MANSFIELD — Richland County Land Bank Board of Directors voted to auction eight residential properties to the highest bidder June 22 at 1 p.m. Richland County Land Bank office Lower Level 1 – 50 Park Avenue East, Mansfield.
Pre-qualified bidders must not have delinquent property taxes, tax foreclosure, or history of code violations.
The Land Bank is looking for responsible property owners to preserve a small part of Mansfield’s History one building at a time.
“While the Land Bank is known for demolition, we work extremely hard to save structures whenever possible,” stated Amy Hamrick Richland County Land Reutilization Corporation. “When a historic property is restored for modern use, it contributes to our city’s sense of heritage as well as contributing to Mansfield’s economic well-being.
“Not every historic property needs to turn into a shrine, some should keep their original intent, as a place for families to live, love and laugh.”
The mission of the Richland County Land Reutilization Corporation is to strategically acquire properties, return them to productive use, reduce blight, increase property values, support community goals and improve the quality of life for county residents. For more information on how to bid or view these properties visit www.richlandlandbank.org or call 419-774-5623.
The Land Bank is offering the following five properties of historic significance with the bidding starting at $1.
149 Washington Avenue
This single family structure was the original home of a Mansfield attorney, Norman N. Wolfe, of the firm Wolfe and Henry with offices on North Park Street.
It was built in the 1880s in the Queen Anne style, exemplified by the asymmetrical hipped roof with lower cross-gables, large porch wrapping around the front and side with turned supports and spindle-work, and an unusual full cornice with brackets all around, reflecting back to the older Italianate style.
153 South Diamond Street
This duplex was built before the Civil War, probably about 1850. It is a brick Colonial house, lacking or having lost any ornament that might have made it Georgian, Adam, or Federal.
It’s very typical of the kind of houses that defined the look and feel of Mansfield in its day. Another similar example survives right across the alley. Originally the windows would have been multi-paned, and that would be the touch that would help focus its age and distinction.
Most houses of this type vanished because they were built in the oldest part of the city, and that part has been built over a couple of times over the years. This part of South Diamond Street, however, has eluded that fate somehow. The significance and reason to save this house is its relationship with its neighbors and how it contributes to the historical nature of this area.
94 West Fifth Street
This single family structure is a yellow brick foursquare type house, built c. 1910-1920. The truncated hip roof has a front dormer with a palladian window.
The centered front porch has square columns typical of the Arts and Crafts period when this house was built. Stone lintels and sills, and either stone or stone-faced foundation blocks, are indicators of the good quality of construction of this house.
152 West Fourth Street
This multi-unit structure is a brick Italianate of the less common, gabled roof variety and is a refreshing departure from the usual hipped roof Italianates. The rear cross gable adds interest, along with the rear, two story servants’ and kitchen wing. The style goes back before the Civil War, and the layout with the rear wing would correspond to that period also.
A house appears on the 1853 map of the city on this lot, lot 5 of Robert Bowland’s second addition but the tax indexes of 1850 and 1860 show the lot undeveloped, so there may be an error in either the 1853 map, or the tax indexes, but it is more likely that this house was built in the 1860s because it is highly unlikely that the tax index would be in error.
Ownership of the lot in 1860, valued at $400, was David Markward, a wealthy merchant. The 1870 tax index shows C. C. Keech as the owner with a house valued at $3000. He is also listed as the owner on the 1882 map. It seems most likely the house was built by Keech after 1860 and before 1870.
This addition to the city was built on in the 1850s, but mostly after the Civil War, with the earliest now almost all gone due to the transition of this area into a neighborhood of flats in the early 1900s. The next house to the east has been mothballed because of its significance and future possibilities, and this house would have even more architectural interest and potential.
437 Park Avenue West
This mult-unit structure known as the S. M. Douglas House is a large Queen Anne style residence listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Silas M. Douglas was an attorney and Chief Justice of the Ohio Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals from 1898 to 1904. The house was built sometime in the late 1880s to 1890s, in the later part of the Victorian period. A better date should not be too difficult to determine.
If built by Douglas, it would date after 1891 when Douglas’ home was listed as 37 Wood Street. The lot on which it sits was part of the Brinkerhoff estate, originally.
It is primarily Queen Anne style and one of the most exuberant examples surviving in Mansfield. Remarkably, the porches, railings, spindle-work, and appurtenances have been cared for and survive intact.
The Shingle style house next door to the east is just as distinctive, is about the same age, and provides a good contrast and example of the diversity of higher style architecture that was built on Park Avenue West.
The next three properties don’t have any historical significance, but the Land Bank believes they can be rehabbed.
845 Logan Road
Some rehab has already started on this single-family home. This property has demolition orders. There is a $30,000 minimum bid
611 Bonair Ave.
This single-family home is rehab ready. There are no demolition orders. The minimum bid is $2,500.
295 Newman St.
This single-family home needs some rehab. There are no demolition orders. $1 is the minimum bid.
