herr2ck: An Olde Towne East Mystery

February 2026.

While I was out taking pictures on Bryden Road, I noticed a curious shallow tower rising behind one of the houses. I assumed it was an odd carriage house at first, but after returning to document it in more detail, I soon became thoroughly confounded as to what the function of this building once was. Luckily, Sanborn maps and other historic resources saved the day…read on.

This mysterious building is located at 173 South 19th Street in the Olde Towne East neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by Gustavus Lane and a carriage house to the north, a house to the south, 19th Street to the east, and a larger garage (the “Carriage House Condominiums”) to the west.

History

The substation as it appears on the 1901 Sanborn map. (Library of Congress)

This enigmatic structure shared few clues about its former use. Based on the brick Romanesque Revival-ish design and the age of its surroundings, I surmised it was a late 19th century building as well. The site is not featured on the 1887 or 1891 Sanborn maps, and the 1899 Baist map shows the site as being vacant. However, the 1901 map shows our building and labels it an “Edison Electric Light & Power (Sub)station.” Naturally, the new-fangled lighting source that was electricity began to make it into the homes of more and more Americans every year, and substations were necessary to meet this need. Its design was almost certainly an attempt to blend into the neighborhood versus sticking out with all the Dr. Frankenstein-esque equipment required.

I later found the Historic Homes of Olde Towne East book online while doing other research, which filled in certain other gaps about this structure. According to that text, the substation was built shortly after 1899, and it was an electric “booster station,” which helped the low-voltage transmissions of the time travel further distances. Apparently, wealthy Bryden Road residents were demanding new electric service to replace the gas streetlights and lamps inside their homes. As electric technology soon improved, these stations were no longer necessary. One relatively dubious claim is that the brick walls of the substation are seven feet thick, which seems to be overkill.

The 1921-1922 Sanborn map reveals that the substation’s function had indeed changed, as it was used for lumber storage at that point in time. The 1921-1961 map then labels it “Upholst’g,” meaning it had an industrial function at that time. By some stroke of luck, I found an active listing for an antique chair on OfferUp that was seemingly reupholstered by a company located inside the building, which was known as Homecraft Studio. Searching that up only revealed an obituary of the company’s founder, with no information regarding the company itself or the building it resided in. That just about does it for the history I was able to dig up.

The building in 2015. (Google Maps)

As of 2007, the first year that Google Maps categorizes, the former substation seemed to be in use as a residence with fugly Postmodern anti-burglar grilles on the windows. However, between 2015 and 2019, the building received a major renovation that brought it to its current appearance. The auditor’s website doesn’t have any information on permits or when this occurred, though.

Photos

The glare sucks, but here is the former substation today:

30 feet is pretty high for a corner tower. I wonder if it had an actual function or was purely ornamental.

It has two vaulted openings at the top, which have been closed off with some material:

Definitely very Italianate, campanile-inspired design. I’d characterize the rest of the building as Romanesque Revival though.

At first I had thought that this building was a carriage house for one of the mansions on Bryden Road. However, if you compare it to this ramshackle frame carriage house across the alleyway, it seems awfully overbuilt for that function and strangely lacking of doors for carriages or cars.