Firestone Mansion on Broad Street to be demolished
The Columbus Foundation owns this building on Broad Street and are planning on demolishing it and from what I understand, plant gardens there. It’s a little disappointing that a institution that does so much good would do something so wasteful and, in my opinion, disrespectful. They are building a new building behind the old governors mansion that is going to be LEED certified. You would think that if they were truly interested in sustainability, they would find a way to reuse this structure instead of destroying it. I was told that this used to be home to the Firestone family. It is right next to the Broadwin and across from a block of houses that were slated to be demolished in the 90’s. Casto ended up buying those and saving them and now they are some of the most beautiful homes in the neighborhood.
Word through the grapevine is that the President of the Olde Towne East Neighborhood Association has tried to contact them many times but has not gotten any sort of response. Today a coworker told me that there is now a construction fence around the building and construction equipment sitting next to it.
We lost an equally impressive mansion on Broad Street a few years ago. The church that owned it decided to tear it down and replace it with a gravel parking lot.
I don’t really know if anything can be done to prevent this. None of the papers had much in them about this. We just found out about this in the neighborhood a couple weeks ago so I’m guessing they tried to keep it hushed up until it was too late to do anything about. Sucks.
Here’s their press release:
[url]http://www.columbusfoundation.org/GD/Templates/Pages/TCF/TCFSecondary.aspx?page=470[/url]
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Related Tags: broad street • demolition • firestone mansion • Olde Towne East
August 16th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Maybe instead of a garden they should install a roller-coaster.
August 16th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
No, that would go down the middle of Broad Street. Take Broad back to a boulevard and use the planting areas to put rollercoaster supports. Unfortunately, I don’t think the alleys on either side of Broad Street are continuous enough to put it there.
August 16th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Seems like a real waste. I would be OK with them tearing down the building right next to the firestone mansion (the 60s, 70’s looking office building) but the firestone is really a landmark. I hope I can get inside to take some pics before they tear it down. Seems that the Columbus Foundation should have enough ideas on the importance of Historic Preservation not to do this, but they do many stupid things- like pay for me to go to college, fat chance that was a very good investment!
What if we start a movement to get it on the National Register of Historic Places? That may impede their plans a bit- Don’t think you are allowed to tear down structures on the national register.
East Broad back in the day
August 16th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
A roller coaster down the middle of Broad Street would both attract and retain me.
August 16th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Is this for sure or just speculation?
August 16th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
I called Columbus Foundation today. The receptionist confirmed that they are tearing it down. She took my name and number down and said someone will call me to talk more about it. We’ll see if that actually happens.
That’s what I’m talkin about.
August 16th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
At least they aren’t planning a parking lot.
August 16th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
i’m pretty sure this plan has been in the works for quite some time. i actually worked in the carriage house behind the governor’s mansion (up until a month and a half ago). they’re making changes and doing renovations all over the place.
August 16th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
I don’t doubt that they’ve been working on it for some time; it would take at least a year or two to plan something like this renovation/expansion. I’ve lived in OTE for over 4 years. For almost 3 of that, I’ve lived about 3 blocks from this house. This is the first I’ve ever heard of this, same with many of my neighbors. One person told me that they brought it up once a few years ago but then they never heard of it again. At the time, it was made known to them that nobody wants to see it go. I’m sure they are well aware how sensitive us OTE residents are to demolition and know that there would be a shitstorm if word got out about this too soon.
As for the parking lot, I’m not sure what they have planned and where. From the little bit in the press release, it sounds like they are building where the parking lot is currently. If they do that, they’ll have to have a new parking lot somewhere.
In between this house and the Broadwin is a wasteland that used to be a gas station. It will be nice to see that corner cleaned up. I just find it a bit hard to believe that with all the resources at their disposal, Columbus Foundation couldn’t find a way to preserve this one.
August 16th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
When you see the picture above it only makes you feel sadness for what used to be.
August 16th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
I wonder if there is a way to block them from getting LEED certification?
August 17th, 2007 at 9:19 am
I did get a call from Doug Kridler of the Columbus Foundation yesterday. Take this for what it’s worth, but he said that they have had architects and engineers look at the building and nobody could come up with a way to make the building work for what they need. He also mentioned that they are spending 8 million on the renovation and expansion and that it would have been much cheaper to move into an office building downtown but they want to stay in the neighborhood. And a section of the roof recently fell in and thieves have broken into it for the copper and probably whatever else they could drag out of there.
He emailed me a copy of the site plan for the project but it is a PDF. If someone knows how to post that on here, I can try that. Or I can email it to anyone interested in seeing it.
August 17th, 2007 at 9:32 am
If you send it to me I will post it online and make a linky.
mlreed328 at gmail.com
August 17th, 2007 at 9:45 am
That sucks. Ive seen that place many times and thought it had alot of potential
August 17th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Yes this really does suck. I grew up in C-bus and I have seen so much change, all these old buildings torn down because nobody knows what to do with them.
Sure change is inevitable, but when we get rid of the old classics we erase a little more of our history.
well, if it’s too expensive & nobody wants it , what can you do?
:P
August 17th, 2007 at 10:08 am
The Site Plan
August 17th, 2007 at 11:22 am
I went to douglas elementary right down the street from there and can remember that building standing out ever since.
August 17th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Forgot to mention, Columbus Landmarks Foundation and Olde Towne East Neighborhood Association are meeting with Columbus Foundation this afternoon to discuss this. We’ll see what, if anything, comes out of that meeting.
August 19th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
There’s a big vacant gravel lot right next to this mansion. Idiots. And when is the city stepping in?
August 20th, 2007 at 8:35 am
There’s a group called the Columbus Landmarks Foundation, but they tend to be silent when significant buildings are at risk. Especially if those buildings are owned by, say, Children’s Hospital, the City, or Columbus Foundation.
If they aren’t going to be a leader in preservation, maybe they should disband.
August 20th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
The Foundation has said that renovation was estimated at $2.5 million. OTENA asked if there was any way they would consider delaying the demolition to look at other options and they said it was not feasible at this time.
Moving the building was estimated at $500,000. They did say they would sell the building to anyone for a $1 if they wanted to move it.
They communicated to OTENA the structural instability of the building. The copper piping was stolen out of it and when the police came to file the report, the roof had fallen in while they were inside of it.
They have recently filed for their demolition permit.
I often thought it’d be nice to save this building but it appears to be too far gone. Something must be done with that gravel corner lot though, it’s awful.
August 20th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Does the Columbus Foundation realize that because they “want to stay in the neighborhood” that they are then destroying the neighborhood instead? Move to downtown already and let those beautiful homes be renovated.
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:50 am
Article in the Dispatch yesterday:
Edit: Article was posted online prematurely and the link no longer works.
August 23rd, 2007 at 4:45 pm
The death of remnants of former robber barons possessions doesn’t seem like such a loss. What is the attraction to holding on to these structures? Now if they were used to develop community housing, I’d fight for it!
August 24th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
They’re going to replace this with grass and an “arrival court”, a fancy word for parking lot. The CFL have apparently been spayed and neutered while the Columbus Foundation is “reaffirming the Foundation’s commitment to its historic Broad Street location”. By replacing a one-of-a-kind mansion with grass and asphalt? And no one really cares, this is why we’re a cowtown. People will toss away any of what little history and culture we have for a parking spot.