enclosed within the shingled exterior, unifying the irregular outline of the house. Details such as the wide overhanging bracketed eaves are designed to enhance or draw attention to the contrasting uniformity of the surface, as are the seemingly random locations of the white painted windows.