herr2ck: Nut House

Photos of Station 13 from October 2025. Photo of Engine House No. 13 site from April 2026.

← Engine House No. 12 & Station 12 | Engine House No. 13 [demolished] & Station 13 | Engine House No. 14 & Station 14 →

Engine House No. 13 was one of Columbus’s Victorian-era fire stations. It had a highly unique Richardsonian Romanesque design shared with no other station, making it all the more frustrating that there is very little information about it online.

Engine House No. 13 was located at 2468 North High Street in the Old North Columbus neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. The site is currently bordered by Wilcox Street and 5-over-1 apartments to the north, historic terrace apartments to the south, a parking lot to the east, and High Street to the west.

Station 13 is located at 309 East Arcadia Avenue, also in Old North. It is bordered by Arcadia Avenue to the north, houses to the south, Deming Avenue to the east, and Mute Alley to the west.

History

Engine House No. 13 in 1894. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

Engine House No. 13 was built in 1892 as Chemical Engine House No. 2. Its architect has been reported to be John Flynn, although I’m unsure if this is correct. (I only know that he designed the “first six engine houses,” based on No. 6’s NRHP listing, but it’s unclear if that means Nos. 1-6 or the first six chronologically, since they were built out of order.) It had a very compelling Richardsonian Romanesque design, with two prominent and slightly pointed arches for the engines, an arcade of windows, a round corner tower for hose drying (highly unusual, as all others have square towers set back from the street), and a sharply pointed cross gable that appears to be in the Shingle style. The station has a rather diminutive height compared to the other stations, as they typically have flat roofs or at least a higher parapet.

Another photo of the historic station. (Clintonville History)

Chemical Engine House No. 2 was renamed to Engine House No. 13 in 1898, a year after completion of Engine House No. 12 in Olde Towne East. It had an addition built onto it that year to hold a new steamer.

1976 photo of Station 13. (Wikimedia)

Engine House No. 13 was demolished in 1957, and an apartment building was built on the site circa 1960. Its replacement, Station 13, opened in 1957. Station 13 is a Modern design and has operated from that location since. The station is known as the “Buckeye House,” and Ohio State students have probably seen Ladder 13 with artwork of Brutus Buckeye wearing firefighter’s gear driving around campus.

Photos

For whatever reason, this throwaway picture of Engine House No. 13’s site somehow managed to be one of the best shots I’ve taken framing- and lighting-wise:

Perfect lighting--wasted on an unsightly brick box.

Anyways, the firefighters at the current Station 13 had the doors open, revealing Engine 13:

Any firefighting fans out there able to explain why there are two Engine 13s? The one on the left appears to be the 2019 Sutphen Monarch that the Firefighting Wiki cites as Engine 13, but the one on the right isn’t Ladder 13 or Medic 13.

The building design isn’t super interesting, mostly functional.