The former Washington Avenue United Methodist Church in 2019.
Columbus historic church demolition is a tricky subject, but has happened far more times over the years than people might believe. The Washington Avenue United Methodist Church at 359 East Markison Avenue has been part of the community since its dedication in 1923. While neither the oldest church in the city, nor the most elaborate, it has its own charms that would be lost to history should it fall to the wrecking ball.
It stopped functioning as a church at the beginning of 2015, perhaps part of the national decline in church attendance. Because of that relatively recent closure, the building remains in relatively good condition.
Churches used to just be torn down after their congregation abandoned them, but in recent years, they have found new life. They have become unique restaurants or retail shops, but the most popular conversion has been residential. Whether one of faith or not, churches offer a kind of architecture not found in any other building type.
Beyond adaptive reuse, however, is the issue of historic preservation. As mentioned, many such buildings have ended up rotting away before they are eventually demolished, and that scenario has played out many times in Columbus. This phenomenon is unfortunately not just part of our past. It continues to happen even now. Recently, a Franklinton church’s demolition was approved for new housing. Unlike the Washington Avenue building, this church had seen long-term abandonment and neglect by its owners. It’s poor overall condition from that neglect was then used to justify its demolition. It survived the 1913 flood when many surrounding buildings didn’t, but it won’t survive the Columbus building boom or intentional neglect.
Sadly, it looks like the same fate is in store for the Washington Avenue United Methodist Church. A company called Bexley Manning 569 Holdings has proposed demolishing all but the church’s steeple tower in order to construct 17 townhomes. Columbus is in the midst of one of the largest housing crunches in its history, so the city desperately needs more homes. Sacrificing yet another beautiful old building still seems wrong, though. Columbus has already lost so much of its architectural history to the wrecking ball.
The original site plan for the Markison project.
The project is still in initial approval phases, so it’s possible the demolition will receive some pushback. The fact that the steeple tower is being preserved is actually a change from the original design. Perhaps more of the church may be saved in subsequent project updates. That said, the location is outside of established historic zones and lacks formal protection. Therefore, it seems likely that the WAUMC is facing its last days.
The RiverSouth area of Downtown was, not that long ago, the epitome of the disastrous Urban Renewal policy so popular during much of the mid-latter part of the 20th century. Bounded to the east by High Street, north by State Street, west by the Scioto River and south by I-70, this area, by the mid-1990s, had become a sea of surface parking lots, old storage warehouses, underutilized or empty storefronts and ugly infrastructure. The construction of City Center Mall in 1989, with its location directly across High Street, was supposed to help bring this neighborhood back with new development. Instead, as the mall did with the rest of Downtown, it helped suck the life out what retail and business existed there. Worse, the concrete, prison-like exterior of the mall lacked any type of street-level connection, so it functioned to keep people off the sidewalks and the streets were as abandoned as ever even as thousands of shoppers flooded the new mall every weekend.
The imposing structure of City Center.
As newer suburban competition gradually killed City Center itself, the city was left with the task of figuring out what to do with its hulking core. Proposals were put for from everything to government buildings to redesigning the building itself into an Easton-like outdoor shopping town center. However, the money and interest for such proposals just weren’t there, and so the city came up with another, much different plan. The 10-15 year development plan called for the complete demolition of the mall complex, replacing it with a new city park complete with an entertainment stage, carousel and eateries.
City Center being demolished in 2010.
The mall was closed in 2009 and demolished the following year. This event seems to have marked the true beginning of the rise of RiverSouth. Columbus Commons and its 9 acres opened to the public in 2011. Despite a hugely negative expectation by some that the park would see little use and become a new place for vagrants and criminals, CC was an almost instant success. Hundreds of events were held there during its first year, and those numbers have grown every year since. Picnic with the Pops moved to the new park during the 2012 season, and the Columbus Food Truck Festival has attracted tens of thousands each of the last 2 years. The carousel, outdoor library and other events have been popular with kids and families. The park, with all its success, helped to bring about another important change to the area. It attracted development.
Columbus Commons before any development.
Originally, the park’s long-term plan was to have the grassy areas along High Street developed, but no one expected that to happen within a decade. Instead, a developer came forward less than a year after the park opened. High Point was that project, a pair of 6-story mixed-used buildings that would line the entire west side of the park from the corner of Rich and High. 302 new apartments, a handful of restaurants and ground floor retail lining High were all part of the project. Still under construction, this project should be complete in early 2014. Unfortunately, as the below pictures show (and the most flattering ones I could find at that) that the architecture is pretty horrendous. Despite that, the buildings will help fill in the gaps on High Street and bring hundreds of new residents, so the positives outweigh the negatives here.
Since the announcement of City Center’s demise, other projects have come about over the last few years that have helped raise the profile of RiverSouth. -The Annex at RiverSouth replaced several surface parking lots along S. Front Street. This 214-unit, 4-story residential complex was originally planned to be a mix of condos and apartments, but became mostly apartments when the condo market died off. The complex was completed in 2010.
-The new Franklin County Courthouse, a $106 million, 7-story complex was completed in 2011 at the southwest corner of W. Main and S. High Streets.
-The Scioto Mile, the $44 million riverfront park, was completed in 2011 complete with fountains, a restaurant, paths and an entertainment stage.
Scioto Mile
-Main Street Bridge was replaced with a signature, $60 million arched span in 2011.
-The Rich Street Bridge was also replaced in 2012 with a new $26 million open span.
-The old Lazarus building, once connected to City Center by a massive skywalk, received a $60 million renovation in 2010 that converted the former retail building into an LEED green office building for the Ohio EPA and other organizations.
-Many of the streets in the area have been rebuilt with brick crossing and new landscaping.
So a lot has been done over the past few years, but what’s coming next? Beyond the High Point project, 3 more projects have recently been announced.
-The first is the conversion of the Secur-It warehouse building at the northeast corner of S. Front and W. Main Street. The century-old building was once used as a shoe factory, but was bricked over and used as a storage facility for many years. The current plan by Casto is to turn the building into about 90 residential units. The old warehouse windows will be restored, as well as the façade and interiors. The project should get started in the spring of 2014.
The current Secure-It building.
Proposed rendering for the Secure-It building.
-Second, we have Lifestyle Communities LC at RiverSouth project. This 8-story, 102-unit residential building will occupy the northwest corner of S. High and W. Rich Streets, directly across from Columbus Commons. Construction should begin this fall and complete in early 2015.
-And finally, we have the recently announced 250 High project. This $50 million, 12-story mixed-use tower would have ground floor retail, 4 floors of offices and 7 floors of residential totaling 156 units. This project will be built on the surface lot adjacent to the old City Center parking garage at 250 S. High Street. Construction on this project should also begin in the fall and complete sometime in early 2015.
These projects will no doubt spur others in the near future. Several surface lots still exist in RiverSouth, and a few of them are still along S. High Street just north of the new courthouse. Given the momentum of the neighborhood, expect to see development announcements on at least a few of these lots sooner than you think.
