herr2ck: Bryden Road, pt. 2 - “Crack Is Wack”

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 second part includes the middle third from 18th Street to Ohio Avenue.

History

Bryden Road actually faced its decline earlier compared to other areas of the city. The main catalyst was the automobile and early suburbs, which resulted in many of the houses on the western side being sold in the 1920s and 1930s, while the residents moved to nearby Bexley. The Great Depression caused several of the owners to become insolvent as well. Finally, the “servant problem” made the maintenance of these houses difficult. Since household work was much more difficult before commonplace appliances today, most middle-class households had at least one servant (in this area, generally a Black person from Bronzeville). However, it became less desirable over time to work the role due to low pay, unlimited hours, and the dehumanizing title of “maid” or “servant.” Of course, the wealthy were not willing to pay more money to these people whom they looked down on. The end result was that the women began to take over housework themselves, and the conveniences of the post-World War II era made their jobs easier. Most of the grand mansions then became boarding houses for young workers.

HABS photo of a deteriorated Kelton Avenue house, probably circa 1980 given the “Crack is Wack” graffiti. (Library of Congress)

In the 1960s, Olde Towne East was separated from downtown via I-71, and white flight left only poor Black residents behind, who could not afford to maintain the aging houses in the district. Many were subdivided into small apartments by slumlords to maximize rental income, or converted into businesses and nursing homes. This greatly increased the area’s population density. With the high turnover of residents and the absentee landlords, the houses deteriorated quite rapidly, and many were left vacant or vandalized. Olde Towne East was a largely Black neighborhood by 1970.

Preservation of the Bryden Road mansions began in the 1970s and 1980s, with organizations such as OTENA (the Olde Towne East Neighborhood Association) starting to play a role with zoning and development. The entire Near East Side, including Bryden Road, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, and Bryden Road in particular was listed on the Columbus Register of Historic Properties in 1990.

Photos

900 Bryden Road

Back at it again with another American Foursquare. 900 Bryden is a very simple example, reportedly built in 1898, which lacks the more detailed bay windows or dormers of others in the district.

904 Bryden Road

This circa 1890 house, along with its neighbor which shares the same plan, is a vibrant example of a wooden Queen Anne house. Its wall plane is highly varied with many projections and bay windows, and the roofline is complex with a small balcony and a dormer. It also retains some original Eastlake woodwork and scalloped siding.

Arthur & Grayson Osborn House (912 Bryden Road)

Comparing this 1888 Queen Anne with the previous house reveals that they have the same plan, but the details vary. This one has a rounded turret and conical roof, as well as a vaulted art glass window, and a corner balcony. Brothers Arthur and Grayson Osborn commissioned the house, who were bookkeepers at downtown banks. Arthur died in 1890, only two years after moving in, and his widow lived there until 1905. Grayson was convicted of embezzling $28,000 from Huntington Bank in 1909.

Seems like the integrated bay windows on the side were just copy and pasted from the adjacent house…you can even see the other one in frame.

Thaddeus & Julia Longstreth House (920 Bryden Road)

We’ve reached the first house with a known architect on the street, designed by none other than Yost & Packard and completed in 1896. Unfortunately, this eclectic Queen Anne has been extensively modernized on the Bryden Road side with a pukey gray color scheme. However, the original slate roof, wood shakes on the tower, and leaded-glass window in the dormer all remain.

At least the side of the house is unmolested, and the original masonry can be seen.

A portrait of Thaddeus Longstreth. (Don in Westerville)

Thaddeus Longstreth was born in 1842 or 1843 in Lebanon, Ohio, and he moved to Columbus in 1868. He served in the Civil War and earned the rank of captain during his service. Longstreth owned several mines in Nelsonville in Athens County and sold the coal in Columbus as of the 1870s. Later, he went on to open the piano dealer Longstreth & Schroeder. He died in 1901. His wife Julia worked for the Red Cross during World War I and was a member of First Congregational Church, and she died in 1920.

By happenstance, I also caught the house’s carriage house at 19th and Chapel:

At least the brick isn’t painted here…yuck.

183 South 19th Street

Quick detour…this Queen Anne next to the carriage house was just too beautiful to pass up. It’s not as large as those on Bryden Road, but it absolutely makes up for it via its excellent brickwork motifs and many remaining original features such as the porch, woodwork, and front door.

The porch’s roof isn’t original, but the woodwork is, and it’s in excellent condition for its age.

Timothy Hogan House (946 Bryden Road)

1964 view of the exterior. (All Columbus Data)

I gotta wonder if the owner of this house plays for the Carolina Panthers…what’s up with the black and electric blue color scheme? The house is otherwise a common Tudor Revival design in Columbus.

952 Bryden Road

This American Foursquare combines several different stylistic elements--Early Doric columns on the porch, bay windows, and Tudor Revival half-timbering on the dormer. I love the type of brick used, too.

John Neil House (953 Bryden Road)

1976 photo of the exterior. (All Columbus Data)

This exuberant Queen Anne was built in 1898. It is one of the most intact houses on the street--although some of its windows and the roof have been replaced, its delicate woodwork remains, the arguably more important feature. I actually really like the purple paint job, too.

North facade:

The stone stairs up to the stoop are original, as is the decorative portal around the entrance doors. It has a lovely classical design with doubled Doric columns, egg-and-dart panels, and a denticulated cornice:

This wing here has similar balconettes around the second floor and gable:

960 Bryden Road

This simpler Queen Anne has a common form seen elsewhere across Columbus. The contrasting vaulted windows might indicate some Richardsonian Romanesque influence. According to the county auditor’s website, it was built in 1896.

I adore this original wooden door and the surrounding woodwork:

965 Bryden Road

965 Bryden might be one of the best Craftsmans I’ve seen EVER, not just in Columbus. It has a stone porch, a huge clay tile roof which overhangs the porch, and an equally massive shed-roofed dormer. I also love the overhang above the house’s driveway. The wide palette of materials and high-quality design makes this house stick out.

970-972 Bryden Road

Formerly a brick Queen Anne house, this one has been clad with stucco and painted, and it now resembles some odd Mission Revival hybrid.

971 Bryden Road

Pretty run-of-the-mill, heavily altered late Queen Anne house, nothing special.

977 Bryden Road

This 1912 apartment building has a rather strange design. It has a standard Craftsman layout in the rear, but the front has four Doric columns sandwiched by covered porches. Additionally, those porches and the gable are patterned with Tudor Revival half-timbering. These features are original, too, as the wooden-sash windows from the sides are also present in the front. It’s eclectic, and not really in a good way.

Ella Moon House (980 Bryden Road)

A Queen Anne built of buff brick, it retains original decorative touches such as the roof finial, but I think the smaller window in the center once had an art glass window that has since been replaced. It was built from March 19, 1898 to June 20, 1899 for Ella Moon, who was the widow of George Moon, the president of the Scioto Buggy Company. Ella sold the house to First Methodist (now First A.M.E.) in 1911 for use as its parsonage.

1003 Bryden Road

This American Foursquare has a unique dormer and a smaller porch than usual.

1010 Bryden Road

You can see why some historians categorize American Foursquare as part of the Craftsman movement here…lots of features from that style on this house. I personally consider Foursquares to be a style based on form alone, which then has ornament from different styles applied to it based on the owner’s taste. (The frustrating but liberating part of architectural history is that it is subjective like this.) Here, the overhanging eaves with exposed rafters, slate roof with clay tile cresting, and the porch are all common on Craftsman houses. It may be a while, but stay tuned till I get to my Oak Park photos…I found some Foursquares there with Prairie School features.

I love all these different wood patterns and the many shades that they’re painted--also note the stained glass in the bay window, which seems to be original judging by the wooden sash:

Original wooden door and sidelights:

1021 Bryden Road

This visually busy house from 1899 interestingly has brick hood molds above its windows, a varied roofline, and contrasting brick quoins. It may have been designed by an architect, but if it was, the designer is unknown to me.

These entrance doors are original, but the windows have been boarded up and painted over.

What a strange and eclectic house.

1026 Bryden Road

I like the chocolate-brown brick this American Foursquare uses and its moody color scheme. It was built in 1909.

Orlando Miller House (1029 Bryden Road)

The house in 1901. (All Columbus Data)

Another Queen Anne with the common gable-front form, this 1894 house still has several of its original details such as the porch and windows. It appears almost identical to how it was built, minus the two leaded-glass windows on the first floor.

I like the original porch woodwork here:

LOVING this original wooden door and hardware, along with the painted house number on the transom window:

Two vaulted windows with stone voussoirs:

1032 Bryden Road

This circa 1900 Queen Anne has its original porch and spindlework, along with the decorative leaded glass in the bay window. I like the brick panel on the second floor, too.

Detail of the porch and its spindlework:

1040 Bryden Road

One of the few structures in the district that isn’t a house is this Colonial Revival apartment building constructed in 1964. It matches the height of the surrounding houses but appears oddly stretched out with its double-wide plan.

1041 Bryden Road

Again, this Queen Anne uses the super common plan we’ve seen several times thus far. This one has brick vaults, but the rectangular windows have stone lintels.

Angled view:

Front porch--note the original colored glass in the dormer:

1062 Bryden Road

A little tough to see this one through the giant tree in front of it, but this Queen Anne has an interesting corbelled gable on the Bryden Road facade. The turret also probably had a conical roof that has been removed since.

A closer look at the corbels:

This is just so odd to me on a Queen Anne house. These kinds of corbels would have been viewed as decades out of style at the time, as they were popular on 1860s-1880s Italianate and Second Empire designs.

The turret:

Bryden Row (1068-1086 Bryden Road)

This giant complex of condos was built from 2018 to 2022 by Brian Kent Jones Architects. The stucco-clad forms were reportedly inspired by Florence Kenyon Hayden’s (architect of Oxley Hall at Ohio State) self-designed house nearby. I’m never really a fan of appropriating these residential forms for apartment complexes because they inevitably look clunky, especially when the design poorly mimics the historic architecture nearby. It did get past the Historic Commission and Near East Area Commission, though.

The Fred Lazarus House. (All Columbus Data)

The apartments were built on the site of the Fred Lazarus House (not to be confused with his earlier house in the East Town Street Historic District). It appeared to be a Chateauesque design, and it stood only 18 years, built in 1906 and demolished in 1924 for a Tudor Revival apartment building. Lazarus died in 1917, so it’s possible that the house was sold and bought by a developer afterwards. Those apartments burned several decades later and were demolished circa 1982, leaving a vacant site behind.