herr2ck: Silver Streak

February 2026.

Tucked away in an otherwise residential part of Olde Towne East is the Avery Building, an odd vacant industrial building. It was built as a dealership for Pontiac cars, later used as a warehouse and as artist live-work space. According to some sources, it was the first automobile dealership in the entire country.

The Avery Building is located at 1199-1207 Franklin Avenue in the Olde Towne East neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by Franklin Avenue to the north, a vacant lot to the south, Sherman Avenue to the east, and houses to the west.

History

Predictably, not much useful information about this building was readily available online. This meant having to do some digging using the usual resources. I also found the Historic Homes of Olde Towne East book later on, which filled in much of the missing history.

The story of this building begins with Frank E. Avery, who owned a small bicycle shop near the site in the early 20th century. Avery eventually pivoted to automobiles, becoming so proficient at their repair that he eventually was approached by manufacturers to sell them. He went on to offer some of the priciest marquees on the market at the time, such as Packard, Peerless, Franklin, Cadillac, Thomas Flyer, and Winston. Apparently, demand was so high that the manufacturers could not deliver automobiles fast enough.

An advertisement for the company, seemingly from the 1960s. It seems that the Franklin Avenue location was just a service center at that time. (Facebook)

According to its datestone, the Avery Building was built in 1909. Indeed, the 1901 Sanborn map shows a wood-frame wagon shop and house on the site. It appears on the 1910 Baist atlas as “Avery’s Garage,” with it taking up the entire block (although the two buildings were not noted as being separate). The garage was reportedly popular with early automobile enthusiasts. However, the 1921 Sanborn map tells a lot more of the story.

Although it seems that most of the garage was built in 1909, the map notes that the northeast portion was actually rebuilt in 1915 using fireproof concrete construction. At that time, Avery also solely sold electric cars, and the map noted that gasoline cars were not accepted in the 90-car garage.

1944 advertisement for the dealership. I’ve actually visited the nearby Fairfax-Evergreen Telephone Exchange, which the dealer used. (Facebook)

The 1921-1961 Sanborn likewise shows the dealership still in operation, with the sales office at the eastern storefront. Avery’s company apparently owned the building as late as 1980, as it was transferred that year to a different owner. It is unknown what its use was thereafter, but it had been vacant since 2007 at the latest.

The Avery Building received historic status first in 1978, as part of the Near East Side District on the National Register of Historic Places, although it is merely within its boundaries and not explicitly named. In 1984, it was individually listed on the Columbus Register of Historic Properties.

As of 2018, a renovation was planned that would host office, retail, and restaurant space on the first floor of the building, with coworking space on the second floor. The original features would be preserved. The project was awarded tax credits in 2020. It seems that work was heavily delayed and only began with a permit for a new roof issued in 2024, and as of my visit, there was evidence of renovations occurring. However, several of the windows were boarded up within the past five years, probably reducing the chances of the original windows being maintained.

Photos

Here is the building as it stands today, with the 1915 facade in view:

This is a Commercial-style building, owing to its brick construction, simple ornamentation, and large windows. Interestingly, the rightmost two bays are slightly larger than those on the other side of the building. It has managed to retain its original windows and doors over its 115 years of life.

Zoomed in on the parapet and datestone:

The eastern facade has a very regular, industrial expression with large bays separated by brick piers. The central one has an original garage door:

By the look of it, that dumpster is full of original wood trim and beadboard, indicating the project may not be as historically conscious as it made itself out to be.

These windows intrigued me. Some of the panes were a milky white, others yellowish, and a few had the original transparency:

The large windows yield in back to smaller rectangular ones with segmental arches:

The western portion of the building is simpler and has a stepped parapet with terra-cotta coping, along with smaller rectangular windows with concrete or stone lintels. It lacks the fancy brick ornamentation and larger window openings of the eastern part.

It has segmentally arched, mill-style windows on its western end. I thought this indicated that this part was older and built prior to the dealership, but the two were constructed at the same time.