herr2ck: The Browns and The Grays

February 2026.

Greystone Court is a historic apartment building in the Short North, with a rusticated grisaille stone facade laced with ivy. This type of courtyard apartment was very popular in the early 20th century and I’ve seen others such as Mendoza House/Neilwood Gables at Ohio State and the Broadway Apartments in Olde Towne East, but I believe it is the only example in the Short North.

Greystone Court is located at 815 North High Street in the Short North neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by a 5-over-1 to the north, Hubbard Avenue to the south, High Street to the east, and Wall Street to the west.

History

Historic photo of the exterior. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

Surprisingly, there wasn’t very much information online about this one. According to the book Architecture: Columbus, construction of Greystone Court began in 1907. Columbus Metropolitan Library gives an earlier date of 1902. At this time, the stretch of North High Street nearby was mostly lined with mansions, much like the fabric of East Broad Street at the time. The building was commissioned by Dr. Lincoln Fritter from Lancaster, and it was soon nicknamed “Fritter’s Folly” as he quickly ran out of money and left it unfinished, with only the five-story exterior walls standing at that time. It was sold at auction in May 1909.

Greystone Court was not finished for more than a decade, and it was only nearing completion by 1921. However, High Street was also being widened at that time, and the facades closest to the sidewalk had to be moved back 12 feet. In the end, Greystone Court was finally completed in 1923. According to the back of the historic postcard above, it was “Columbus’s only fireproof apartment building” (which I highly doubt, as fireproof construction was very popular at the time), and it had 66 apartments with either three or four rooms. Amenities included steam heat, iceless refrigeration, and “complete service.”

The apartments in 1980. (NRHP listing)

I couldn’t find any history on the building after its completion, either. It seems to be largely unaltered besides having its windows replaced with vinyl, and quite likely the construction of fire escapes at a later date. It is a contributing property in the Near Northside Historic District, listed in 1980.

Photos

Exterior of the building from across High Street:

This structure is pretty wide, and given High Street’s width, I wasn’t able to get back far enough to get the entire facade. Anyways, greystones are Chicago’s regional equivalent of the classic New York brownstone buildings, and it’s pretty clear that these apartments were inspired by Chicago greystones. It leans into the rustication of the earlier Richardsonian Romanesque greystone designs, but instead of vaulting and leafy ornamentation, the roof is lined with a balustrade that is very primitive in appearance.

It’s so easy to forget that Greystone Court is in Columbus, and not Chicago or New York:

Inside, the north and south walls of the court have a repetitive expression and fenestration, undoubtedly due to the identical plans of each apartment:

It’s hard to even put the apartments under a specific stylistic umbrella due to its free blending of styles. It was built during a time when Beaux-Arts architecture was popular and it has a balustrade along the roof (a classical feature), but there is otherwise a conspicuous lack of ornamentation aside from the textural effect achieved via the rusticated stone facade. Maybe I’ll just call it “eclectic.”

One of the two street-facing facades--these were the ones that had to be moved back 12 feet:

It is very strange how these balustrades are constructed, with rough, uneven balusters supporting a banister of the same finish:

Zooming in also reveals that the corners have quoins, which project subtly from the remaining wall plane and have no other material distinction:

Interestingly, there is also a sunken bottom level to these two wings, which is used as commercial space. This is pretty uncommon in Columbus, especially with the tiny windows at grade level:

Willing to bet the terrazzo floor in the little vestibule is original, too:

In most cases, the courtyards of these apartments are gated off or left denuded of places to sit in attempts to ward off the “undesirables.” However, that wasn’t the case this time.

Yup, she’s as opulent as the day she was built:

Each entrance has a battered stone surround with some nice texture:

It was February, so the vines weren’t yet in bloom and blended in with the masonry. I bet they get awfully leafy and picturesque in the summer, though.