herr2ck: Bryden Road, pt. 1 - “Columbus’s Silk Stocking District”

February 2026.

The Bryden Road District is likely the most expansive and intact historic district of upper-class Victorian houses in the city of Columbus. Extending almost two miles from I-71 to the railroad tracks separating Columbus from Bexley, it is lined with opulent Queen Anne, Stick, Craftsman, and American Foursquare houses. It is rapidly undergoing gentrification and was the subject of a documentary called Flag Wars about the poor Black residents of Olde Towne East gradually being displaced by middle-class white, gay couples.

The Bryden Road District is located in the Olde Towne East neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by Chapel Street to the north, Bryden Alley to the south, the railroad tracks and Bexley to the east, and Parsons Avenue to the west. My entire journey covered the street eastward from Parsons to Columbus City Preparatory School for Girls; this first part includes the first third from Parsons to 18th Street.

History

I’m splitting the history into three brief chunks for each part of this post, which should hopefully prevent the first one from having a giant block of text while the other two are just my photos alone.

Parsons Avenue was originally the eastern boundary of the city of Columbus and was known as East Public Lane at the time. The city expanded outward from its original boundaries in the late 19th and early 20th century, and the near east side became popular for affluent residents to build grand houses. The area was home to many well-to-do families in Columbus, such as the Deshlers, Huntingtons, Hosters, and Lazaruses. Bronzeville to the north was always Black, but Broad Street and Bryden Road were occupied by white families. Generally, the houses on the west side of the district closer to Parsons are older and more densely built, while those to the east are less elegant examples of early 20th-century styles.

1897 photo of Bryden Road, looking east at its intersection with Monroe Avenue. The house second from right still stands, but it is heavily altered today. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

Bryden Road is essentially Town Street continuing eastward from downtown. Lots began to be sold by George M. Parsons and other developers beginning after the conclusion of the Civil War. The name change was reportedly intended to curtail the expansion of the streetcar system, as the city had a contract to build tracks further eastwards down Town Street, which property owners felt would devalue their homes. It was named after James Bryden in 1897, a city councilman and county commissioner who once owned 135 acres of land in the area in the 1840s. Olde Towne East was annexed into Columbus in 1870, and much of the area was subdivided into lots by 1886.

1918 view of the later houses on Bryden. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

Broad Street was nicknamed “Judges’ Row” at the time, but Bryden Road was host to a wider variety of professions, such as bankers, architects, politicians, and industrialists. It was a bit more socially progressive in that wealth alone mattered, and there were no deed restrictions for ethnic groups such as Jews (though I’m sure there was for Black people), unlike Broad Street and its white, Protestant makeup. Its prosperity continued into the early 20th century, with newer houses in the district being built in the American Foursquare, Craftsman, and Tudor Revival styles.

Photos

Dr. Uriah & Stella Essington House (752 Bryden Road)

1958 photo of the house. (All Columbus Data)

This 1919 Colonial Revival house is uniquely built of stone versus the largely brick houses on Bryden Road. It has been a doctor’s office its entire lifetime. Its first owner was Dr. Uriah Essington, who moved his practice from Newark. Dr. Essington’s son was George Edwin “Tubby” Essington, who was the first drum major of the Ohio State University Marching Band. Tubby’s signature strutting step and flamboyant attitude established traditions that are still in use by TBDBITL’s drum majors today. Since 1958, the house has been owned by the Hoagland family, which operates a dental office inside.

The house is almost completely unaltered today beyond very slight, inconsequential details. This is pretty remarkable for its age.

755 Bryden Road

755 Bryden is the first American Foursquare house thus far, a common style that will begin to crop up later on. However, this one has several uncommon stylistic touches, such as a wide dormer with a varying wall height, highly elaborate brickwork (note the corners of the house and the central projection), doubled porch columns without companions in the middle, and a huge roof overhang.

757-759 Bryden Road

This is a really weird one, and I’m struggling to even put it into a stylistic ballpark. It doesn’t have the varied wall plane of a Queen Anne house, the massing of an American Foursquare, nor the form or decoration of a Craftsman design. The only ornamental detail is a vaguely Colonial Revival pedimented entrance and a Romanesque Revival arch and corbelling.

George Bobb House (762 Bryden Road)

1961 photo of the house. (All Columbus Data)

This house was built in 1917 and has an interesting Tudor Revival design. Its entrance is offset from the street, and the recess is balanced by a screened porch on the opposite side. The main facade is dominated by a large bay window in the center. Some of the 1960s alterations have been undone, and the house appears more sensitive to its historic design.

Loving the brickwork and leaded glass on this bay window:

768 Bryden Road

According to the auditor’s website, this American Foursquare was built in 1916. This one is unique with its double bay windows, large dormer with Palladian window, and overhanging eaves.

765 Bryden Road

A circa 1900 house, this one might have some Shingle influence with its wood shake-clad tower and dormers. It has a fairly unusual plan and roof pattern, too.

A closer shot of the bay window:

780 Bryden Road

This unusual house appears to have some Dutch Colonial influence with its jaunty stepped parapet at middle. It has a classical cornice (lately painted green) below the roof and along the porch, although it appears the porch was enclosed in the mid-20th century based on the aluminum window frames. The ivy stretching across the facade adds a touch of character as well.

The clay tile corners of the roof remain, but the original slate tiles have been replaced with asphalt:

781 Bryden Road

I like the original windows and woodwork on this house’s dormer, along with the bay window at center. Otherwise, the house is a simple American Foursquare.

Nathan Gumble House (787-789 Bryden Road)

1972 view of the exterior. (All Columbus Data)

This American Foursquare has an interesting touch of asymmetry with the addition above the porch. It has several classical details such as a denticulated cornice and Doric columns.

790 Bryden Road

It’s kind of hard to put a label on this brick house--I’ll label it Craftsman because of its large dormers and overhanging roof eaves. It was built slightly earlier, in 1904, and it has a rather copious wraparound porch with wide brick piers. It was also a little odd that the large tree on the front lawn still clung to its auburn leaves even in February.

Charles Ross House (791-793 Bryden Road)

1962 photo of the house. (All Columbus Data)

This Queen Anne house was built circa 1900, and it has an interesting bay window that projects at a 45-degree angle. I think the portion in the rear with more windows is an addition, as is the case with the porch with Doric columns (since obscured).

The original roof cresting is intact, but a lot of the house has been altered with paint and new windows.

Detail of the oddly angled bay window:

800 Bryden Road

Another American Foursquare, this one has unique rounded bay windows with saucer-like roofs to them. There is a slightly rounded overhang to the porch that mirrors this effect. The house still maintains its original windows (likely due to the difficulty and expense of finding replacements that curve), but its roof has been replaced with asphalt shingles recently.

806 Bryden Road

Interesting--this is another American Foursquare house based on its square front facade, but it compellingly has an asymmetrical plan, very uncommon for the style. From above, it looks like a chunk was removed from the house volume and portions of it shifted back. To compensate for the visual imbalance created by that missing area, the entrance and porch are centered on it, creating a sense of liveliness and rhythm within a typically rigid architectural style.

John Siebert House (813 Bryden Road)

Cropped view of the house in 1897, taken from the same photo in the “History” section. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

Although this once-grand Queen Anne stands today, it is one of the most heavily altered houses on the street. Its neighbors at 805 and 827 (Conrad Born) were simply euthanized instead of being put through this horrid treatment. The house had a nursing home built flush with the Bryden Road facade in the 1960s, and many of its original decorative features were likely knocked off during the process. Later on, the entire thing was painted a nasty shade of white. Somehow, the original windows and tower finial remain.

I have to wonder if John Siebert was related to Annie Siebert (namesake of Siebert Hall at Ohio State) or her husband Wilbur, who was a professor. He would have been about the right age to be their son.

It is so odd how the house is just hidden behind this ugly mid-century box:

The house is in a very strange state today with its painted brick and cornice:

Something about these creepers and ivy just looks wrong crawling up over painted brick instead of the normal red color.

This poor tower:

Frederick Schueller House (814 Bryden Road)

1961 photo of the house. (All Columbus Data)

This is a more orthodox American Foursquare house. It has a prominent vaulted window at middle, a porch with classical Doric columns and a small pediment, and a swoopy dormer with a Palladian window. All of the windows have been replaced except for the original glass in the Palladian one. Additionally, it retains portions of its slate roof.

Samuel & Mary Borger House (820 Bryden Road)

The house in 1964. (All Columbus Data)

This is a wide 1903 American Foursquare house. Samuel Borger was president of boilermaker Borger Brothers, but despite working to afford this grand mansion, he died shortly after moving in that November. His wife Mary remained until 1946, when it was subdivided into nine apartments.

I’m much more partial to the current paint scheme than the ostensibly all-white treatment from the 60s--the moody salmon and vermilion suit the red brick veryyy nicely.

It has a small secondary porch and side entrance, too…I bet this corner lot cost a pretty penny.

Another view:

Charles Stribling House (844 Bryden Road)

All Columbus Data named this the “Charles Stribling House,” which raised some alarm bells with me considering Stribling was an architect and he already has a well-known Queen Anne house on Buttles near Goodale Park. However, after checking a relevant city directory (1905-1906, since the house was built circa 1900), Stribling indeed lived at this location at that time--I guess he was also a victim of “keeping up with the Joneses.” I’m curious if Stribling actually designed this house, since it isn’t very architecturally distinctive.

The vaulted entrance vestibule and its vegetal capitals are closer to his actual built work, though, so maybe he did. Beats me.

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A 1913 photo of the house. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

All Columbus Data named this the “Charles Stribling House,” which raised some alarm bells with me considering that Stribling was an architect and he already had a well-known Queen Anne house on Buttles Avenue near Goodale Park. However, after checking a relevant city directory (1905-1906, since the house was built circa 1900), Stribling indeed lived at this location at that time--I guess he was also a victim of “keeping up with the Joneses.” I’m shocked that Stribling or his firm actually designed this house, since it isn’t very architecturally distinctive.

I later found a historic photo of the house (the one at the beginning), ironically while researching the other house on Buttles.

The vaulted entrance vestibule and its vegetal capitals are closer to his actual built work, though, so I suppose he did design it. Beats me.

Charles Reynolds House (851 Bryden Road)

The house in 1967. (All Columbus Data)

This circa 1900 Queen Anne house has its original porch and woodwork in the gable. I like the bay window, too.

Detail of the square bay window and canopy above:

Angled view--the wood projection is strange and appears to be an addition of some kind:

Sarah Huntington House (855-859 Bryden Road)

1955 photo of the exterior. (All Columbus Data)

This Tudor Revival house has a slightly asymmetrical design with a corner entrance. It was built circa 1915. I’m curious if Sarah Huntington was related to those who founded Huntington Bank downtown.

Loving the bay window and original slate roof:

862 Bryden Road

This Foursquare is similar to others we’ve seen thus far. It has a central arched window and dormer and was built in 1905.

865 Bryden Road

I really hate this photo I have of the facade because it’s off-center and has a crazy glare, but alas, there’s only so much I can do when a house faces north. This 1894 Queen Anne has some possible Richardsonian Romanesque influence with its dark, contrasting stone courses and lintels, but none of the openings are vaulted. I like its corner turret too.

The porch has Corinthian columns supporting a classical entablature, and it is painted in tutti-frutti colors:

I also liked the panel designs beneath each pedestal. The outdoor furniture is appropriate character-wise, too:

The masonry work on this house is really spectacular.

I love the massing of this tower and how it gently flares upwards, too:

East facade from right next to First A.M.E. Zion:

Funny how every single lintel uses a different shade of stone. I have to wonder if the house was designed by an architect… maybe Yost & Packard? They did several others on this street.

868 Bryden Road

Another unique Craftsman-adjacent house, the auditor’s website claims it was built in 1893, which I’m not buying. The first floor is brick with two contrasting shades, while the second floor is clad in stucco that has been painted white. I like the roof’s flaring eaves.

The east facade is more symmetrical and has a side entrance:

Lighting was awful nice when I came back from the other direction…figures.

M. R. Patterson House (882 Bryden Road)

1900 photo of the house. (All Columbus Data)

This Queen Anne is built of a Creamsicle-orange brick, and it has the usual corner tower and bay windows of the style. It’s not a super high-style example, as the porch is simple and the Bryden Road facade is pretty bare beyond the tower, but it retains its slate roof.

South facade:

Nathan Abbott House (892 Bryden Road)

View from the southwest in 1897. (All Columbus Data)

Abbott’s 1885 house is one of the most unusual on the entire street. It was once a coherent, if rather eclectic, Queen Anne design with a wrap-around porch and central tower. However, the porch has been removed, an addition has been built (further muddying the facade), and the various window hood molds have been painted in cockamamie patterns reminiscent of a circus tent. The house is in rather poor shape today and may be at risk of demolition.