Ridgewood Historic District

Last updated
Ridgewood Historic District
Obermeier House.jpg
French Norman Revival Home in Ridgewood, Canton, Ohio
USA Ohio location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location in Ohio
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location in United States
Location Canton, Stark County, Ohio
Coordinates 40°49′18″N81°22′14″W / 40.82167°N 81.37056°W / 40.82167; -81.37056 Coordinates: 40°49′18″N81°22′14″W / 40.82167°N 81.37056°W / 40.82167; -81.37056
Area2.5 sq mi (6.5 km2)
Built1918
Architectural style Colonial, Tudor Revival
NRHP reference No. 82001489
Added to NRHPDecember 19, 1982

The Ridgewood Historic District is a residential neighborhood in Canton, Ohio. [1] [2] The neighborhood consists of preserved, architect-designed Revival style buildings built in the early 20th century with amenities such as original brick streets and locally produced street lighting standards. [3] The District features homes designed by several distinguished architects, including Charles Firestone, [4] Herman Albrecht, [5] and Louis Hoicowitz. [6] Due to its historic architectural significance, the District was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on December 19, 1982. [7]

Contents

Description

The Ridgewood Historic District is an area of residential buildings extending east and west of Market Avenue North, a major north-south artery, in the City of Canton approximately 20 blocks from the center of town. [8] A series of three contiguous allotments, the District was developed by George A. (Jake) Leonard and the Leonard Agency between 1918 and 1940, with the majority of its significant buildings having been erected in the decade 1920 to 1930. The name of Ridgewood is attributed to Mrs. Leonard, who was quite taken with an allotment which she had visited in Springfield, Ohio, called "Ridgewood." Of the 190 buildings in the District, 58 Post World War II buildings provide background. There are no intrusions. [9]

Most of the homes were built between 1919 and the depression. The model for the allotment was a design by John Sherwood (Fritz) Kelly, built in 1919 at 234 19th Street NW.  The earliest of the Tudor Revival style homes, built in the same year at 145 19th Street NW, was designed by Herman Albrecht. Over the next decade Albrecht designed more than a dozen homes in the District, as did Charles E. Firestone. J. Kelly, working with his brother-in-law Arthur Brothers, was responsible for nearly two dozen houses in the District. [10]

The District is typical of other such residential areas in that its homes are relatively large, set back from the street and enhanced by mature overhanging trees and lush plantings. While most of its streets are laid out in a grid pattern, University Avenue and 22nd Street NW, and the west portion of 22nd and 24th Streets NE are curved to provide variation in lot shape and vista, and to discourage the use of the streets as thoroughfares.  No unsympathetic commercial strips, and no gas stations or parking lots mark the District.

While the buildings were built at more or less the same time, the District exhibits none of the sameness and homogeneity found in post-World War II residential developments.  Its buildings are architect-designed for the most part and demonstrate the enormous variations of shape, skin, and sensibility that characterize the European Revival styles favored by a number of architects working in this period. Nor is there skimping in the use of materials and craftsmanship. Windows of beveled and leaded glass, multifaceted roof lines featuring slate in various shapes and hues, hand-cut stone, tapestry brick, gazebos, battlements, and turrets abound, as do variations in cornice treatments featuring the modillions, dentils, and corbelling of the original styles from which these dwellings take their themes. The District's ambiance recalls the quality and substance deemed appropriate in their homes by pre-Depression gentry.

The following are typical examples of buildings found throughout the District: [11] [12]

Tudor Revivals

All three buildings feature, in various executions, pargetting, leaded and multi-lighted casements, voussoirs, Tudor-arched entries, coursed stone first stories and half-timbered second stories, and potted chimneys in massed arrangements.

French Norman Revivals

Both feature wall dormers and window bays, plastered entries, hipped roofs (suggestive, if not directly imitative of the mansard), and multiple roof levels.

Georgian Revivals

Both feature pedimented entries with fan lights, dentilled cornices, shuttered, double-hung sash windows, brick skins, and other elements appropriate to this type.

Tudor Revival Home in Ridgewood, Canton Ohio, blt. 1929 178 25th Street NW, Canton.jpg
Tudor Revival Home in Ridgewood, Canton Ohio, blt. 1929

In addition to the revival styles of the majority of Ridgewood buildings, several buildings exhibit the transitional features characteristic of the spreading suburban architecture being built in other cities. One such effort, the Fawcett House (John S. Kelly and Arthur Brothers, 1921), was built as a spec house to entice investment in the new allotment. Its rolled roof, suggesting thatch, and its rows of paned casements give its eclecticism a "modern" feeling belying the revival remnants of its Doric-columned entry, arched window moldings suggesting Palladians, and its fan-lighted gable. [14] Another atypical building for the District is the Lehman/Belden House, the earliest house in the area (1890), a substantial vernacular building with Queen Anne and Eastlake elements.

In spite of variations such as these, however, the District has the unified, slightly Europeanized flavor characteristic of other developments of its period, and represents the best in elegant American suburban architecture.

Significance

Ridgewood Home Historic Marker RIDGEWOOD HISTORIC MARKER.jpg
Ridgewood Home Historic Marker

The Ridgewood Historic District is significant in that it is the only residential development in the City of Canton built in this period and featuring the architect-designed Revival style buildings popular in the early 20th century. It is significant, too, in that, through its visual amenities – its locally produced lighting standards and paving materials, and in the fact that many of its buildings were designed by local architectural talent – the District highlights home-produced features of Canton's development and preserves them for the future. [15]

The Ridgewood allotment was platted in several stages between 1918 and 1927 and developed by the Leonard Agency, a subsidiary of which, the Canton Home Site Company, was established to manage the development. The largest portion to the west of Market was once farm land held until 1918 by members of the Martin family, though the parcel had been annexed to the city in 1905-6. The east portion, originally called the Bellwood addition and farmed by residents of the Stark County Poor House, was annexed to the city in 1911.

Except for 25th Street NW, which was paved in 1924 by the city, the remaining streets were paved by private contractors with brick manufactured by Canton's own Metropolitan Paving Brick Company, the largest producer of paving brick in the country. Metropolitan pavers were used in New York's major tunnels and on the Indianapolis speedway. Ridgewood's street lights were manufactured by another Canton firm, Union Metal Manufacturing Company, who built ornamental street lighting standards for first class suburban developments and other uses nation-wide.

Ridgewood Entrance, 21st St. NW Ridgewood Historic District Entrance, Canton Ohio.jpg
Ridgewood Entrance, 21st St. NW

Architecture

Several local architects were responsible for the Revival styles which characterize the District. [16] [17]

Ridgewood is a coherent architectural statement announcing Canton's industrial coming-of-age. Its establishment accompanied the event; its buildings embellished it. The architectural significance of the Ridgewood Historic District lies in its initial building period from 1920–1930. It was during this period that Ridgewood's identity, conveyed through its architecture and landscaping, was established. The tree-lined brick-paved streets display Colonial and Tudor Revival Styles as the prevailing architectural choice of Ridgewood homeowners. The architectural continuity can be traced throughout Ridgewood's development from 1920 to 1940 and to a lesser extent in the more recent construction of the last decades.

Residences built from 1930–1940 closely reproduce the variety of materials and surface quality displayed in the earlier Colonial and Tudor Revival style houses dating from 1920–1930. This quality is to such a high degree that the 1930–1940 houses are considered a contributing part of the district . They clearly convey the continuity of architecture present in Ridgewood.

The later buildings – post WWII, 1950s to the present, still retain the basic Colonial and Tudor Revival styles, but the richness of their surface quality is expressed to a lesser degree. These buildings, when viewed in the context of the district, maintain the continuity of Ridgewood architecture and serve as background buildings within the historic district.

Residents

Among Ridgewood's original residents were members of Canton's corporate elite. Members of the management of Republic Steel lived there as did managers from the two corporations that merged to form it – Berger Manufacturing and United Alloy Steel. Thirteen top executives from the Timken Roller Bearing Company lived in Ridgewood, including two top Timkens, Robert and Henry. A number of the managers of other Canton industries, from stamping and enameling companies to water softener companies, provisioners and rubber companies, were Ridgewood residents as were professionals of all sorts—doctors, lawyers, bankers, and educators. [22]

Further reading

Related Research Articles

Canton, Ohio City in Ohio, United States

Canton is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio, United States. It is located approximately 60 miles (97 km) south of Cleveland and 20 miles (32 km) south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes and Wayne counties to the city's west and southwest. Canton is the largest municipality in the Canton-Massillon, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Stark and Carroll counties. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 73,007, making Canton eighth among Ohio cities in population.

Victorian architecture Series of architectural revival styles

Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. Victorian refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian were used in construction. However, many elements of what is typically termed "Victorian" architecture did not become popular until later in Victoria's reign, roughly from 1850 and later. The styles often included interpretations and eclectic revivals of historic styles. The name represents the British and French custom of naming architectural styles for a reigning monarch. Within this naming and classification scheme, it followed Georgian architecture and later Regency architecture, and was succeeded by Edwardian architecture.

Fieldston, Bronx Neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City

Fieldston is a privately owned affluent neighborhood in the Riverdale section of the northwestern part of the New York City borough of the Bronx. It is bounded by Manhattan College Parkway to the south, Henry Hudson Parkway to the west, 250th Street to the north, and Broadway to the east. It is noted for its rural atmosphere, large houses and abundance of trees. The majority of the neighborhood is included in the Fieldston Historic District, designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2006.

Italianate architecture 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture

The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and Neoclassicism, were synthesised with picturesque aesthetics. The style of architecture that was thus created, though also characterised as "Neo-Renaissance", was essentially of its own time. "The backward look transforms its object," Siegfried Giedion wrote of historicist architectural styles; "every spectator at every period—at every moment, indeed—inevitably transforms the past according to his own nature."

Tudor Revival architecture Architectural style

Tudor Revival architecture first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture, in reality it usually took the style of English vernacular architecture of the Middle Ages that had survived into the Tudor period. The style later became an influence elsewhere, especially the British colonies. For example, in New Zealand, the architect Francis Petre adapted the style for the local climate. In Singapore, then a British colony, architects such as R. A. J. Bidwell pioneered what became known as the Black and White House. The earliest examples of the style originate with the works of such eminent architects as Norman Shaw and George Devey, in what at the time was considered Neo-Tudor design.

Academy Hill Historic District (Greensburg, Pennsylvania) United States historic place

The Academy Hill Historic District of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, is bounded approximately by Baughman Street, North Maple Avenue, Kenneth Street, Culbertson Avenue, Beacon Street, and North Main Street. It consists of 252 structures on 63.5 acres (0.257 km2), with the most notable buildings from the years 1880 to 1949. The earliest building, a former farmhouse at 333 Walnut Avenue, dates from 1840. The Academy Hill Historic District is directly to the north of the Greensburg Downtown Historic District.

Washington Park Historic District (Indianapolis, Indiana) United States historic place

The Washington Park Historic District is a national historic district located in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 24, 2008. It comprises nearly 60 acres (240,000 m2) and is located 4 miles (6.4 km) north of downtown Indianapolis, in the south-central part of the Meridian-Kessler neighborhood. The district includes all properties south of 43rd Street and north of 40th Street, and west of Central Avenue and east of the alley running north and south between Pennsylvania and Meridian Streets; Washington Boulevard runs north-south through the center of the district. It includes 110 contributing buildings, ranging mostly from mansions to small bungalows, and three non-contributing buildings.

Whitney Avenue Historic District United States historic place

The Whitney Avenue Historic District is a historic district in the East Rock neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut. It is a 203-acre (82 ha) district which included 1,084 contributing buildings when it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

The Garber House in Los Angeles, California, is an English Tudor Revival building by architect Herbert A. Linthwaite, AlA that was built in 1922 and listed as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 2007. The Cultural Heritage Commission found the building "embodies the distinguishing characteristics of an architectural type specimen, inherently valuable for a study of a period style or method of construction" as an example of Tudor Revival residential architecture in the Hollywood area.

Dinglewood, Columbus, Georgia United States historic place

Dinglewood is a neighborhood/subdistrict located at the southern edge of Midtown Columbus, Georgia. In it is the tallest building in Columbus, the Aflac Tower. It is also home to the famous Dinglewood Pharmacy, which serves, in the opinions of the city's residents, the city's best scrambled hot dog. The boundaries of the neighborhood are generally acknowledged to be 17th Street to the north, Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to the south, Interstate 185 to the east and Veterans Parkway to the west. In 2007, the estimated population of the area was 1,101.

Pretzinger

The Pretzinger name belongs to a family of architects and engineers in Dayton, Ohio. Albert Pretzinger started the family's architectural legacy.

Lindbergh Forest United States historic place

Lindbergh Forest is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, located off Chapman Highway (US-441) in South Knoxville, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an historic district. Initially developed in the late 1920s as one of Knoxville's first automobile suburbs, the neighborhood is now noted for its late-1920s and early-1930s residential architecture, and the use of East Tennessee marble detailing. The neighborhood also contains two of Knoxville's five surviving Lustron houses. In 1998, several of its houses were added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Lindbergh Forest Historic District.

Immaculate Conception Catholic Church (Celina, Ohio) United States historic place

Immaculate Conception Catholic Church is a parish of the Roman Catholic Church in Celina, Ohio, United States. Founded later than many other Catholic parishes in the heavily Catholic region of western Ohio, it owns a complex of buildings constructed in the early 20th century that have been designated historic sites because of their architecture. Leading among them is its massive church, built in the Romanesque Revival style just 43 years after the first Catholic moved into the city: it has been called northwestern Ohio's grandest church building.

Trinity Lutheran Church (Canton, Ohio) United States historic place

Trinity Lutheran Church is a historic former Lutheran church in downtown Canton, Ohio, United States. Built in the 1880s for a flourishing congregation, it closed in the early 2010s, leaving behind a church building that has been named a historic site.

Washington Highlands Historic District United States historic place

The Washington Highlands Historic District is a historic subdivision in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, planned by Hegemann & Peets starting in 1916. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

Foster/Bell House United States historic place

The Foster/Bell House is an historic building located in Ottumwa, Iowa, United States. The original house on the property was the home of Judge H.B. Hendershott built in 1862. He sold the property to Thomas D. Foster in early 1890s. He was the chairman and general manager of the meat packing firm John Morrell & Company from 1893 to 1915. Foster hired architect Ernest Koch to design the present residence. It was originally a frame and stone house in the Neoclassical style that was completed in 1893. The house passed to Foster's daughter Ellen Foster Bell who hired the Des Moines architectural firm of Kraetsch and Kraetsch. They redesigned the exterior to its present Tudor Revival style in 1923. The architectural firm of Tinsley, McBroom & Higgins made significant changes to the interior in 1929. It features Sioux Falls red granite on the main floor.

Fifth Street Bluff Historic District United States historic place

The Fifth Street Bluff Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Ottumwa, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. At the time of its nomination it contained 67 resources, which included 40 contributing buildings, three contributing structures, and 24 non-contributing buildings.

Euclid Golf Allotment United States historic place

The Euclid Golf Allotment, also known as the Euclid Golf Historic District, is a historic district located in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, in the United States. Roughly bounded by Cedar Road, Coventry Road, West St. James Parkway, and Ardleigh Drive, the 142-acre (0.57 km2) site contains primarily residential homes built between 1913 and 1929. The historic district is built on land formerly owned by John D. Rockefeller and at one time leased to the Euclid Golf Club for its back nine holes, and it takes its name from this historic factoid. The Euclid Golf Allotment is a largely undisturbed example of an early 20th century planned community containing American Craftsman, Colonial Revival, French Renaissance Revival, Italian Renaissance Revival, Prairie School, Shingle Style, and Tudor Revival architecture.

Newport Village Historic District

Newport Village Historic District is a neighborhood in Boardman, Ohio. The neighborhood is bordered by the City of Youngstown, Ohio to the north and east, Glenwood Avenue to the west, and Forest Glen Estates Historic District to the south. Newport Village is known for its quaint tree-lined residential streets and early twentieth century Tudor revival and colonial revival architecture.

Belview Heights Historic District United States historic place

The Belview Heights Historic District, in Birmingham, Alabama, is a historic district which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. It runs roughly along 41st., 42st., 43rd., 44th, and 45th Sts., and M and Martin Aves. The listing included 355 contributing buildings on 150 acres (0.61 km2).

References

  1. ↑ Brown, Gary. "A look inside Canton's Ridgewood area as it turns 100". The Repository. Retrieved 2019-02-18.
  2. ↑ "Exclusive Homes: Welcome to Historic Ridgewood | About magazine | Stark County". About Stark County. 2011-10-01. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
  3. ↑ Ohio historic places dictionary, Volume 2. Hamburg, MI: State History Publications. 2008. p. 1295. ISBN   9781878592705. OCLC   314411000.
  4. ↑ Botos, Tim. "Charles Firestone put his architectural stamp on Stark County". The Repository. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
  5. ↑ Botos, Tim. "Stark Heritage: Herman J. Albrecht". The Repository. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
  6. ↑ "Stark's Famous: Louis Hoicowitz". The Repository. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
  7. ↑ "National Park Service, National Register of Digital Assets". Ridgewood Historic District. Retrieved June 20, 2019.
  8. ↑ Owen, Lorrie (1999). Ohio Historic Places Dictionary. Sommerset Publishers, Inc. p. 1295. ISBN   9781878592705.
  9. ↑ "Historic Ridgewood" (PDF). The Historic Ridgewood Association. 1986.
  10. ↑ Albacete, M.J. (1989). Historic Architecture in Canton, 1805-1940. Canton, Ohio: The Canton Art Institute. p. 58. LCCN   89-062771.
  11. ↑ Hoover, Shane. "200 THINGS THAT PLAY IN STARK COUNTY: Historic Ridgewood". The Repository. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
  12. ↑ "Architectural Variety". historicridgewood.tripod.com. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
  13. ↑ Sterling, Ronald E. (1998). Canton, Ohio. Arcadia Publishing. p. 106. ISBN   9780752408187.
  14. ↑ "sent by Sears". clevelandmagazine.com. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
  15. ↑ "History – Historic Ridgewood" . Retrieved 2019-02-18.
  16. ↑ Heald, Edward (1952). The Stark County Story, Volume III, Industry Comes of Age. The Stark County Historical Society.
  17. ↑ Brown, Gary. "Homes, gardens the focus of Saturday's Historic Ridgewood tour". The Repository. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
  18. ↑ Botos, Tim. "Charles Firestone put his architectural stamp on Stark County". The Repository. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
  19. ↑ Botos, Tim. "Stark Heritage: Herman J. Albrecht". The Repository. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
  20. ↑ "Famous Architects". historicridgewood.tripod.com. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
  21. ↑ "Stark's Famous: Louis Hoicowitz". The Repository. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
  22. ↑ Brown, Gary. "A look inside Canton's Ridgewood area as it turns 100". The Repository. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.