Old Dayton Daily News Building: History, Preservation and Development

The Dayton Arcade has successfully reopened after a massive redevelopment effort, but right across the street another historic landmark may be in jeopardy.

The old Dayton Daily News building dates back to 1910 and was designed by prominent architect Albert Pretzinger. It’s the only structure left near the NW corner of 4th and Ludlow after a botched development razed the adjacent buildings (including a part of the newspaper building taken down by mistake) but then failed to move forward, leaving piles of debris and rubble on the site for years.

The larger site was later cleaned up by the city, which issued a request for qualifications for a “signature development” there, but there was a major issue: the Dayton Daily News building is still owned by demolition contractor Steve Rauch, who took control after a legal fight with the original developer over unpaid bills.

Given its proximity to the reborn Arcade and the large amount of vacant land, a rarity downtown, the site is undoubtedly attractive.

But the ownership status of the historic structure has been a major stumbling block for any progress. As of 2017, Rauch listed the building for $950,000 and no deal has been reached since then. The vacant land surrounding it has been used as construction staging for the Arcade the last couple of years.

In the meantime the building has remained vacant and partially open to the elements for long stretches of time, causing it to deteriorate further.

Dayton historical advocate Andrew Hershner says that Daytonians should understand “how imperative it is to find a suitable developer as soon as possible. The clock is ticking and the longer it sits the more it’s going to take to restore her former glory.”

“It has been very difficult to keep it safe and secure until the time comes,” he added.

The structure has also been listed on local organization Preservation Dayton’s Most Endangered Properties list.

The building is notable for its architecture as well as its association with Ohio governor James M. Cox, who in the early 1900s needed a larger facility for his growing newspaper which he had purchased in 1898 at the age of 28 and renamed the Dayton Daily News.

As the story goes, Cox approached local banker Valentine Winters for a construction loan but was refused based to Winters’ reasoning that “newspapers don’t make money.”

Refusing to be deterred, Cox found the money another way, hired Pretzinger, and told the architect to “build me a damn bank.”

The building was modeled after the Knickerbocker Trust bank building in New York City. Its style and architectural details are described in the Ohio Historic Places Dictionary:

As more workers, shoppers, and diners return downtown and the Arcade in the coming months, many hope that a deal can be made to preserve this historic landmark and take advantage of the site’s development potential.