Dayton can’t magically bring back any of its old buildings that have been demolished, but it can uncover the few that survive hidden under more modern coverings or cladding systems.
One such example that was in the news recently is the Price Stores building (below), a beautiful neo-romanesque former Postal Telegraph office building that was covered up in panels back when such modern styling was in vogue.
The Fire Blocks developers have pledged to restore the building close to its original look as they convert the upper floors into a bar and hotel (Prices Stores will stay), although the time it’s taken the group to start the first phases of their development has left many onlookers uncertain and their funding in jeopardy.
But this isn’t the only opportunity to unearth forgotten historic buildings in downtown Dayton.
On the western side of downtown is an oddly shaped structure housing Dayton Public Schools administrative offices (update: as of 2021, DPS moved across the street to the building at the NE corner of Fifth and Ludlow), but it’s really a group of old buildings wrapped up in a “exterior finish and insulation system” put into place by Reynolds and Reynolds around the 1980s when the company had its headquarters there.
Long before that a variety of businesses occupied these spaces when it was part of a bustling downtown district, including the Metropolitan Clothing Company and later Wilkie’s bookstore. Wilkie’s was Ohio’s oldest independent bookstore when it closed in 2003 and the Dayton Board of Education moved in.
It wouldn’t be easy (or cheap) to restore these buildings back to their former splendor, but they do sit in an area of downtown where multiple redevelopment projects are on the table.
The three other corners of 4th and Ludlow are the Grant-Deneau Tower, the Dayton Arcade’s Commercial Building, and the old Dayton Daily News Building, where the city is eyeing a “signature redevelopment” after a proposed housing project failed spectacularly leaving a smoldering hole in the ground that took years to clean up. The city’s preference for the development is for at least 65% of the site to contain buildings, which would add density to what is now a sleepy area of downtown.
If just one of these projects moves forward, the momentum would continue and make a rehab of these properties more financially palatable. Hopefully some day these ornate pieces of Dayton history will see the light of day again.
Historic photos courtesy of Dayton Metro Library. Contemporary photos by author.
I’ll admit I kind of like the gold Esther price building, ridiculous as it is, but I’d be happy to see it restored too. The ones on Ludlow though! What were they thinking?! I had no idea that beautiful-ness was under those awful boring blocks.