Louis Traxler Mansion
Built c. 1909-1911 for Louis & Adeline Traxler, President of the Traxler Department Store, this Flemish Chateauesque style building stands out in the Dayton View Historic District. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places individually in 1979 and again in 1984 as part of the district.
The property was reportedly designed by Harvey Hiestand (1872-1944), founder of Miami University's College of Architecture in 1929 and its chair until 1938. The house is a larger version of the Leo Flesh Mansion in Piqua, Ohio, which was built c. 1907. Hiestand would eventually move to New York (at least between 1911 and 1913) and use the design once again c. 1912. That house is now the Lynne Parks '68 SUNY Cortland Alumni House.
Hiestand was once an employee of the Frank Mills Andrews's architecture firm according to a 1991 article about the Traxler Mansion. Andrews is attributed to designing the Dayton Arcade's 3rd Street Façade, and was once married to Gertrude Reynolds, daughter of John R. Reynolds, but later divorced. Gertrude lived for decades in the Van Deman Apartments on a hefty alimony.
Louis Traxler was born in Austria in 1864. The family moved to the United States in 1883. After a brief residence in Pennsylvania and Indiana, Traxler came to Dayton in 1899. He began his own mercantile business, which prospered and grew. Louis Traxler purchased the property in 1909. In 1911, the Traxler family moved into the large two-story stone house where they remained until 1929.
The house and property were sold to David Pickrell, Jr. in 1929. Pickrell was the owner of the Pickrell Plumbing Company and also the president of the North Dayton Savings Bank.
In 1932, the house was sold to Lillian Baker, whose husband, Frank R. Baker, was a salesman. Frank Baker later opened his own restaurant in downtown Dayton.
During the war, the house was divided into apartments. In 1941, it became a boarding house and divided into 22 apartments.
When the home was put up for auction in 1977, Dayton attorney Gerald Callahan bought it for $34,000 and restored it at a cost of $150,000. Callahan lived in the house for several years, but sold to Centerville physician Virginia Stull.
Stull then sold the property to Rev. William & Doris Moore in 1990, who have owned the property since that time.
The house was selected as a Dayton Philharmonic Show House in 1991, and was selected as one of Ohio's Most Endangered Properties by Preservation Ohio in 2019 and again in 2022.
On April 23, 2023 at around 3am, the Dayton Fire Department arrived to find the building fully engulfed in flames. Thanks to their heroic efforts, most of the four walls still stood. They determined that the building was not an emergency demolition, although the now unsupported chimneys remained a concern.
Preservation Dayton got right to work coming up with a plan to stabilize the property for future development. A 3D LIDAR scan of the building was taken and point data sent to John Poe Architects to create a preliminary envelope and determine the slope of the roof in order prepare for putting a roof back on the building. We scoured the City of Dayton's planning department microfiche records for original blueprints, reached out to architect Harvey Hiestand's family, the Preble County Historical Society, Miami University's archives and College of Architecture, the owners of the Leo Flesh Mansion in Piqua, the Miami County Historical & Geneological Society, the Piqua Public Library, The Cortland Historical Society in New York, and the SUNY Cortland Alumni House looking for plans of any one of the sibling houses.
Thankfully, the SUNY Cortland Alumni House has a whole box of original blueprints that they were able to digitize. These, along with the rough floor outlines from the Dayton Philharmonic Show House in 1991, and the LIDAR point cloud create the potential to rebuild the Traxler Mansion to its former glory.
In addition to doing historical research, Preservation Dayton reached out to about a half dozen stabilization firms to determine the rough costs of shelving the Traxler Mansion shell for redevelopment. In order to infill the existing openings, stabilize the walls, recreate the roofline, and create subfloors for each level of the house, SSRG estimated just shy of $1M.
The reported sale of the property on July 1 to Janay Corbitt was never finalized. Her ~$1,000 deposit was forfeited, and the remaining back taxes are still unpaid and outstanding. The property is still in the process of a tax foreclosure.
Unfortunately, On August 27th, a second fire in the structure caused additional damage to the two unsupported chimneys in the building and the city deemed it necessary for an emergency demolition, which occurred on August 29th.
Salvage of the property is not currently feasible by Preservation Dayton as we do not own the structure, and it still remains in the hands of the Moores until the ongoing tax foreclosure is complete.
Preservation Dayton hopes that steps can be taken to ensure the carriage house remains in tact, and the site of the main house has a productive future.
The property was reportedly designed by Harvey Hiestand (1872-1944), founder of Miami University's College of Architecture in 1929 and its chair until 1938. The house is a larger version of the Leo Flesh Mansion in Piqua, Ohio, which was built c. 1907. Hiestand would eventually move to New York (at least between 1911 and 1913) and use the design once again c. 1912. That house is now the Lynne Parks '68 SUNY Cortland Alumni House.
Hiestand was once an employee of the Frank Mills Andrews's architecture firm according to a 1991 article about the Traxler Mansion. Andrews is attributed to designing the Dayton Arcade's 3rd Street Façade, and was once married to Gertrude Reynolds, daughter of John R. Reynolds, but later divorced. Gertrude lived for decades in the Van Deman Apartments on a hefty alimony.
Louis Traxler was born in Austria in 1864. The family moved to the United States in 1883. After a brief residence in Pennsylvania and Indiana, Traxler came to Dayton in 1899. He began his own mercantile business, which prospered and grew. Louis Traxler purchased the property in 1909. In 1911, the Traxler family moved into the large two-story stone house where they remained until 1929.
The house and property were sold to David Pickrell, Jr. in 1929. Pickrell was the owner of the Pickrell Plumbing Company and also the president of the North Dayton Savings Bank.
In 1932, the house was sold to Lillian Baker, whose husband, Frank R. Baker, was a salesman. Frank Baker later opened his own restaurant in downtown Dayton.
During the war, the house was divided into apartments. In 1941, it became a boarding house and divided into 22 apartments.
When the home was put up for auction in 1977, Dayton attorney Gerald Callahan bought it for $34,000 and restored it at a cost of $150,000. Callahan lived in the house for several years, but sold to Centerville physician Virginia Stull.
Stull then sold the property to Rev. William & Doris Moore in 1990, who have owned the property since that time.
The house was selected as a Dayton Philharmonic Show House in 1991, and was selected as one of Ohio's Most Endangered Properties by Preservation Ohio in 2019 and again in 2022.
On April 23, 2023 at around 3am, the Dayton Fire Department arrived to find the building fully engulfed in flames. Thanks to their heroic efforts, most of the four walls still stood. They determined that the building was not an emergency demolition, although the now unsupported chimneys remained a concern.
Preservation Dayton got right to work coming up with a plan to stabilize the property for future development. A 3D LIDAR scan of the building was taken and point data sent to John Poe Architects to create a preliminary envelope and determine the slope of the roof in order prepare for putting a roof back on the building. We scoured the City of Dayton's planning department microfiche records for original blueprints, reached out to architect Harvey Hiestand's family, the Preble County Historical Society, Miami University's archives and College of Architecture, the owners of the Leo Flesh Mansion in Piqua, the Miami County Historical & Geneological Society, the Piqua Public Library, The Cortland Historical Society in New York, and the SUNY Cortland Alumni House looking for plans of any one of the sibling houses.
Thankfully, the SUNY Cortland Alumni House has a whole box of original blueprints that they were able to digitize. These, along with the rough floor outlines from the Dayton Philharmonic Show House in 1991, and the LIDAR point cloud create the potential to rebuild the Traxler Mansion to its former glory.
In addition to doing historical research, Preservation Dayton reached out to about a half dozen stabilization firms to determine the rough costs of shelving the Traxler Mansion shell for redevelopment. In order to infill the existing openings, stabilize the walls, recreate the roofline, and create subfloors for each level of the house, SSRG estimated just shy of $1M.
The reported sale of the property on July 1 to Janay Corbitt was never finalized. Her ~$1,000 deposit was forfeited, and the remaining back taxes are still unpaid and outstanding. The property is still in the process of a tax foreclosure.
Unfortunately, On August 27th, a second fire in the structure caused additional damage to the two unsupported chimneys in the building and the city deemed it necessary for an emergency demolition, which occurred on August 29th.
Salvage of the property is not currently feasible by Preservation Dayton as we do not own the structure, and it still remains in the hands of the Moores until the ongoing tax foreclosure is complete.
Preservation Dayton hopes that steps can be taken to ensure the carriage house remains in tact, and the site of the main house has a productive future.
Family History
|
The article to the left from February 8, 1914 can be read in full here.
The article discusses Louis Traxler's early life in Austria, Pennsylvania, and Indiana, before arriving in Dayton in 1898. The article talks about the growth of the company across several storefronts in Dayton, and further states that the Traxler company was the first in the city to form a "Mutual Benefit Association" of 150-200 employees that assured sick time and other benefits for the payment of moderate dues. It also states the company was the first in the city to implement a minimum wage for women, with the saleswomen earning no less than $7 per week and "junior help" (cash & messenger girls) making no less than $5 per week. A federal minimum wage would not be implemented until 1938. |
|
Also pictured is A. Leon Altschul, secretary of the Traxler Company. Altschul married Louis Traxler's oldest daughter, Gertrude. The following recording is of Gertrude Traxler Altschul discussing her life, including her wedding, in the house. Unfortunately the conversation cuts off mid sentence as she is discussing fine silk dresses. This recording was generously provided by the Traxler Family's Linda Green who indicated that the cassette the interview was originally recorded on was from 1980. Gertrude passed away in 1985 and is buried in Riverview Cemetery here in Dayton.
|
TraXler Mansion YOutube Resources
This playlist is a compilation of original drone video, provided generously by Andy Rowe, as well as mostly illegal walkthroughs of the property, and the ultimate demolition of the house as well as various news coverage. Please note that Preservation Dayton does not condone trespassing, but these resources have been accumulated to assist in coming up with a plan for the future of the Traxler mansion site.
This video is a fly through of the building after the first fire and after demolition by Bolton Joe in the History of the Daytonians group on Facebook.
Stabilization & Rebuilding Resources
Preservation Dayton hired TrueScan3D to do a LIDAR scan of the Traxler Mansion after the first fire in an attempt to document and preserve what was left of the building. That data cloud was used by Mike Duke at John Poe Architects to create a basic model of the building. The point cloud and associated model are available for download below.
|
Visit the site here to download the point cloud of the Traxler Data: https://clients.truescan3d.com/project-portals/230606-traxler-mansion/
| ||
|
The SUNY Cortland Alumni House digitally scanned all of their original blueprints and have provided them to us as reconstruction resources: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17UB030_6HApUEOtz4d2eLGb43SNQAyua
These plans indicate the architectural firm is "Pierce & Bickford Architects". We are still trying to make the connection between Harvey Heistand, the Frank Mills Andrews firm, and The Pierce & Bickford firm. |
|
Recognition for Preservation Efforts
|
|
In 2023, AIA Dayton presented Preservation Dayton, Inc. with the "Architectural Advocacy" award "In honor of outstanding efforts to save and document the Louis Traxler Mansion, an endangered property in the Dayton View Historic District ultimately destroyed by fire. Thank you for tirelessly promoting the importance of architecture in the Greater Dayton Region."
Kegan Sickels and Monica Snow accepted the award on behalf of Preservation Dayton. Special thanks to Matt Sauer of Matthew Sauer Architect LLC for nominating us for and presenting us with this honor. |
Help PDI bring Dayton's endangered historic properties back to life!
Our Endangered Properties Committee provides resources and raises funds to proactively stabilize and/or obtain control of these irreplaceable properties. Preservation Dayton maintains an annual list of the Ten Most Endangered properties for intervention, as nominated by you and selected by the Endangered Properties Committee. Visit our Top 10 Endangered Properties page to see the full list of other nominees. If you have an urgent request for an at-risk historic property, please contact us at [email protected].
Please donate today! Your contribution, large or small, will save Dayton's historic structures before they are lost forever.
Your contributions are 100 percent tax deductible and are dedicated solely to preserving Dayton's rich history. The Dayton Foundation processes all gifts and donations to the Preservation Dayton, Inc. Fund #8630, a component fund of The Foundation. You can contribute by clicking the ‘Donate’ button below which takes you to the Dayton Foundation secure website. Or mail your check to payable to "Preservation Dayton, Inc. Fund #8630" Preservation Dayton, P.O. Box 3614, Dayton, OH 45401.
Thank you for your support!
Our Endangered Properties Committee provides resources and raises funds to proactively stabilize and/or obtain control of these irreplaceable properties. Preservation Dayton maintains an annual list of the Ten Most Endangered properties for intervention, as nominated by you and selected by the Endangered Properties Committee. Visit our Top 10 Endangered Properties page to see the full list of other nominees. If you have an urgent request for an at-risk historic property, please contact us at [email protected].
Please donate today! Your contribution, large or small, will save Dayton's historic structures before they are lost forever.
Your contributions are 100 percent tax deductible and are dedicated solely to preserving Dayton's rich history. The Dayton Foundation processes all gifts and donations to the Preservation Dayton, Inc. Fund #8630, a component fund of The Foundation. You can contribute by clicking the ‘Donate’ button below which takes you to the Dayton Foundation secure website. Or mail your check to payable to "Preservation Dayton, Inc. Fund #8630" Preservation Dayton, P.O. Box 3614, Dayton, OH 45401.
Thank you for your support!
