Columbus Landmarks Publication
The annual list of Most Endangered Sites
to create awareness and stimulate redevelopment of historic properties.
This list represents an immediate opportunity to achieve our vision for Columbus: a thriving, creative city that values and protects its architectural and cultural legacy and is committed to equity, sustainable growth, and design excellence.
2024 Endangered Site List
Save Historic Sites
2024 Most Endangered Site
Holy Rosary & St. John Catholic Church
648 S Ohio Avenue, Columbus, OH 43205 (Old Oaks)
1898
Bishop Herrmann Edward J
010-066909-00
The Holy Rosary & St. John Catholic Church was designed by the Columbus architecture firm David Riebel & Sons. The church, built in 1898, is designed in the High Gothic style with distinctive high towers, rich masonry detailing, and large stained-glass windows which were donated by the parishioners and bear their names. Also on the property are a Rectory (built in 1899), a Parish School built in 1905, and a Convent built in 1950.
2024 Most Endangered Site
Mifflin School House no. 5
3680 Westerville Road, Columbus, OH 43224 (Northeast/Walnut Creek)
1907
Vedic Welfare Society of Columbus
010-158461-00
The circa 1920 Mifflin District No. 5 Schoolhouse on Westerville Road is an example of early schoolhouses that are quickly disappearing from our communities. The diminutive brick structure features a tall distinctive central tower with exposed rafter tails at the roof overhang.
”A development proposal to construct multifamily housing and parking lots on the site has been approved by the Development Commission, making the fate of this historic building uncertain.
Ram Upreti, a representative of the Vedic Welfare Society, spoke to the tour group and gave some context for the organization’s decision to sell the building, which he said has been a central gathering place and spiritual home for the region’s large population of Nepali-speaking Bhutanese. Numbering over 30,000, many of the refugees who have settled in Columbus spent years – and sometimes decades – in refugee camps in Nepal after being forced out of their native Bhutan.
In 2018 the group bought the Westerville Road building for $165,000 and will soon sell it for $450,000 to the developer of the apartment complex, enabling the congregation to purchase a five-acre piece of land in the Reynoldsburg area that will better serve the growing community.
2024 Most Endangered Site
Ohio State Hospital East
181 Taylor Avenue, Columbus, OH 43203 (King-Lincoln Bronzeville)
1971
Ohio State University
010-021300-00
The 16-story tower of the Ohio State Hospital East on Taylor Avenue, built in 1971, exhibits recognizable elements of Modern Design – vertical bays of plate glass windows, dark porcelain steel panels, and a strong base clad in rusticated stone.
2024 Most Endangered Site
Sugar Shack
1551 N Fourth Street, Columbus, OH 43201 (Indianola Terrace)
1896
Shack Properties LLC
010-007499-00
The Sugar Shack is an example of typical 1920’s commercial mixed-use buildings found in many urban neighborhoods. Businesses are on the first floor with apartments above.
”The building has been vacant a long while and may face demolition due to growing development pressures in the Weinland Park community.
2024 Most Endangered Site
The Spaghetti Warehouse
397 W Broad Street, Columbus, OH 43215 (Franklinton)
1891
The Robert Weiler Company
010-010128-00
The Spaghetti Warehouse in Franklinton was originally an 1880’s ice storage warehouse, known as the Crystal Ice Manufacturing & Cold Storage Co. A solid masonry structure, built to accommodate heavy loads, it also has decorative features such as recessed window openings and a brick corbelled cornice.
”Weiler confirmed that the plan remains to tear the historic structure down, although what the final development will end up looking like is still undecided
