Many hope that the development momentum in some parts of downtown Dayton will keep spreading west of Main to the area around 4th, 5th and Ludlow Streets. A small cluster of buildings there is actually on the National Register as the Terra Cotta Historic District, and despite quite a bit of vacancy, there are already some success stories.
One is the Ludlow Place Building (above), which was built in 1905 on the SE corner of 5th and Ludlow and was historically called the Christian Association Building or the Hamiel Building. Today it has the Third Perk coffee shop on the ground floor and office tenants above. The Spaghetti Warehouse next door is the other main draw for the district.
Dayton Public Schools occupies space across Fifth in the Ludlow Building (extremely creative building names abound in this district), built in 1917 on the NE corner of the same intersection. It looks like three buildings but is actually just one, and it was in poor shape until Reynolds and Reynolds renovated it in the 1990s before later bolting to the suburbs while also leaving us with these artistic gems on the west side of Ludlow.
The largest structure around is the Fidelity Building at Fifth and Main (1918, expanded 1929), which will still need a lot of funding to revive but has already started to seek historic tax credits for redevelopment. A longtime home of medical offices, it became vacant in 2008 after a burst water pipe evacuated the remaining tenants.
The nearby Arcade would give a boost to the area provided the developers can finally close on the financing and real estate for the immensely complex project. And the district is very close to the Levitt Pavilion, which recently completed its inaugural season of free outdoor concerts.
There’s even an opportunity to “uncover” the aforementioned block of old buildings on the west side of Ludlow Street, which we discussed in a previous article.
Also, just across the street from the Ludlow Place Building (Third Perk) is the Graphic Arts Building, which enjoys an individual listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
I went to the doctor as a kid at the Fidelity Bldg. My grandmother took us on the bus. Usually we stopped to eat somewhere. It certainly made a trip to the doctor not so scary for my brothers and me. Love your site.
Thanks! Glad you’re enjoying the site. I bet those food stops did make the doctor visits seem a little better! I hope we can see the Fidelity Building brought back to productive use soon.