The owners wished for a large home with separate dwellings while Abigail underwent treatment for a recent cancer diagnosis. Abigail was able to recover from treatment on the second floor of the building while Mark and his two sons lived in the first-floor space and provided care for Abigail for the duration of her victory over Classic Hodgkin Lymphoma.

While contending with chemotherapy and radiation weekly, Abigail and Mark met (virtually) with architects, builders and designers with the objective of transforming the Lazarus house into their primary residence and bringing the historically landmarked home back to the forefront of urban residential restoration. The new owners consulted with local premier authorities on window restoration and roof and gutter restoration and MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) experts to understand the scope of work.

For nearly two years, Mark and Abigail worked with the Midland Architecture firm owner Greg Dutton and staff architect Megan Dixon to re-work the second and third floors of the home and revise the first floor to complete a luxury single family home with two accessory dwellings. Sullivan Builders was chosen to handle the construction on account of their finished and highly acclaimed work on the similarly French Second Empire style Columbus School for Girls Dormitory on Bryden Rd.

This project is not only a preservation of the historic building, but an artful redirection of its use with new features and fixtures that could be believed to be original to the property. 

With the history of surface parking development in the latter half of the 20th century in Columbus, it is incredibly refreshing and bold to take an existing surface parking lot and turn it into a multi-level patio with a green wall that is visible for blocks in almost every direction. Human in scale and purpose with multiple layers of sustainable features, this is absolutely reflective of the development values that prevail in Columbus today.

The Preston Centre, named both in honor of Columbus magnate Preston Wolfe—whose legacy is commemorated with a bronze plaque on the building’s facade—and as a nod to the old adage “Priest’s Town,” reflecting its shared block with Trinity Episcopal Church, now stands as a testament to elegant urban renewal.

The transformation is nearly complete: the building now boasts 105 luxury apartments, conference rooms, lounge areas, and commercial spaces. The original glass atrium has been replaced with a beautifully designed sunken garden by MKSK, accessible to the public and poised to enhance the appeal of future commercial tenants. The steel walkway is being preserved and reimagined as green space, contributing to the building’s refreshed aesthetic. Recently, Butcher & Rose—a new restaurant by Cameron Mitchell—opened its doors within a glass atrium overlooking the sunken garden, promising to attract diners and bring a lively new energy to the Preston Centre.

After navigating through the COVID years, the 92-unit, four-story complex—featuring studio apartments, one-bedroom apartments, and townhomes with spacious living areas, on-site parking, and a beautiful rooftop terrace overlooking Topiary Park—opened its pet-friendly doors on May 1, 2023. The building’s architectural style, which mimics a New York brownstone and incorporates wrought iron, stone, and granite, complements its surroundings as a fitting and timeless addition.

The interior design includes spacious corridors, inviting public gathering spaces with quality furnishings and local artwork, and bright, airy rooms. The apartments feature well-thought-out designs, kitchens with quartz countertops, and walnut laminate floors. The complex’s excellent location, combining a downtown feel with a slight distance from street noise and traffic, has proven popular, as evidenced by its 93.9% lease rate as of this month.

This success has encouraged Encova to consider developing similar projects along Oak Street. Although the complex is well managed by Oakwood Properties, Encova’s offices across the street ensure that the property is maintained to their high standards.

The St Mary School Campus renovation and expansion sensitively blends modern and historic aspects. An impressive amount of work has been accomplished in a very restricted and historic footprint. A major goal of the project included increasing the school population from 400 students to 500 students while creating shared community spaces that function year-round without disturbing student education.  Additional classrooms were added to the primary school building by decreasing physical classroom size allowing for the creation of shared meeting and storage spaces. The entry vestibule and lobby provide updated safety and security to the school building, acts as a separation to the public activities and closed educational wings and houses a new state of the art kitchen. The new addition of Heritage Hall at the rear provides a multifunctional space that serves as the school cafeteria during the academic year and community meeting, wedding, and event reception space in the evening and on weekends. Prior to this addition students ate lunch in their classrooms.  The Hub occupies the second floor above the lobby service corridor. The Hub houses an open computer lab, traditional library shelving, and reading space. This space also offers a bank of small meeting rooms with projector screens or private one-on-one mentoring sessions and faculty meetings. A dividing line of columns and a high contrast color scheme serves as an interior visual cue of the building’s division between the old and new addition.  It is safe to say that every inch of usable space has a distinct purpose, be it for storage, small or large meeting spaces for teaching and for students to engage in meaningful conversation and activities