2020 Most Endangered Sites
Nagy Brothers Shoe Repair
Year Built: 1948
Address: 1725 Parsons Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43207
Original Building Use: Service Station, Bakery
Owner: Joseph A. Nagy Trustee
Nagy Brothers Shoe Repair is an unassuming, diminutive, single-story, painted brick and block building with intact original interior fixtures. The northern section (with peaked roof) is c1920s and was an automobile service station and later a bakery. Joseph and Steve Nagy, both deceased, purchased the building just after World War II, added on to the building, and operated Nagy Brothers Shoe Repair for 63 years along the Parsons Avenue Business Corridor of Columbus’ South End. Joseph Nagy walked a block from his Hungarian Village home to this shop daily, until his retirement in 2009.
Why is this site endangered?
The building is vacant with potential for adaptive reuse. The site represents diversity in the city’s cultural inheritance and an opportunity to recognize, remember, and preserve overlooked assets.