June 2025.
This dump post covers Ludington Street north of James Street in Columbus, Wisconsin. Unfortunately, many of these buildings are similar-looking and highly altered, so this entry won’t be as detailed as the ones before. The NRHP listing also fails to elaborate on several buildings as well.
103 North Ludington Street
An odd red (though painted) building in a downtown landscape dominated by shades of buff and tan, this 1852 Italianate supposedly contains an unaltered third floor meeting hall. Certain areas such as the cornices appear original, though they are in poor repair.
Beier & Steinfeldt
Half of this 1856 Italianate (107 N Ludington) has been painted white, which achieves a pretty interesting effect in the sunlight. The light color actually emphasizes the play of light and shadow seen elsewhere on these brickwork facades. Its neighbor 111 N Ludington appears to have been built at the same time, but its facade remains original.
Topps Dry Goods & Grocery
These two different buildings have been united under the same Art Moderne storefront, but they were in fact built by the same store owner. The northernmost (at right) is the typical 1850s brickwork Italianate seen elsewhere in Columbus, but the southern building is an 1886 Commercial style design with a prominent cornice and large second-floor windows (since altered).
133 North Ludington Street
Another typical brick Italianate that has been heavily altered, I didn’t skip this one because of the interesting paint job that has been applied to its facade. Bubbly!
Tremont Hotel
Historic photo of the Tremont Hotel from an unknown year, but the building has been highly altered by this point. (The Historic Tremont)
A three-story Richardsonian Romanesque design, the Tremont Hotel was one of downtown’s grandest buildings at the time of its construction. It opened in 1892 and replaced the “Farmer’s Hotel” on the site. With 28 guest rooms, a ground floor restaurant, and a connection to the Leitch Building’s tavern next door, Tremont Hotel was popular with visitors due to its proximity to Columbus’s train station.
These styles of hotels eventually became unpopular as rooms with ensuite bathrooms became more common. It was likely converted to apartments at this point, and the building was eventually altered, having its first floor windows replaced by tiny ribbons of glass. By the 1990s, the Tremont Hotel was used as low-income housing, still retaining its communal bathrooms.
In 2014, the Tremont Hotel suffered a fire, which was luckily extinguished by the fire department in time to save the building. Plans for its renovation began as early as 2016, but these never came to fruition. The building was purchased by a group called “The Historic Tremont, LLC” in 2025, which will renovate the former hotel into six apartments with commercial space on the first floor. This work is expected to be completed in summer 2026.
Here is the principal facade of the Tremont Hotel:
Note the red brick walls here, which are accented with red sandstone courses. The facade is divided into three bays by four pilasters. The base features a vaulted portal to the hotel doors inside:
The cornice features pinnacles where the pilasters end and volutes, and the building’s name and date of construction are inscribed into stone panels:
This little alcove is remarkably intact despite the paint. The doors, framing, and tin ceiling are all original features.
I’m unsure if the painted sign is original, because it seems to be in unusually great shape, but it’s still pretty cool:
The other doors have their transoms obscured, but the original doors are there too:
Leitch Building
Historic photo looking south down Ludington Street. The Leitch Building is at right. (The Historic Tremont)
This 1875 Italianate was named after a prominent Columbus businessman, and a saloon operated on the ground floor for some time. Its brick materiality is similar to other buildings nearby, but the segmentally arched windows and cornice are unique here. The beams for the storefront itself are intact, but the remainder has been altered.
The north facade is more regular and divided into four by pilasters. The first floor has been painted white:
124-130 N Ludington
More Italianates, the one on the right being heavily altered with a new storefront and siding on the facade.
Bassett & Davies Block Addition
This richly detailed Italianate completed in 1877 is an addition to its southern James Street partner. You may notice that several features line up with or relate to the original 1873 building, such as the cornice and its pointy eaves. However, it is more elaborate in other areas and remains largely unaltered today.
Storefront detail:
A very rare example of an intact Italianate storefront in Columbus, this one has great pointy arches with stonework that emphasizes the vaulting. The arches are supported by iron Corinthian columns and two pilasters in the middle. Above this first floor is a bracketed cornice. Aside from the doors and likely the windows, this area seems to be almost completely original to 1877.
Second floor and cornice:
The cornice has the same design as its neighbor with corbels and a steeply pitched central gable. Note that the corbels line up with the blind arches’ springers below, which in turn line up with the way the bays are divided across the rest of the facade. It’s subtle, but even elaborate buildings like these can express their construction.
The final Columbus post covers the rest of Ludington Street and a couple other miscellaneous buildings.
Sources:
https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/a61f3033-cff7-4e0e-b68c-712ef52d0c2b/
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