herr2ck: Columbus - Brewery District

February 2026.

Aside from the stretch of Front Street that once defined the Brewery District in Columbus, which the breweries lined, there are also several historic commercial buildings and houses along South High Street. The area seems a little dead lately, as many buildings are for lease or occupied by dive bars/offices.

This post begins at the north end of the corridor, at Livingston Avenue and the I-70 trench, and will proceed southward from there to Redbud Alley, covering the west side first. Once it reaches Redbud Alley, it picks up back northward to Livingston and covers the east side of High Street.

495 South High Street

This Contemporary building was designed by Lupton Rausch as an office building. It responds to the current historic district demands of the Brewery District through its stone and brick materiality, square industrial windows, and boxy massing. Their website doesn’t date the project, but it appears on Google Maps as far back as 2007. The Franklin County auditor states 2000, which seems accurate.

Looking at the Worly Building from High and Blenkner:

541-543 South High Street

I’m having difficulty dating this one. The High Street facade appears to be an alteration over an earlier building, given the contrasting colors of brick. All of my map sources, from as far back as 1887 to 1921, show three small brick residences on the site. This facade may be built on top of those older buildings. However, the county auditor’s website gives a date of 1923. It’s also unclear when exactly the facade dates to, as it has a clay-tile roof but a more Modern fenestration pattern, and it has been altered. Today, the building is Victory's dive bar and a yoga studio.

What a bizarre and anachronistic facade. 1920s-ish clay tile roof, 1950s-ish rectangular windows, and 1970s-ish wood paneling on the first floor.

Moehl Brothers Building (559-561 South High Street)

1905 image of streetcars on High Street. The Moehl Brothers Building is second from right. (Pinterest)

This brick Italianate and its small neighbor on Beck Street (16 W Beck) were built before 1887 for the Moehl brothers, who owned a buggy and wagon manufacturing company. According to the 1891 Sanborn map, the tall building on High Street was used for painting, trimming, and woodwork, while the one-story building on Beck Street was a blacksmith’s shop. It is likely that the High Street building also held the company’s showroom and offices, given its storefronts and height.

The Baist maps of 1910 and 1920 lack a label (the 1899 map labels the complex), so it is likely the wagon company had moved or gone out of business by then. According to the 1922 Sanborn map, however, the building had become the Reeb Motor Sales Co. and the blacksmith’s shop became a repair shop, indicating the rise of the “horseless carriage” in America.

A random advertisement in a newspaper article I found from 1979 says that the buildings had been converted to the Inner Circle Restaurant by that time. By 2013, it was Tony’s Italian Ristorante, its current tenant.

I didn’t get any photos of the blacksmith shop by itself, as I focused on the Italianate building on High Street instead.

It is in rather poor condition today. The ornamental cornice and hood molds are intact, but they have been painted. The brick is obscured by stucco, which is also painted gray. The storefronts have been altered. Some of the original wooden windows are intact on the third floor, but the ones below are unbecoming black, mullion-less replacements.

571 South High Street

Luckily, I have more concrete dating on this one, as it was built between 1887 and 1891 (it doesn’t appear on the former Sanborn but does on the latter). In 1891, it was a saloon, but it became a store by 1901, possibly the “tin shop” mentioned on the 1921 map. Today, it is a bail bonds service and lawyer, which extends into the buildings next door at…

573-577 South High Street

A classic Columbus rowhouse, this one is pretty short at only three bays wide. It was built between 1910 and 1920 and was used as three separate dwellings before 2007. The usual decorative accoutrements of this typology are present, i.e. the brick detailing across the cornice and stone lintels and sills, but it appears slightly truncated due to examples outside of downtown that typically sprawl out more. The central bay, along with its taller cornice and battlements, projects outwards slightly.

Louis Polster Co. (585 South High Street)

View of the site in 1891. (1891 Sanborn map)

This Modern store and showroom replaced a building/site with quite the interesting history (which I entirely gleaned from Sanborn maps)--Hessenauer’s Garden. It seemed to be an outdoor theater venue in 1887, as it had an outdoor stage and a bandstand, as well as a brick building on High Street that had two stores inside. In 1891, that building was extended westward and a concert hall was added inside, while the bandstand was either rebuilt or moved. However, by 1901, Hessenauer’s Garden closed, and the building was then taken over by Kropps Hall, another concert hall. The 1910 Baist map marks it as “Columbia Hall,” while the 1920 Baist simply says “Auditorium,” (probably because its owner at that time was the Auditorium Building Co.) though the 1921 Sanborn once again states “Columbia Halle.”

Hessenauer’s Garden, or whatever replaced it after 1921, was demolished circa 1961 for the construction of the existing building, which seemed to have been commissioned by Elar Co. (Whoever prepared the property’s assessment list had terrible handwriting.) In August 1980, the building was acquired by Louis Polster Co., its current tenant, which is a restaurant equipment manufacturer. They have used this building as headquarters since.

The interior plan of this building seems to be entirely open, common of Modern buildings, and two of its three bays are dematerialized with aluminum window frames. The mullions continue up the soffit and eave uninterrupted.

Bright orange sign on the south end:

Mullion detail:

The current Grange Insurance Building south of this one was once home to the Trinity Lutheran Seminary:

Looking north at downtown from about the same spot--I spy the Brewery Tower, Franklin County Courthouse, Rhodes Tower, and some other buildings we’ve covered in this post:

785-787 South High Street

A brick building with a rusticated stone facade, this building may have some Richardsonian influence. It was built between 1891 and 1899. In 1901, it had stores on the first floor and a hall on the third, and in 1921 the first floor was a delivery service. The building is currently a salon with apartments above.

Masonry anchor and I-beam lintel:

It’s important to note that though this area maintains a decent amount of historic integrity, there have been nonetheless casualties to the hubris of urban renewal. Whatever density was once here is now long gone with these suburban-style banks and fast food restaurants. This view looks southwest from Columbus Street:

In the late 19th and early 20th century, this area once had a dense grouping of stores in the “South End Block” and a large residence, which have since been demolished. However, this is a better view of the area’s original residential character:

Most of these are the common brick Italianates of the 1870s-1890s, though the red brick house second from left is a later Queen Anne form common with the turn of the 20th century (c. 1900-1920 here).

887 South High Street

Now we’re getting to the larger, grander Italianates that this area has. This specific example was completed in 1879. The earliest owners I can trace were the Theobald family, which owned it since at least 1920, and it stayed in their hands until 1949. It was used as a residence until 1997, when it was sold and converted to offices. The house is currently used by lawyers.

Though its features are in good condition, they have been modernized. The stone hood molds and sills were painted white, and the cornice and brackets were likewise painted black. However, this treatment goes back to at least 2007.

I always hate shooting into the sun (facing south), but I wanted to highlight the chimney and bay windows here:

Whatever intricately carved wooden door once provided entry has been replaced by a nondescript glass one:

The original woodwork on the south porch is also intact, though painted:

Kemmler House (895 South High Street)

Unlike its neighbor, this one’s date of construction is unknown, but given its exactly identical form and details, they were probably built at the same time. The house was in the Kemmler family as of 1920, and given that the block that the house sits on is the “W. F. Kemmler Subdivision,” it’s not a big stretch to assume it was built for them in the first place. The Kemmlers owned the house until 1948, and it was likewise converted to office space in the 2000s. The current tenant is PayCo.

Unlike 887 S High, however, the Kemmler House has its original doors, though they have been painted black.

This sign immediately south was cracking me up with its “Better Call Saul” reference:

937-939 South High Street

This duplex was completed before 1891. Aside from its stone lintels and sills, it has its original wooden doors, along with some millwork beneath the gable.

The corner has street signs, which I thought was interesting:

Philip Bruck House (961 South High Street)

1889 view of the Bruck House. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

Another detailed Italianate dating to c. 1860-1880, this house was actually home to Columbus mayor Philip H. Bruck, who served from 1887 to 1890. He and his family were long gone by 1920, the first date on Columbus’s assessment lists. It is a restaurant known as Gresso’s today.

Detail of the hood molds and corbels:

Krumm House (975-979 South High Street)

Completely unbeknownst to me at the time, this house is listed both on the National Register of Historic Places and Columbus Register of Historic Properties, both in 1982. It was built circa 1885 for Alexander W. Krumm, a lawyer who was the Columbus City Solicitor between 1878 and 1883. He would go on to establish a law firm, which was still operating as of the NRHP listing but appears to have since gone defunct. Krumm’s family would live in the house until 1954.

As I noted earlier, the NRHP listing also emphasizes the importance of this house’s survival in an area that faced significant heritage loss in the mid-20th century. Though additions have been made, the house retains many original ornamental features, particularly on the interior.

Original wooden doors (it seems the hood molds here have been lopped off):

Corbels and denticulated cornice:

1005 South High Street

The most interesting part of this otherwise extremely common style of Italianate is its unusually detailed hood molds and quoins. It was built before 1891, probably c. 1870-1890.

These hood molds are very detailed, with floral and natural motifs:

The quoins have an intricate, lacy pattern carved into them:

1007 South High Street

The 1891 Sanborn map notes that this eclectic house was “unfinished,” and the county auditor claims it was completed in 1893. It has some unusual details that aren’t common on the surrounding buildings, such as the third-floor balcony and stonework on the second floor.

South facade, with wood-paneled gable and detailed brickwork:

Detail of the stone column and lintel above:

1021 South High Street

I love the steeply pitched rectangular tower on this Italianate. Again, it probably dates to c. 1870-1890.

Greater Columbus Antique Mall (1045 South High Street)

This house appeared on Columbus Landmarks’ 2018 Most Endangered List, which opened a lot of doors in terms of its history. It was built in 1889 for George Janton, a Bavarian immigrant who made soap and candles. George died in 1897, though his son Fred owned it until 1924. After a period of use as a funeral home, it was Elks Lodge #37 between 1952 and the 1970s, and in 1979 the current Greater Columbus Antique Mall opened.

As of 2018, the building was planned to be demolished in favor of a drive-thru restaurant. A later proposal would have moved the building to Front Street, which was withdrawn, and the developer then did not appear at any more Brewery District Commission meetings. 8 years later, it is standing a-okay.

The Ohio Exploration Society alleges the building is haunted by previous owners or spirits in the antiques themselves, which they back up with audio recordings and video. I personally take them with a grain of salt, but they are at least pretty exhaustive about their research, and you can read their investigation here.

Valter’s at the Maennerchor (976 South High Street)

Valter’s is a German restaurant based inside a c. 1921-1922 Tudor Revival house. It first appears on the Sanborn map from that year and was built in front of the South Congregational Church, which has since been demolished. In 1922, the two-story portion was the main house, while the one-story wing on the north end was an attached doctor’s office.

Columbus Maennerchor (966 South High Street)

This Queen Anne with a modern addition in front was the home of the Columbus Maennerchor, which was founded in 1848 as a German men’s choir and still operates today. They acquired the house, which dates to c. 1891, in 1921. The Maennerchor used the property as their clubhouse until 2010, when it was sold to Columbus City Schools. (Stewart Alternative Elementary is just east of the site across Pearl Street.) The front addition and a basement restaurant were added over the years. The buildings were planned to be demolished in 2018, but the Brewery District Commission declined the proposal, and they were donated with funds for restoration to non-profit Jefferson Avenue Center.

These houses between Whittier and Lansing are more good examples of the more vernacular residences here:

Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church (766 South High Street)

Though this church building is Modern in style, the congregation was founded in the late 19th century and incorporated in 1899. Their first location was the former St. Paul’s Episcopal on the southeast corner of Mound and Third (since demolished). The congregation acquired this site on the corner of High Street and Columbus Street in 1952, ostensibly replacing older houses that once stood there, and the existing building was completed in 1954. It appears to have received a Postmodern addition since.

740-746 South High Street

Commercial-style buildings aren’t very common in this area of Columbus, surprisingly. However, this one dates to 1929 (as indicated by the datestone). The subtle brickwork and stepped parapet are common features of the style, and the storefronts appear to be original, but the paint and tile bulkheads are not.

The north facade is much barer and only has small glass block windows on the ground floor:

726-730 South High Street

Another Commercial building, this one does not have a concrete date but does not appear on the 1921-1922 Sanborn map, so I’ll date it to c. 1920-1930. It appears to have its original windows (with modern screens) and a largely intact storefront.

Cobra/Clarmont Restaurant (684 South High Street)

Historic postcard of the interior, bar, and original exterior appearance. (Local Wiki)

I wasn’t interested in this bland 1948 building, rather, I liked its nifty sign a lot more. The “Cobra” bit is modern, but the frame itself dates to the original building, which was known as the Clarmont Restaurant. It opened in 1938 as the Tremont Restaurant and was located where the current Tremont Lounge is, just south at 708 South High Street. The restaurant received its “Clarmont” name in 1946 and moved to this building in 1948. It quickly became known for its in-house organist and servers that memorized orders. In 1961, the Clarmont Motor Inn immediately north, across Sycamore Street, opened, and the motel received its name from the restaurant and offered its food as room service.

In 2007, a rebuilt restaurant and mixed-use tower were proposed to be built on the site, which was not executed. The Clarmont would operate until 2012, when a Panera opened inside, which would then close in 2021. Cobra, the current tenant, opened in 2023.

A view of the sign today:

Clarmont Motor Inn

Historic photo of the exterior before alterations. (Local Wiki)

Unlike the restored South Wind Motel a bit further south, the Clarmont Motor Inn has lost much of its mid-century charm. It was built in 1961 by the owners of The Clarmont as a result of their business success and held 60 rooms. It is a Mid-Century Modern design characterized by the round building near the parking lot, which was known as the “Round Bar” when it opened.

The motel was renovated into a Holiday Inn before 2007. All of the original buildings are intact, but the Round Bar has been clad in red brick instead, and the motel portion has had its balconies enclosed.

A closer view:

560-564 South High Street

This eight-bay Italianate is pretty lonely without its demolished neighbor, the South High Street Carhouse of the Columbus Street Railway Co. It was built before 1887 and marked as “vacant” on that year’s Sanborn map, though the storefronts were quickly leased out after.

The building is in pretty shoddy shape today. The metal cornice is rusting, and the remnants of pinnacles sit above a few piers. Some of the hood molds have been painted, while others have not, and the windows are different colors and ages. The storefronts do appear to be original, though they have been painted and had transoms removed.

Detail of the rusty cornice and lonely rooftop ornament:

I thought this stained-glass window above some of the doors was interesting:

Looking southeast, which shows some ghost signs on the north side:

McGowan Block (514-520 South High Street)

Although overall a Commercial style design, this one has some Beaux-Arts touches. The county auditor both assigns it this name and a construction date of 1927, which doesn’t really bring anything else up. It appears mostly vacant today.

Ionic pilasters, swag, and pediment: