In the 19th century, Downtown Dayton, especially west of Main Street, was primarily a residential area.
One of the most luxurious streets was Robert Boulevard on the western edge near the river. But another was West First Street, where the largest concentration of prominent Dayton residents called home, and which in another article I recounted as “Dayton’s Lost Park Avenue.”
Those homes are long gone by now, but there is one old home still remaining on West First Street.
That is the Fowler-Parrott home at 18 W. First Street.
It was built circa 1830, making the house one of the oldest structures still left in downtown Dayton.
The Greek Revival design displays “a striking simplicity.”
It was originally the home of Henry E. Fowler, owner of “the most important hardware store in the city” and his wife Ellen (DDN 1/28/1914).
It later was owned by Homer and Elizabeth Parrott (Fowler’s daughter). It was renovated significantly multiple times over the years, becoming the home of the Buzfuz Club from 1910 to 1930.
The Buzfuz Club, also Ye Buzfuz Club, was founded in 1891 as a literary society. Its name comes from a character in Dickens’ Pickwick Papers called Serjeant Buzfuz.
It was described in Dayton, Ohio – An Intimate History as “a club that possessed an amount of ‘allure’ in the public mind that no other organization did. Its membership was coveted and correspondingly hard to achieve. Its members were choice souls with a fund of wit that made them renowned among us. They belonged in Dayton’s ‘upper crust’ and were in the heyday of the just-out-of-college years. Moreover a secrecy about the inner doings of the club added to its prestige.”
The initial meetings were held in “the back room of the J. A. McMahon law offices in the (then) Fireman’s Building on the southwest corner of Main and Second.” Much later in 2005 the club was still located in the 28th floor of Kettering Tower, offering lunches and “a rummy card game that may be as old as the club itself” (DDN 2/23/05).
During the years in the Fowler-Parrott house, it held a variety of events such as a Harpsichord concert in 1924. It also hosted an Annual New Year’s Eve costume ball, dubbed “one of the most interesting events of the season.” The 1921 bash was “a Paper party” where “Crepe paper, tissue paper, wrapping paper, wall paper or newspaper may be used” for costumes (DDN 12/8/1921).
Then the 1929 ball was “designated as an artists and models ball” and the club’s home was transformed into New York’s Greenwich Village, as an appropriate setting.” J. Sprig McMahon was sergeant of the club at that time.
In the 1950s and 60s, the building was home to the women’s fashion retailer Leon Frank Inc. as well as other businesses over the years.
Then more recently it was converted to an office building. It was the home of the Myers & Frayne Co. LPA law office.
Historic Home Recently Listed for Auction
It was listed at auction in Spring 2025 with a buy it now price of $300,000.
County property records show a sale on May 23, 2025 for $82,500 to Golden Hive LLC.
It remains to be seen what the plans are for the home, and if it may continue to be used as an office or be restored back to a residence.
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