At a time when so many once great homes throughout Dayton are being turned into vacant lots, it’s inspiring to see an example of the opposite happening. While perusing the archives of the St. Anne’s Hill blog recently, I came across an interesting story about a house at 155 Henry Street. The site was a vacant lot after a fire took down the house in the late 1970s.
In 2009, the property owner, who grew up in the lost home, revealed a plan to rebuild it in historically accurate fashion (after a few revisions made by the Landmarks Commission).
This would clearly be a project with great personal significance, but also a boon for the neighborhood which has a few ill-fitting modern infill houses in the years before the neighborhood achieved historic district status and stricter building requirements. At that time, there was a good deal of excitement among residents, and the next step was to be making sure the plans fit city building and zoning codes.
But then months passed without any news, and it was assumed that the project had been abandoned. But 4 years later, the neighborhood blog happily announced that construction had suddenly begun, as the owner “finally pulled a building permit … and the house is literally rising up from the dirt, like a phoenix rising from the ashes.”
Take a look at the Streetview before and after of this home, a very welcome addition to the fabric of St. Anne’s Hill, one of Dayton’s best preserved older neighborhoods.
Before:
After:
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