March 2026.
Victorian Village is one of the two primarily residential neighborhoods bordering the Short North, along with Italian Village. It is well-known for its preserved Victorian architecture, hence the name. The neighborhood remains largely unchanged since the early 20th century, minus an urban renewal project in the southwest corner known as Thurber Village.
Victorian Village is located on the near north side of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by 5th Avenue and Dennison Place to the north, Goodale Street/I-670 and the Arena District to the south, High Street and the Short North/Italian Village to the east, and Harrison Avenue and Harrison West to the west.
History
What is now Victorian Village was formerly farmland north of downtown Columbus that was purchased by William Neil beginning in 1827. Other farms in the area included those of the Hubbard and Starr families. By 1853, Neil owned a staggering amount of land, which was a plot bordered by Lane Avenue to the north, 1st Avenue to the south, High Street to the east, and the Olentangy River to the west. Along with Victorian Village, that farmland now includes Dennison Place, the University District, and most famously The Ohio State University. William Neil first built what is now Neil Avenue to reach his farm.
The first development in Victorian Village was south of Neil’s farm and was centered around Goodale Park. The park was donated to the city by Lincoln Goodale in 1851, and roads surrounding it were built soon after. William Neil and his wife Hannah later divided their massive land holdings among their children, who gradually sold the lots for residential development. Another driver for growth in the area was streetcar service to downtown, first along High Street and later on Neil Avenue beginning in 1879. This made Victorian Village one of Columbus’s “streetcar suburbs” and established Neil Avenue as a major transportation artery.
The remaining parts of the Neil Farm west of Neil Avenue were platted between 1888 and 1902. The streetcars were electrified in 1888 (High Street) and 1891 (Neil Avenue), which resulted in an even higher demand for housing. The vast majority of houses in the neighborhood were built between this period and 1920. The larger homes were built by prominent businessmen and centered on Neil Avenue and Buttles Avenue, while smaller examples line the side streets and were occupied by middle- or working-class residents.
As usual for the inner-city neighborhoods of large cities, the arrival of the automobile and mid-century suburbanization resulted in the departure of the area’s affluent white residents. Businesses soon followed, and the many aging Victorian houses were subdivided into apartments.
Victorian Village saw revitalization efforts beginning in the 1970s, inspired by the successes of German Village. The Victorian Village Commission was established in 1973, and the neighborhood was deemed a historic district by the city soon afterwards. It was also listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Near Northside Historic District.
Photos
As usual for these “dump posts,” this post covers a greater distance in less depth. Other places I have covered in more detail in this area include the Circus House, Columbus Gifted Academy, Goodale Park and its surrounding houses, Hubbard Avenue School, Neil Avenue, and St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church. The entirety of this one’s content is centered around some miscellaneous houses and carriage houses on Dennison Avenue and Lundy Street.
The Dennison & The Sanborn/Dennison Hotel/Leafy Dale (789 Dennison Avenue)
The Dennison Hotel as it appeared in a photo dated 1915. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)
I’m not sure if the above photo is actually of the existing building before alterations, but it seems plausible based on differences between the 1921 and 1961 Sanborn maps. Anyways, this structure was built in 1895 as the Dennison Hotel and was a Commercial-style design. It appears that the building was then truncated a floor and received a new Renaissance Revival facade in later years.
The apartments were later renamed to “Leafy Dale,” and they operated until circa 2007, when the building became vacant. It was acquired by Wood Companies in 2012 and renovated into an apartment complex known as “The Dennison.” A neighboring apartment building from the 1970s was demolished and replaced with a New Traditional building known as “The Sanborn” in 2015.
Broken pediment above the entrance:
The rear is of simpler brick and appears to be painted:
The Sanborn uses Second Empire massing and mansard roofs, a few decades too old for the neighborhood, and the central garage is rather ugly:
Detail of the brick sign:
Charles & Bertha Davis House (797 Dennison Avenue)
This house was built for Charles Davis and his wife Bertha in 1889 by Joseph W. Yost. Charles was born in Jackson County in 1863, and Bertha was too in 1866. Charles arrived in Columbus in 1869 and attended The Ohio State University for three years. He mainly worked as a journalist at various newspapers such as the Sunday Morning News and Ohio State Journal, later becoming the State Correspondent for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and acquiring a controlling interest in the Columbus Evening Post in 1891, shortly before its bankruptcy a year later. Later, he held various political roles and even high positions in oil and mining businesses.
The Davis family moved out of the house in 1907, living at the Lenox Hotel and the Great Southern Hotel until 1911, when they moved to New York. Charles Davis died in 1914, and Bertha remarried a man from Cleveland before following in 1925.
Detail of a vaulted window, which has a stained-glass transom and an interesting curvature matching the tower:
799-801 Dennison Avenue
A broad American Foursquare duplex, this house falls a bit outside the Victorian era, but it is still historic and was built circa 1900-1920.
837 Dennison Avenue
I liked the unique tower and masonry on this Queen Anne house.
Carriage House of 177 West Hubbard Avenue
Garage of 167-169 West Hubbard Avenue
A circa 1920 garage, this one still has its original wooden sliding doors. Pretty cool.
128 Lundy Street
I was able to make out the original wooden framing of this garage despite its modernized exterior.
109 Lundy Street
This shallow yet disproportionately long house is the only one on Lundy (an alley) built for residential use. It is a frame Craftsman design built circa 1900.
Sources:
http://www.kenwightman.com/neighborhood_info.php
https://www.columbusrailroads.com/images/Columbus_Electric_Railway_Chronology.pdf
https://shortnorthcivic.org/vvc-commission/
https://columbusneighborhoods.org/neighborhood/victorian-village/
https://columbusunderground.com/leafy-dale-adds-new-apartments-to-victorian-village/
https://columbusunderground.com/the-dennison-short-north/
https://digital-collections.columbuslibrary.org/digital/collection/ohio/id/10612/
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4084cm.g4084cm_g06656190101/?sp=43&st=image
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4084cm.g4084cm_g06656192101/?sp=91&st=image
https://digital-collections.columbuslibrary.org/digital/collection/columbusmaps/id/4900/rec/8
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