January 2025.
After exploring the area south and east of Courthouse Square in Newark, this part covers the area north of Park Place. I got a good chunk of cool buildings but missed a few others.
Second Presbyterian Church
The oldest known photo of Second Presbyterian, 1871. (Second Presbyterian Church)
Newark’s Second Presbyterian along Church Street is an iconic white Gothic Revival composition, much lighter and brighter than the other churches downtown. The church’s website has a pretty extensive history available, but I did my best to condense it.
Presbyterians have worshiped in Newark ever since its founding in 1802. The First Presbyterian Church was founded in 1808, but it wasn’t until 1836 that Second Presbyterian was established, after a sect of the original church split due to doctrinal differences. Its first permanent home was built in 1839--a frame church with masonry walls.
The present Gothic Revival church building was built from 1868-1874 at a cost of $31,000. A manse (pastor’s house), now demolished, was built in 1887. The educational wing was built in two parts--a simpler Tudor/Jacobethan Revival design in 1929-1930, and a Modernist annex in 1955. The church’s exterior was restored in 1961, with the chancel and organ receiving the same treatment a year later. Between 1976-1981, the church was reroofed and sandblasted.
The coloration of Second Presbyterian does it a bit of a favor, but the church is ultimately much less dense than the masonry churches elsewhere in Newark. It is pretty straightforward compositionally: a simple nave with a tower on the eastern half of the facade. I find it interesting that a buttress in the middle breaks the rose window--this is a highly unorthodox move.
The church’s nave. (Second Presbyterian Church)
The interior is pretty simple, too. Small stained-glass windows line the nave, and the roof is supported by large, elaborate corbels. An apse with the altar and organ projects from the end of the building, vaulted with a massive pointed arch.
Licking Savings Bank Building
The original Licking Savings Bank and its neighbors. (Newark’s Lost Buildings)
Newark’s Art Deco/Stripped Classical Licking Savings Bank Building was built in 1957, which is a very late time to construct anything not Modernist in design. Compare it to the Modernist bank building across the street, which was built a year later. An older commercial building next door was demolished at some point before 2012 (the farthest back Google Maps will go) to add a parking lot and drive-up window.
The eagle motifs and geometric ornamentation scream Art Deco, but the fluted pilasters and marble materiality are Stripped Classicism features. I’m unsure if the windows and entrance are original--they probably are, but it could equally be a contemporary replacement.
American House/Newark Arcade
An early postcard of the Newark Arcade. (Historic Newark Arcade)
The Italianate Newark Arcade is an iconic work of commercial architecture in Newark, which is currently being renovated. Quick history lesson for you Gen-Z’ers: before one bought every conceivable item online, there were these things called “shopping malls” 200 years ago, where one would wander around and actually touch/try on the crap. The predecessor to the shopping mall was the arcade, which was typically a long promenade that housed stores along the walls.
The American House, undated. (Newark Library)
I didn’t get a picture of the American House next door, but that hotel is in fact pretty significant to local lore. It was built in 1842 in the Greek Revival style. The building was a hotel for much of its lifetime, but it also housed various businesses like Kresge’s (K-Mart’s predecessor). Apparently, president Ulysses S. Grant stayed here at one point, giving the Presidential Suite its name.
The Newark Arcade was actually an alteration to the original American House building’s northernmost six bays, designed by architect Carl E. Howell, changing the then-Italianate architecture into a more Beaux-Arts interpretation. It housed 30 stores and apartments above. The building was significantly altered at some point, probably during the mid-century era, losing its cornice and arched windows and being clad in stucco.
A rendering of the completed Newark Arcade renovation. (Historic Newark Arcade)
The Newark Arcade was being renovated by Schooley Caldwell when I visited, which allowed it to host businesses once again. I’m glad it was restored and seeing traffic again, but the new design is a little too millennial-gray for my liking.
Here is the progress on the building so far. It looks a little gross at the moment, but I think once the missing architectural details are added, the effect will be better.
YMCA Building
A postcard of the YMCA Building. (Digital Commonwealth)
This building didn’t have any history available online besides a caption from a photographer’s Flickr account, which surprises me, considering it’s one of the more elaborate and interesting buildings in Newark.
The Romanesque Revival YMCA Building was built in 1899 to house Newark’s chapter of the YMCA. Unfortunately, the building has been altered and damaged over the years. Its cornice was removed, probably during the mid-century era, and much of the building’s stone is weathered.
Coincidentally, I happened to take this first picture at the same angle as the postcard above. The building is largely original minus the storefronts and removed cornice. Note the slightly projecting bays and larger arches above the 3rd Street and Church Street entrances.
The building’s east facade has seven bays, six smaller ones on either side and a larger central bay that projects outwards. Note the highly elaborate Romanesque portal.
The north facade is more irregular. Another Romanesque portal is on the base here, but it is simpler in its execution.
Here, you can see how bad the weathering is. This Corinthian column at the northeast corner of the building has much of the capital’s ornamentation missing. Additionally, the stone course above is looking a little sooty.
I apologize for the framing--I think there was some obstacle that prevented me from shooting straight on. However, the portal is beautiful. Note the various ornamental patterns that border various parts of the vault, the twin rosettes at each corner, and the heavily weathered column capitals.
Detail:
This almost seems like a Sullivanesque feature:
Here are details of the two capitals--these carved faces are very typical of Romanesque architecture.
John J. Carroll Building [demolished]
The John Carroll Building shortly after construction. (Grandview Heights Historic Society)
At first I was kicking myself for seemingly missing this beautiful Beaux-Arts work in favor of First Presbyterian across the street, but it was demolished very recently. I don’t remember for sure if it was standing or not, but I highly doubt I would have passed it up, so it was probably mostly gone (if not fully) by January 2025, when I visited.
The John Carroll Building was built in 1919 by prominent Columbus architect Frank Packard in the Beaux-Arts style as a department store. The store was founded in 1886 and had various locations across Newark until its own purpose-built building was designed. Carroll’s operated successfully in Newark for almost a century, but it was acquired by Fred W. Uhlman and Company in 1982. Uhlman’s operated inside the building until their closure in 1995.
The John Carroll Building was purchased by adjacent Park National Bank afterwards, which used the structure as storage. However, many issues plagued the building. A gas leak occurred in January 2001, and in February 2009 a downspout froze and burst open, which flooded the entire building. The original hardwood floors had to be removed. Park National Bank explored the possibility of restoring the John Carroll Building as storage or apartments, but both options were too expensive, and they decided to demolish the building. Its razing began in May 2024.
The Carroll Building shortly before demolition began. (Kent Mallett on Twitter)
A lot of people were upset with Park National Bank’s decision to tear down the John Carroll Building, myself included. I get that it’s a monetary thing and that smaller towns don’t have the same preservation resources that a big city like Columbus does, but the building was remarkably intact on the exterior and designed by a well-known architect. At the very least, it could have been a gut-renovation adaptive reuse job.
Since the building is pretty elaborate architecturally, I’ll give a quick synopsis of that, too. The base is largely stone with large picture windows for window shopping. I think the square windows above the larger ones are original, too. The entrance is modern, but the portal itself is decorated with Doric engaged columns and a small portico. Above, tall windows mark a Renaissance palazzo influence to this Beaux-Arts composition. The second and third floors are separated by a string course, and each corner is articulated with a stone pilaster. Each window has a stone lintel (owing to the fact that the walls are brick, since brick fails in compression), the third floor’s being more elaborate, and the central second floor window has elaborate stonework surrounding. A simple denticulated cornice crowns the building.
First Presbyterian Church
Postcard of First Presbyterian. (HipPostcard)
Compared to the lighter and more vertical Second Presbyterian, First Presbyterian’s church building is more stalwart and low. It was designed by Vernon Redding, an architect from Mansfield, and its construction was completed in 1909.
This design looks to me like a hybrid between French and English Gothic. The rose window, Latin cross plan, and asymmetrical facade are typical of French Gothic churches, but the low stature and tracery seems very English to me. I like the portal’s emphasis through its smoother stone border.
Union Block
The building’s exterior c. 1904. Note the now-absent decorative gables above the cornice. (Newark Walking Tour)
The Union Block is one of Newark’s most elaborately detailed buildings, designed in a unique Venetian Gothic style. It was built starting in 1903, but it suffered a fire that December, which destroyed some of the building. The Union Block was rebuilt and opened in 1904.
Note the above image’s label of the “Powers-Miller Company Building”--this was the name of the first department store to open inside the building. The name “Union Block” came from a contest where residents voted on the building’s name.
The Union Block was built as a commercial building, and it has housed numerous department stores and small businesses during its lifetime. The longest operating tenant was Stewart Bros. Furniture, which operated from 1906 to 1992. It also had a ballroom on the second floor. It also held the Odd Fellows, probably before they moved to their own building.
Apparently, I was allergic to taking good pictures of the Union Block. I’m still not really happy with these, despite a lot of rotating/cropping.
The westernmost section appears sootier and has different windows for some reason. I thought it might have been a later addition to the building, but it has just gone unrestored.
Note the trefoil design that repeats along the cornice, a standard Gothic motif, as well as the quoins at each corner. I’m surprised the windows and drip molds are rounded and not pointed, though.
Much of the building’s detail is confined to its elaborate central colonnade:
The center is articulated with three large Gothic arches, carved out of stone with much detail. They are supported by four octagonal columns with the abstracted Corinthian columns typical of Gothic architecture. A small porch can be seen behind. The colonnade is subtly emphasized by its surrounding brick border. Also note the more detailed windows that are offset from the arches.
Sources:
https://pocketsights.com/tours/tour/Newark-Historic-Newark-Downtown-Walking-Tour-4865
https://www.lickingcountylibrary.org/media/1076/historic-downtown-walking-tour.pdf
https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/01001482.pdf
https://www.flickr.com/photos/warrenlemay/albums/72177720304242809/with/52545979970
https://www.historicnewarkarcade.com/about
https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:6w927t592
https://www.ghmchs.org/john-j-carroll-residence
https://x.com/kmallett1958/status/1787505401723850952
https://www.hippostcard.com/listing/ohio-newark-new-first-presbyterian-church-erected-1909/16152302
No comments:
Post a Comment