Little-know places are a Downtown Mansfield, Inc. specialty. On Saturday the Secret City Tour, Urban Living Edition, gave ticket holders, and there were many, a thorough inspection of some hidden urban spaces. The Secret City Tour could be described as a combination of entertainment, history, and speculation. Could that vacant space be just what someone’s looking for?
The self-guided tour of prominent, historic downtown buildings, included access to ten properties with an emphasis on living spaces—inspiration for cultivating downtown living. The properties included empty spaces above Carrousel Antiques; What Goes ‘Round; Relax, It’s Just Coffee; the Cleveland Financial Group, and City Grille & Bar. Additional locations on the tour included apartments on W. Fourth Street and two on South Park Street, as well as the Cotter Building and the new downtown Mechanic’s Bank offices.
The tour location that drew the most curiosity was the former boarding rooms at 35 E. Fourth Street above City Grille & Bar. http://www.citygrilleandbar.com/ According to Downtown Mansfield Inc. (DMI), the building was built between 1874 and 1896 and was once known as Carpenter’s Block or Row.
The building drew attention in part because it’s more “finished” than other locations, in that it has original living spaces, but also because of the interior arcade skylight. The front of the building provides no suggestion of the skylight, though it can be seem from the rear of the building. The arcade opens the second and third floors to what would have been the boarding rooms, many of them with fireplaces, and open onto the open hallway balconies on each floor.
The “Yuncker Building” is more commonly known today as the location of Carrousel Antiques at 116 N. Main Street. The building dates back to 1896-1921 and is the second building located on that site. The Yuncker family had a sporting goods store in the building and also a soda water bottling facility, which historic record attributes to W. H. Yuncker and J. S. Yuncker of the Yuncker Bottling Co.
The second floor of the building is large and open with unfinished wood floors and brick walls—and open to possibilities, not unlike the second floor across the street. Across the street is What Goes ‘Round thrift shop and if visitors didn’t get distracted by the stores varied merchandise, they went upstairs to see the beginning renovations to two floors of potential apartments with Main Street views. Apartment space next door above 105 N. Main Street there’s the added appeal of a street side balcony.
Not far away on W. Third Street is the Cotter building, built in 1916 for the Cotter Transfer and Storage Company. A freight elevator, large storage chambers above the first floor offices, and a first floor vault suggest potential commercial use. According to DMI, sometime after the 1970s and through 2011 the building held the offices of the Richard Stander family’s Mansfield Asphalt and Paving Company.
The tour took visitors further south to South Park Street where two local residents graciously opened their apartments for the tour. Violeta Chinni, the owner of Niàbos Art Gallery and resident of 14 South Park Street, opened the door to her apartment behind the gallery after introducing visitors to the gallery’s current feature artist Kevin Oswalt.
Chinni’s apartment features original wood floors and a loft bedroom. When asked if noises from the city were disruptive to her home life, she replied that she rarely heard sounds from the street.
Her neighbor, Aurelio Diaz also opened his apartment. Diaz is a Richland Newhope support specialist, their dance troupe instructor, and also an artist. Diaz and his grandmother Joanna Dillard greet his guests.
“Downtown is way more bustling than it has been. I’d like to see more people move in and then there could maybe a Laundromat with a pool hall,” said Diaz. He noted that he was his own washing machine and dryer but many downtown residents do not.
Across N. Main Street Mechanic’s Bank provided a tour of their newly renovated offices located just south of their main branch building. While not an urban living space, the offices will facilitate their residential and commercial loan officers, services that lend themselves to potential downtown dwellers and future merchants. Their offices utilized the warmth of the brick walls with the addition of modern conveniences including energy-saving lighting.
Tour guide Caroline Worner noted that the enclosed all between the buildings has been dubbed “Mechanic’s Way” and it resembles a streetscape, complete with lamp posts.
Finally, true urban living was fully realized at Chuck Hahn’s urban apartment above the Cleveland Financial Group’s offices. The second floor of the building was renovated in the last two years and demonstrates how charming and comfortable downtown living can be. Historically the building held a feed store but the modern apartment leaves no suggestion of the dusty history.
The “story” of the Secret City Tour may best be enjoyed visually through our photo gallery below, left.
Downtown Mansfield, Inc. is a non-profit organization whose mission is to stimulate economic development, improve the appearance and create a positive image of the downtown as a desirable place to work, live, shop and invest.
For additional information, please contact 419-522-0099 or info@downtownmansfield.com
