herr2ck: Italian Village

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Columbus - Italian Village

March-April 2026.

Some neighborhood landmarks from the 3rd Avenue viaduct near Smith Bros. Hardware--the Wonder Bread sign and St. John’s steeple.

Italian Village is Columbus’s ethnically Italian neighborhood, just like German Village, Hungarian Village, etc. At first a largely working-class area with several factories that employed residents, it has since gentrified, with many houses built on the sites of former factory buildings.

Italian Village is located on the near north side of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by 5th Avenue and Weinland Park to the north, I-670 and downtown to the south, the Big 4 railroad and Milo-Grogan to the east, and High Street and the Short North to the west.

History

Italian Village was founded as one of Columbus’s first suburbs. High Street’s extension northward from downtown, which connected it to Worthington eight miles to the north, was built from 1829 to after 1849. This resulted in development along the street, including the construction of Italian Village. However, despite the neighborhood’s current name (which was coined in 1973), Italian immigrants did not create Italian Village.

The Piscitelli family circa 1930, one of the more famous Italian families in the neighborhood. (Short North Gazette)

The earliest inhabitants of the area were actually Irish immigrants, as at the time they settled north of Union Station and near Naghten Street (nicknamed “Irish Broadway,” now Nationwide Boulevard) beginning in 1850. They were drawn to the area by the growing railroads and the newly built Union Station. As these Irish residents grew more prosperous, they moved out of the area. Italian Village was annexed into Columbus in 1862. This early settlement and history makes it the oldest neighborhood north of downtown Columbus. In its time, it was known as the Old North End (not to be confused with Old North Columbus, originally a town known as North Columbus).

Italian Village was industrial in nature and a working-class neighborhood at the time (compared to the more affluent Victorian Village to the west), and many nearby factories such as Jeffrey Manufacturing and the railroads had jobs that were reliable and walkable. The first Italian residents arrived from nearby Flytown beginning in the 1890s, working at the factories or Marble Cliff quarries. Additionally, the northeast corner of the neighborhood was largely Black, as they were employed at the railroad and iron works. Resident Joe Pishitelli noted that the area’s composition had ethnicities from all across Europe, such as Greeks, Germans, and Poles. Remember, in the 19th and early 20th century, European immigrants were “othered” just as how Black, Hispanic, and Arabic people are today, even though most European ethnicities are seen as “white” today. With this diverse population, Ward 9, which included Italian Village, had 5,048 residents as of 1890.

4th Street at Warren Street in 1926. At right is Jeffrey Mfg, while the industrial building across the street is Columbus Metal Products Co. At far left is The Warren, a rowhouse which still stands. (Columbus Neighborhoods)

By the turn of the 20th century, Italian Village had expanded to roughly its present size and density. Streetcars ran from downtown Columbus into the neighborhood via High Street and 4th Street (recently connected to downtown via a new viaduct in 1895), allowing residents to travel downtown for work or shopping. St. John the Baptist Catholic Church was completed in 1898, providing a major cultural center for the neighborhood, as the services were conducted in Italian and used practices that were familiar back home. Despite the hardships of the Great Depression, locally-grown Italian food was a much cheaper alternative to expensive store-bought groceries.

I-670 under construction in Italian Village. (All Columbus Data)

As was incredibly common for working-class and ethnic neighborhoods in the mid-20th century, Italian Village suffered a decline after World War II. More affluent residents fled to the suburbs, and lower-income families took their place. Local businesses struggled, as the poorer neighborhood could no longer afford to shop there, and they faced competition from supermarkets accessible by car. The single-family homes were subdivided into smaller apartments. The Goodale Expressway’s (now I-670) construction demolished several blocks on the southern side of the neighborhood, displacing families and destroying landmarks such as Engine House No. 4, and leaving a small section with Smith Bros. Hardware and other industries completely surrounded by highway ramps.

Houses in Italian Village in 1996. (NRHP listing)

Facing the continued destruction of their neighborhood, Italian Village residents founded the Italian Village Society in 1973 to advocate for its preservation and revitalization. Coupled with city council’s establishment of the Italian Village Commission, the Italian Village Development Plan was created by residents and Ohio State students in 1974. The gist was to maintain the area’s remaining housing stock and historic landmarks, while also encouraging new development that was in line with the area’s character. These efforts were successful, and middle-class families returned to the neighborhood in the 1980s, in tandem with the Short North’s ongoing gentrification.

Today, Italian Village has similar demographics and amenities as the Short North. Many of its formerly industrial properties have been demolished and redeveloped into apartments. New businesses such as Fox in the Snow Cafe (extremely popular with residents for good reason) and the Budd Dairy Food Hall draw in visitors.

Photos

Warren Square Park

1996 photo of the park. (NRHP listing)

Warren Square Park, formerly Christopher Columbus Square beginning in 1974, is a tiny park near the intersection of Warren Street and Hamlet Street. It is probably the smallest park in Columbus at just 0.059 acres in size. After a petition from the Italian Village Society in 2022, the park received its new name, in accordance with the park district’s guidelines that parks can be renamed if the original “comes into disrepute in relation to the community at large.” An Italian-American resident sued the city in 2024 to contest this change, but presumably lost.

The red brick duplex at left is apparently a Yost & Packard design (the William & Nettie Simonton House), though a less architecturally distinguished one.

Note the new fencing and brick sidewalk.

The debate about Christopher Columbus’s legacy in the city that bears his name is one that has gotten very inflamed over the years. It is true that he spurred a wave of colonialism that displaced and killed many of America’s native people, but at the same time, he is a national symbol for the people of Italy. In particular, City Hall’s now-absent statue of Columbus was done by an Italian sculptor, so Italian-American residents were displeased with its removal. My two cents is that maybe a compromise can be reached--keep the statue off of City Hall’s lawn, but it could be donated to the Italian residents who want it still on display and not mothballed in an archive somewhere.

I’m not sure of the Italian Village Society’s ethnic composition--for all I know, it could be a bunch of non-Italian people who moved in and gentrified the neighborhood. Still, the fact that the neighborhood as a whole voted for the park’s name to be changed is important.

Ady Building (765 Summit Street)

Looking south down Summit Street towards where the 3rd Street viaduct runs today in 1956. 765 Summit is on the right. The buildings at center have been demolished for the highway. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

This is a very rare example of a “corner store” with its original storefront design. It was built before 1891, but probably within a couple years, in an interesting hybrid of the Queen Anne and Second Empire styles. It has a mansard roof, dormers, and hood molds that are common in the Second Empire style. However, the storefront design and large turret are more common Queen Anne features. The Old North End NRHP listing names it the “Ady Building,” presumably after an old tenant.

1996 photo of the building. (NRHP listing)

A look at the building today from the same angle:

Along with its intact storefronts, the original slate roof and other details on the building remain unmodified. It is highly unusual for a building to remain in an unaltered state such as this one for its lifetime. I have always loved its steeply-pitched turret and colorful transom windows on the storefronts.

The rear of the building, 108-116 Warren Street, is a series of rowhouses. This is a common setup in Columbus.

What a gorgeous building.

Bethany Baptist Church (Bethany Baptist Colored Church)

This church was established in 1882 by Italian Village’s Black population (hence the “colored” in the church’s original name). As of 1901, the congregation occupied a small, square wood-frame church immediately south of the site of the current building, and it had dropped the “colored” suffix from its name. At that time, 6th Street was very sparsely populated, with many nearby lots laid out but not yet built upon.

The current Gothic Revival church was built between 1901 and 1910, as it appears on the 1910 Baist map. It is a vernacular brick design with a modest tower on the corner of 4th Avenue and 6th Street.

A stone tablet above the entrance states the building’s name, even though the congregation is long gone:

As of 1951, the church still occupied their building. However, in 1966, it was sold to a different parish known as “Beth Jacob Congregation.” It was purchased again in 1968 by Full Gospel Pentecostal Church, and it apparently ceased religious use in 1980. Since 1997, it has been owned by some LLC called “New Victorians,” sitting vacant for about two decades.

The church as of 2015. (Google Maps)

The former church appeared to suffer a fire in 2014 or 2015, as Google Streetview from October 2015 shows scorch marks on the exterior walls and newly boarded-up windows. By 2016, the exterior was shored up with steel bracing, and permits for renovation work were issued in 2020. As of today, it has been renovated into apartments.

Bethany Baptist itself, or a congregation with a similar name, still exists today at 959 Bulen Avenue in Driving Park.

A trendy new addition was built onto the rear:

132 East 5th Avenue & 1198-1202 Summit Street

The Franklin County Auditor claims this mixed-use building on 5th Avenue and its adjacent rowhouse on Summit Street were built in 1919, but they both appear on the 1910 Baist map. Since they don’t show up on the 1901 Sanborn (only a single wood house or something on the site), they were built sometime that decade. According to the 1921 Sanborn map, the storefront nearest Summit was a drugstore, while the other was just labeled “S” for “store.”

An otherwise vernacular Commercial-style building, what interested me the most was the vibrant Creamsicle shade of brick that the upper 20-ish courses use, versus the duller brown brick that the rest of the building is built of. I wonder if they ran out and had to dip into the rowhouse’s stock?

Next door is The Hamlet, a National Register-listed rowhouse that I’ve also visited.

West facade:

According to one source, the owner of Ace of Cups in Old North is opening a cocktail bar called Let Me Roll It inside, which was supposed to open in May of this year. According to their own Instagram, they now open in August instead.

The rowhouse next door, a common Columbus-style design with vaulted windows and a bulky cornice:

Sources:

Architecture: Columbus by Robert Samuelson

https://web.archive.org/web/20140901133927/http://columbus.gov/uploadedFiles/Columbus/Departments/Development/Planning_Division/Document_Library/Library_Documents/PDFs/Italian%20Village%20East%20Redev%20Plan.pdf

https://www.shortnorth.com/ItalianVillageHistory.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20140427113056/http://columbus.gov/planning/italianvillage/

https://www.columbus.gov/Business-Development/Building-Zoning-Services/Boards-and-Commissions/Historic-Preservation-Design-Review-Boards-Commissions-Panels/Italian-Village-Commission

https://columbusrecparks.com/parks/warren-square/

https://www.nbc4i.com/news/sunday-briefing/city-sued-by-italian-advocate-over-renamed-columbus-park/

https://www.facebook.com/WarrenSquareIV/

https://digital-collections.columbuslibrary.org/digital/collection/memory/id/79025/rec/305

https://gis.franklincountyohio.gov/parcelviewer/

https://columbusunderground.com/photos-fire-chars-empty-italian-village-church-building/

https://whatnow.com/columbus/restaurants/ace-of-cups-owner-bringing-cocktail-bar-to-short-north/

https://www.instagram.com/letmerollitbar/

https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4084cm.g4084cm_g066561891/?sp=3

https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4084cm.g4084cm_g06656190102/?sp=3

https://digital-collections.columbuslibrary.org/digital/collection/columbusmaps/id/85/ https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4084cm.g4084cm_g06656192101/?sp=5&st=image

https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn06656_014

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71988555

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71988559

https://allcolumbusdata.com/before-and-after-goodale-expressway/

Slo-Baked

March 2026.

Wonder Bread Lofts, formerly the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company’s in-house bakery, is an adaptive reuse project of a former bakery in Columbus. It’s probably best known for its massive signage versus the rather uninteresting architecture.

Wonder Bread Lofts is located at 727 North 4th Street in the Italian Village neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by Warren Street to the north, Lincoln Street to the south, 4th Street and the site of the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company to the east, and St. John the Baptist Catholic Church to the west.

History

Wonder Bread began production in Indianapolis in 1921, but it did not become a nationwide product until the 1930s. Since this factory is older than that, who was it built for? Well, its location gives us some clues.

Right across 4th Street was the site of the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, which was Italian Village’s largest employer. Jeffrey Mfg. was pretty progressive with employee relations for the time, and they built a cooperative store and cafeteria for factory workers to use. In order to feed the ravenous appetites that the workers built up during their shifts, the company built a bakery across 4th Street in 1916, pumping out 5,000 loaves of bread per day. This is what is now known as the Wonder Bread Lofts.

1919 photo of the bakery interior, which used conveyors made by Jeffrey Mfg. (Ohio History Connection)

As was the case for many century-old industrial buildings, the bakery changed hands many times. In 1919, the building held the Columbus Bread Company. I found another source asserting that the Columbus Bread Company was destroyed by a fire in 1916, which was caused by an overheated oven that ignited highly flammable flour. At that time, the company was under contract for 10,000 loaves a day for the Ohio National Guard. Was this fire the impetus for Columbus Bread to move to this building?

Holland Bread advertisement in the September 10, 1923 edition of The Ohio Jewish Chronicle. (Ohio History Connection)

The Holland Bread Company opened inside Wonder Bread Lofts in 1921-1922. Based on the above advertisement, it seems that the bakery had some now-absent decorative accoutrements such as a cornice and pedimented entrance, and there was even a French garden with fountains to the north. It had a packing and shipping department, offices, a wagon/auto shed, and a tire repair shop. Finally, in 1929, it was used for the Ward Brothers Company, which I couldn’t find any reliable information about.

Snippet of the 1921-1961 Sanborn map showing the factory. Continental Baking was Wonder Bread’s parent company at the time. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

In 1934, the factory’s most famous owners, Wonder Bakeries, acquired the property. In case you aren’t familiar (I was spoiled enough to have Pepperidge Farms bread growing up, and now as a cheap grad student I buy the $2 loaves of Italian bread at Meijer’s), Wonder Bread was one of the first brands to pre-slice their bread. Nutritionally fortified after the end of World War II, the bread is known for its texture and propensity to stick to the roof of one’s mouth. At its peak, “several thousand” sliced loaves of Wonder Bread were produced every minute. That’s a lot of dough.

Wonder Bread added onto the original bakery building on at least three occasions. The above Sanborn map shows a wing with a curved corner on the north end, which was built in 1952. Next, a loading dock with a concrete frame was added to the west side in 1960. Another brick addition appears to have been added immediately south of the loading dock.

The bakery in 1996. (Old North End NRHP listing)

The Wonder Bread factory hung on for a pretty impressive period--it didn’t close until 2009. At that point, Wonder Bread’s parent company (Interstate Bakeries Corporation) closed the Columbus factory and another in Missouri. The bread industry had apparently seen a drop in sales, pretty in-line with the anti-carb dieting culture of the time. However, Interstate Bakeries had also declared bankruptcy in 2004. After the bakery closed in 2009, a developer purchased the property and intended to convert it into a mixed-use arts center known as “Wonderland.” However, they apparently faced pushback from the IRS, so it was converted into loft apartments instead. These apartments opened in 2013.

Photos

I didn’t want to run out across 4th Street and become roadkill, so instead of my usual angled “overall shots,” this is all I got:

Very typical, if a little bland, industrial building for the period.

South facade of the 1916 factory building:

It has had a bunch of red paint in different shades slopped all over it, making an already chaotic facade even more visually busy. Every window is a different size and not aligned, some window openings are infilled…very characteristic of the changes these buildings go through over time.

Some brick ornamental patterns can just be made out behind the paint, the only touch of flair this building really has:

Right under the bakery’s sign is now a trendy tavern to choke down $18 IPAs or something similar:

While it wasn’t this place in particular, my girlfriend dragged me to this bar called DUECENTO further north near Budd Dairy, which had frankly obscene prices for cocktails. Now, every time I think of nightlife in Italian Village, I’m reminded of my shock at being quoted like $12 for a double vodka lemonade or something similar. I’ll stick to my $6 Oldfield’s double, thank you very much!

I struggled trying to frame this next picture, which was difficult because I had to aim upwards and thus deform the sides of the sign:

Pretty incredible that it’s survived (mostly) intact for 40-50 years or so, by my estimation.

From Lincoln Street, right next to St. John’s:

The different-colored brick portion at left is a more modern addition.

Here’s the one thing everyone knows about this building…the tall WONDER BREAD sign:

Close-up:

I wish I had gone back at night and taken a picture, as some of the neon bulbs went out and made the lettering look kind of kooky when lit up.

Loading dock and the western wall, modernized with (what else but) glass garage doors and Edison bulbs:

I think the kitschy signage on these buildings is a lot more interesting than the bland industrial architecture itself. I guess it’s literally a “decorated shed.”

Sources:

https://www.lykenscompanies.com/blog/the-fascinating-history-of-wonder-bread-lofts/

https://www.jeffreyco.com/docs/Short_History.pdf

https://digital-collections.columbuslibrary.org/digital/collection/columbusmaps/id/6331/rec/9

https://columbusunderground.com/wonder-bread-lofts-nearing-completion-bw1/

https://www.10tv.com/article/news/columbus-wonder-bread-bakery-close-may/530-5ec3224b-7de6-4f7c-8db5-81e621a855d6

https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p267401coll32/id/9124

https://www.firefighternation.com/firerescue/july-1916-fires/

https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/ojc/id/1580/

https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4084cm.g4084cm_g06656192101/?sp=101

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71988555

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Bread

Giovanni Battista

March 2026.

Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church, or Chiesa Italiana di San Giovanni Battista as it is known in Italian, is the “mother church” of Italian Village. Both an important site for Catholics to worship and a cultural center for Italian immigrants in the neighborhood, it is a rather unconventional work of Gothic Revival architecture.

St. John’s is located at 168 East Lincoln Street in the Italian Village neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by Cedar Alley to the north, Lincoln Street and houses to the south, Wonder Bread Lofts to the east, and Hamlet Street to the west.

History

Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church was founded in 1896 to serve the growing Italian immigrant population of Italian Village. Prior to 1870, what is now Italian Village was populated by Irish immigrants, though they moved elsewhere after becoming more successful. Italian immigrants began to arrive in earnest in the 1890s, drawn by manufacturing jobs available at the Jeffrey Manufacturing Co. and other local factories. In January 1896, Italian priest Fr. Alexander Cestelli was hired at Pontifical College Josephinium, and he became interested in ministering to the Italian immigrant population in Columbus. Prior to the completion of their own church building, the congregation worshiped in the baptistery of St. Joseph Cathedral downtown. Since that church’s baptistery has a prominent stained-glass window featuring the baptism of Christ by John the Baptist, it is likely how St. John’s congregation got its name.

Panorama of the parish outside of the church. (St. John’s website)

At first, the newly founded church planned to purchase an existing building and renovate it, but they instead decided to build their own church. Fr. Cestelli purchased the current site of St. John’s in 1897 for $4,700, and its construction began in spring 1898, with its cornerstone laid by the bishop on March 15. The Gothic Revival church was designed by Columbus architect David Riebel at a cost of $12,000, with a buff brick exterior and stone accents made by the Columbus Brick & Terra Cotta Co. A major benefactor was John Marzetti, an Italian businessman who may have been related to Teresa Marzetti (you’ve probably heard of Marzetti salad dressings, which she founded). The church was dedicated on September 18, 1898. Its convent immediately east of the church building was completed in 1899. Unusually, St. John’s does not have a school, which is because it was established as a “national parish” and drew worshipers from all corners of Columbus, versus the regionally-defined nature of many other churches.

St. John’s quickly became a cultural center for Italian residents. Its services were conducted in Italian, and the practices were similar to those done “back home” in Italy. Additionally, the church celebrated feast days that were common in Italy as well, such as that of St. John the Baptist and St. Anthony of Padua.

The church in the 1940s. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

Despite financial help from members of the congregation, St. John’s went into debt for the construction of its church and rectory. Fr. Cestelli requested part of nearby Sacred Heart Church’s territory, which was denied by both that church and the diocese of Columbus. He held the church in his own name, and he was so desperate for funding that he offered to relinquish the title of St. John’s to the bishop in exchange for a pension. Fr. Cestelli ended up doing this in February 1901 and left the diocese entirely. In danger of foreclosure, the congregation of St. John’s was forced to fundraise in order to save their church. (For the record, the bishop donated $100 towards the cause.)

After Fr. Cestelli’s departure, the new pastor was another Italian immigrant from Cincinnati, Fr. Vittorio Sovilla. During his tenure, Sovilla personally went door-to-door to solicit donations to decrease the church’s debt. In 1911, he was stabbed by a person visiting under the pretense of receiving marriage advice, but he recovered. Also during his tenure, the Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor began living in the convent in 1912. However, Fr., Sovilla resigned and returned to Italy in 1913 due to disagreements with his parishioners.

Another photo of the church. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

With the growing Italian neighborhood of San Margherita on the west side, which served the Marble Cliff quarries nearby, new pastor Fr. Rocco Petrarca established a mission there. He paid off the church’s debt completely within four years, along with an extra $5,000 for repairs. Fr. Petrarca had an interest in electronics and built an electric clock for the church’s bells, exterior lighting, and a homemade burglar alarm, which actually ended up preventing a burglary in 1945. However, he began to have health issues and stepped down in 1947. The bishop attempted to close the parish afterwards, but after pushback from the congregation, the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions took over operation of St. John’s beginning in 1949.

When PIME began their tenure, the St. John’s church building was in poor condition. Fr. Petrarca’s convoluted electrical contraptions had to be removed (no one could understand them), and the church’s basement was remodeled to become a meeting hall. The rectory also received an addition. Despite the successful completion of this other work, the steeple was structurally unsafe, and with restoration being too expensive the pastor was forced to remove it.

A photo of the original convent prior to its demolition. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

The congregation has made an effort to maintain the Italian culture of the area in recent years, just as German Village has. It founded the Columbus Italian Festival in 1980, which highlights Italian culture while raising money for college scholarships. St. John’s built an Italian Cultural Center in 1989 (which reconstructed the convent’s facade, demolished due to disrepair).

In 2011, the church’s entry stairs were renovated by architect David Meleca. The steeple was also rebuilt at some point, possibly during that same renovation. Since 2022, St. John’s has been jointly staffed with nearby Sacred Heart Church, a few blocks north on 1st Avenue.

Photos

A nice oblique view of St. John’s today:

The church has a pared-down Gothic Revival design with a brick exterior, though the foundation is Columbus limestone. Window openings are tall and thin (lancets). Unusually, the tower is located on the northwest corner of the building, instead of on the principal south facade as is usually the case.

This leaves the south facade with only two shorter pinnacles on the corners:

The entrance doors have a large transom above them, with two trefoils and a quatrefoil filled with vibrant stained glass:

Detail:

The trio of stained-glass windows above, one larger than its smaller brethren:

One of the skinny pinnacles, topped with a peaked iron finial:

The tower:

I thought the tower’s belfry had been altered due to the odd coloration of the bricks on top, but it seems to be a coat of paint?

Another view straight-on from the west, where the difference is a little more obvious:

West facade of the church:

One of the taller stained-glass windows on the west facade:

Rear (north end) of the church and its rectory:

The convent/cultural center:

This must be the perfect diffuse light that photographers lust over. It usually doesn’t look this good for me. Anyways, I was honestly surprised that this was not the historic rectory but instead a rebuilt example, though a couple things give it away. These include the perfectly clean brick and entrance at grade (common now due to ADA requirements).

Still, the woodwork canopy is remarkably faithful to historic Gothic Revival features:

I just love this delicate, lacy border and the hanging pinnacles.

I also thought the windows were modern replacements, but again, with that 1989 construction date, they are original to the building.

Nice crenellated parapet:

The site has a double-sided Ohio Historical Marker, too. I was confused about its statement claiming that it is listed on the NRHP--it isn’t individually but is a contributing property to the Old North End Historic District.