April 2026.
The Jefferson Avenue Historic District is one of the few stretches of residential buildings remaining in the vicinity of downtown Columbus, and it is the only one north of Broad Street. Best known for being the host of the James Thurber House, the altered neighborhood nonetheless retains some other historic houses, too.
The Jefferson Avenue Historic District is located in the Discovery District neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by Long Street to the north, Broad Street to the south, Lester Drive and I-71 to the east, and 11th Street to the west.
History
A view of the neighborhood from the southwest end of the “oval” looking northwest. (Columbus Illustrated)
Jefferson Avenue was platted in 1870 as part of the East Park Place Addition to Columbus. A very fashionable neighborhood at the time with large Italianate and Queen Anne houses, the street splits into two one-way lanes around an oval-shaped park in the middle. Three such streets were constructed (kind of like The Circles and how there were six, now four, of them)--Jefferson Avenue, Lexington Avenue (which was demolished for the construction of I-71), and Hamilton Avenue (now separated from downtown and part of Olde Towne East, also its own historic district). Most of the existing historic buildings were completed by 1890.
1891 Sanborn map of the street (which doesn’t show the entire thing). (Library of Congress)
…compared to a Google Maps snapshot of the area today. More than half of the original buildings have been lost.
Jefferson Avenue has lost a significant amount of its historic integrity over the years. Its park still exists in its original configuration, unlike Hamilton Avenue, which has had the road punched through its center. However, almost every house that was north and south of the oval has been demolished, and a large chunk of the eastern houses have also been lost. At the time of the NRHP listing in 1982, the author noted that the houses were generally deteriorated as well.
A 1982 photo which recreates the angle of the Columbus Illustrated image. (NRHP listing)
Jefferson Avenue’s condition by the 1980s was the result of the common decay of inner-city neighborhoods due to white flight. As the white tenants of the Jefferson Avenue houses gradually fled to the suburbs, the incoming residents were usually lower-income Black people, who were generally stuck in neighborhoods such as this one since they lacked the capital to move to a suburb or more desirable neighborhood. Deferred maintenance caught up to the houses, and the construction of I-71 turned this once-fashionable street to a smelly, noisy one, as cars roared past just feet from the backyards of the houses. It also served as a wall separating a formerly united community (this was no accident), and despite Jefferson Avenue being on the “right” side of I-71 versus the rapidly decaying Olde Towne East, it became isolated nonetheless as surrounding houses were demolished.
Attorney Arthur Vorys purchased every property remaining on Jefferson Avenue in the 1970s or 1980s, intending to restore them and convert them to office use for local nonprofits, and his family donated them to the newly founded Jefferson Center Association. The street was listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 and on the Columbus Register of Historic Properties in 1983. Beyond restorations of the historic houses, not much has changed for the area since, aside from the construction of a brick apartment complex in 2009 that took the form of individual houses. It is a passable attempt to respond to the context of the area and increase density. The older houses remain occupied by the Jefferson Avenue Center and local organizations.
Photos
Thurber Park
The landscaped traffic island in the center of Jefferson Avenue is now a park named after James Thurber.
Postmodern-ish gazebo:
Abstract sculpture in the grass:
Unicorn with flowers in its mouth:
The northernmost end, looking south towards Broad Street:
37 Jefferson Avenue
This was the district’s first “intrusion” beyond the demolition of homes. It is a low-rise brick apartment building built in the 1950s, which is currently used as low-income housing and owned by the Jefferson Avenue Center.
50 Jefferson Avenue
Completed in 2009, these apartments were built by the Jefferson Avenue Center with the intention of providing housing to struggling citizens while giving them access to resources that will help them become more independent.
51 Jefferson Avenue
The house in 1982. (NRHP listing)
This brick Italianate house was built circa 1880. As of 1982, the exterior was covered with stucco, though the interior was very intact. The stucco was removed in 2013 and the brick was cleaned and tuck-pointed, and the house is in excellent repair today. It is used by the Columbus Council of World Affairs.
Porch and entrance:
I like this rounded portion of the porch:
This wooden addition hanging off the side is probably an alteration.
57 Jefferson Avenue
(NRHP listing)
Another brick Italianate, it has an almost identical design to its southern neighbor except for different decorative details, such as a mansard roof on its bay window. Like 51 Jefferson, this house had a coat of stucco on the exterior brick, which was removed during renovations in 2014 and 2015. This work also removed two poorly-constructed additions (which were framed with chicken wire) and redid the sunroom to a more historically accurate design.
It is honestly insane how far this house came in its renovation:
I think this entrance dates to the early 20th century at the earliest:
The bay window, denticulated cornice, and mansard roof:
61 Jefferson Avenue
The house in 1982, when it seemed to be in use as a barbershop. (NRHP listing)
A more square brick Italianate built in the 1880s, it has a two-story addition in the rear and an intact carriage house at its rear. The house and carriage house are currently used as offices. It was renovated in the late 1990s and had its blue-painted facade stripped to the original brick in 2020.
One of the windows, which has a stone hood mold and sill:
The main entrance, with original wooden doors and pedimented overhang:
67 Jefferson Avenue
This house has a symmetrical, cruciform plan, much like a Gothic cathedral. Its large wrap-around front porch is an alteration that dates to the early 20th century. The porch was rebuilt in 2011.
You can see one half of the cross-shaped plan here, though additions have changed it slightly:
One thing I immediately noticed is that what looks to be an original entrance here has been replaced with glass block:
Bay window now nestled into the porch:
You can see fluorescent light fixtures inside, though. Yuck.
James Thurber House (77 Jefferson Avenue)
Circa 1900 view of the house. (Thurber Center)
This Queen Anne house was built in 1873 and was briefly the home of James Thurber, an author and cartoonist who attended Ohio State. Thurber was born in Columbus and lived in a different house for his childhood, but his parents began renting this one while he was a student at Ohio State. He wrote a story called The Night the Ghost Got In about his time at the house, after an incident where his entire family was disturbed in the night by what Thurber attributed to be a ghost. The family moved out in 1917 and Thurber went on to work at the Columbus Dispatch for a time, but he stated that his time at the house very much influenced his writing.
The deteriorated house prior to restoration. (Thurber Center)
After Thurber left, the house went through a rapid succession of owners, eventually becoming a music school, beauty school, and boarding house. By the 1970s, it was in disrepair and slated for demolition.
In 1984, the house was restored by Moody Nolan and opened as a museum, which features furnishings that recreate the house as it would have appeared when Thurber lived there. The house is also used as a literacy center today.
The front facade is obscured here, but it gives a good view of the side and rear area:
Detail of the picture window, which actually appears to be original despite being boarded up in the 70s:
Front porch, which is a modern recreation of the original:
78 Jefferson Avenue
1982 photo of the house--note the boarded-up windows. (NRHP listing)
78 Jefferson has a different appearance than the other houses in the district, with larger window bays and a diagonally placed bay window. A large addition was built extending northward in the 1970s for the Metropolitan School, which has a design common of the time but does a fair job responding to the historic character in its form and materiality.
Window detail:
1970s addition:
Thurber Center (91 Jefferson Avenue)
The nonprofit that owns the Thurber House also operates an office and event space in the house to its north, known as the Thurber Center. This is actually a New Traditional house design that was built in 1992, and it is so in harmony with the original neighborhood that I thought it was a historic house at first.
A view of the house slightly obscured by trees:
I guess the main giveaway that this is a more modern house is the less detailed woodwork and decorative elements, but buildings are so commonly altered over time that it’s also common for things like the porch to be a restoration.
The color scheme and dormers are very appropriate for a Queen Anne house:
Ohio Historical Marker outside:
92 Jefferson Avenue
This Italianate is very similar to the others in the district, and it likewise was built c. 1880. It currently houses the Columbus Literacy Council.
The south facade, with its projection:
Bay window with interesting hood molds:
I like the porch woodwork:
Everything south of this house is a giant empty lot.
100 Jefferson Avenue
The house in 1982. (NRHP listing)
A later Italianate that dates to circa 1890, it has a prominent porch and sunroom. It was restored between 2016 and 2017. Between 2020 and 2025, it got new blue paint on the hood molds and dormer, and it very recently had its porch and sunroom painted a similar shade of blue.
Brightly painted sunroom:
Entrance portico:
Windows, cornice, and dormer:
I ended up crossing Long Street and got some more houses that technically aren’t part of the district, but they are interesting historic homes nonetheless. The district may have its boundaries amended later on to include these. Here is a view of downtown through a parking lot that once had more of these houses:
158 Jefferson Avenue
This house has been kept pretty historically intact, as even a 2007 Google Maps shot shows the brick exposed and corbelling intact. It was built circa 1880 and is larger than some of the houses in the historic district. I particularly liked its very fancy hood molds:
Detail of the entrance, which has original carved wooden doors behind modern storm doors:
Note the original stone steps, too. This house of course has been modernized in some regards, but it’s remarkably intact without restoration.
162 Jefferson Avenue
I had a tough time getting this Queen Anne through the thick trees in front of it. Though the stone elements have been painted white, the brick and slate roof is intact, as well as the original porch.
166 Jefferson Avenue
A smaller Italianate “Victorian cottage,” this one-story house has an asymmetrical, picturesque design. Unfortunately, the exterior masonry was already painted by 2007.
Sources:
AIA Guide to Columbus by Jeffrey Darbee
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71988525
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4084cm.g4084cm_g066561891/?sp=3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Avenue_Historic_District_(Columbus%2C_Ohio)
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