The Fire Blocks district of Downtown Dayton has seen a lot of revitalization in the last few years. But a couple of interesting commercial buildings remain vacant, and will hopefully see some new life soon.
The small commercial building pictured above is the structure at 135-137 E Third Street, which is next door to the taller building that is Dayton’s only example of the Gothic Commercial style, where popular sandwich shop Tony and Pete’s just opened a new headquarters and prep kitchen space.
The upper floors are occupied by the Oriel Studios apartments, and the same owners own the smaller building too.
The two-story commercial structure was built around 1916 in the cleanup after the Great Flood of 1913 and the fire which devastated the block.
It is somewhat similar in style to 132 East Third (known as the Bird Coin building) on the other side of the street, which was constructed at the same time.
The National Register form for the district describes the architecture of the 135-137 building:
“This glazed brick building has a double storefront which has been modernized in recent years. The upper stories, however, have retained their integrity. Second-story windows are 1/1 lights and are divided from the first story by a brick panelled spandrel. The twin facades are divided by panelled brick pilasters. A frieze and bracketed cornice divide the second story from the twin shaped parapets.”
It has had a variety of tenants over the years. When it opened, 135 East Third was home to the Crystal Restaurant.
We notice today that there is no building to its east on the corner lot. Unlike the rest of the block which was built in traditional urban form, the corner lot was not and by 1918 was occupied by the Standard Filling Station.
That same year the Dayton International Rubber Sales Co located at 137 E Third St ran an advertisement encouraging motorists to “bring in your worn tire, let us apply a Gates Half-Sole tire, (and) double your mileage.
In 1924 the restaurant had become Rankin’s restaurant, which in the 1920s offered a “business men’s lunch” for $.25-$.35 and advertised itself as the “only restaurant in block Jefferson to St. Clair.”
By 1929 though, the building had become vacant, and that year it was sold to Maris McCrabb, who operated McCrabb’s restaurant at 118 W 4th St.
Decades later, the tenants of the building would shift as downtown began to grapple with declining business due to Dayton’s suburban growth. In the 1960s, 135 E Third was home to Economy Paint Co, but by 1968 it had turned into “the Adult Book Store.”
By the 1990s, 135 E Third had become the Ann Chesman Dance Studio, which had been in business since 1947.
As of 2009, it was Santana’s Cafe, which ran some newspaper ads for its Latin Dance night and a show by local rap group GTC (Grind Time Central) got a writeup in the Dayton Daily News.
It was subsequently briefly known as Club 1700 and Daijah, at the same time as other nearby music and nightlife destinations included Hammerjax at 111 E 4th (Journal Herald Building) and The 88 Club a few blocks north at 219 N Patterson Boulevard.
In 2010 the 88 Club and Club 1700 collaborated on a “Gem City Idol” competition aiming to find the best R&B singers in Dayton.
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