Victorian home lovingly restored into office space
Victorian home lovingly restored into office space
1860s Andrew Jackson House near University of Akron becomes foundation headquarters after painstaking work
By Mary Beth Breckenridge
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 12:24 p.m. EST, Feb 26, 2010
A charred spot hides under the rug in Christine Amer Mayer's office.
It was left in the oak floorboards of the Andrew Jackson House intentionally, a reminder of the building's rough condition before it was restored recently to house the offices of the GAR Foundation.
The 15,585-square-foot building at Mill and Union streets had long been a proud but deteriorating landmark in the University Park neighborhood. Vacant for years, the former Odd Fellows Temple at times even sheltered homeless squatters, who burned some of the molding to keep warm and in the process scorched the floor of what would become the work space of Mayer, the foundation's chief operating officer and legal counsel.
Today, the building has been returned to its former grandeur. Tall walnut doors have been refinished, decorative bronze hinges have been restored and wood trim has been milled to match the original.
It's a restoration that blends the function of a modern workplace with the elegance of an upper-class home from the Victorian era.
The house was built between 1868 and 1870 for lumberman and builder Andrew Jackson and his wife, Lucy. Jackson was one of the contractors who built Akron's first skyscraper, a seven-story building at Main and Mill streets that coincidentally served as Akron's Odd Fellows temple before his house became the organization's home.
The Jackson House represents the Second Empire style, a design characterized by mansard roofs, dormer windows and brackets under the eaves — and a style often associated with the macabre. Picture the homes of Norman Bates and the Addams Family.
The house changed hands once before becoming home in 1918 to the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a fraternal organization that made the building its meeting place for nearly 70 years.
The Odd Fellows changed the layout of the house to make it more suitable for group gatherings. The grand staircase was removed, the basement was lowered, an addition was built and interior walls on the second floor were removed to turn a series of bedrooms into a spacious ballroom.
The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
The Odd Fellows sold the building in 1990 when the group consolidated with a lodge in Green, and eventually the house came into the hands of Cleveland-area resident Alex Simon.
Simon and his partner, Buddy Zelman, tried to restore the building in the 1990s with the intention of turning it into an Internet cafe. But the project fell through, and the building was eventually condemned.
By the time Cleveland developer Michael Chesler saw it, the house was filled with junk and stripped of its plumbing, electrical and mechanical systems. Much of the molding had been damaged or removed, he said, ceilings and some of the walls were gone, and holes had been cut in some of the remaining walls.
But Chesler, a specialist in adaptive reuse of historical buildings, recognized its potential. ''The building had great bones. The structure was impeccable,'' he said.
At the time, the GAR Foundation was working with Chesler in its search for a new home and was close to signing an agreement for another location. Chesler persuaded the foundation's board to change its mind.
That decision pleased GAR Foundation President Robert Briggs.
''I've always admired this house,'' he said. ''I've had my eye on it for 20 years.''
Chesler also had to persuade Simon to sell. He accomplished that, he said, by showing Simon other buildings he had restored and convincing him he would do the job right.
Chesler's company, the Chesler Group, started construction in July 2008, working with Dimit Architects of Cleveland.
The project brought the challenges expected with restoring an old building — challenges like having to build a 60-foot elevator shaft with a minuscule eighth-inch tolerance and having to dig around the foundation by hand to install drain tiles. His company even made the knives to cut millwork to match what was already in the building.
The restoration also required some sacrifices, such as eliminating a room on the first floor to make way for a new circular staircase. In keeping with federal guidelines for historical structures, elements such as the staircase that couldn't be replicated exactly were designed to be ''contemporary but compatible'' — not built to look old, but still designed to fit in.
Now the building, completed in August 2009, is a gracious yet functional space.
On the main floor, rooms that once greeted guests and sheltered family members are now offices marked by tall windows, wide casings and quarter-sawed oak floors with inlaid bands of walnut. Mayer's office, once the drawing room, boasts a small octagonal conservatory and a fireplace that was moved when the staircase was built.
Those original elements that give the space its character were saved by the previous owner, for which Mayer is grateful. ''He could have sold [them] off if he didn't really care,'' she said.
A floor below is what's called the garden level (''We didn't want anyone to think they were in the basement,'' Mayer explained with a smile), a surprisingly bright area that houses more work space for the GAR Foundation, a workout room and the offices of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Rooms on that level get their character from the exposed sandstone foundation walls, set off by crisp beaded-board wainscots. Deep window wells draw in sunlight, and a broad arched window in one interior wall brightens the offices on either side.
The old ballroom on the second floor is now a multipurpose space warmed by walls painted in two tones of creamy, white moldings and a patterned carpet reminiscent of an Oriental rug. The room has a drop-down video screen and a conference table for board meetings, but the table is in sections that can be moved easily to allow community organizations to hold events.
The ballroom still has a small balcony that was built by the Odd Fellows, presumably a perch from which a lodge leader, or noble grand, could speak. Nevertheless, the recent restoration made the ceiling over the balcony so low that Briggs jokingly bemoaned that he can't use it to address the board.
The balcony is the site of an inside joke, too.
Before the restoration, the ballroom was painted in fuchsia and two colors of green. As Mayer tells it, one board member suggested with tongue in cheek that the foundation should replicate that gaudy color scheme, so it did — on the interior walls of the balcony.
What once was the house's attic is available for lease for additional office space. The truss system added during the Odd Fellows' renovation gives the space the edgy feel of an urban loft, but the newly refinished wood trim boxes that cover the trusses add warmth. The space is brightened by the monitor roof, a bump-out in the roof of the house that's lined with windows.
In order to take advantage of tax credits for historical preservation, Chesler bought the building and will lease it to the GAR Foundation for five years before transferring ownership to the foundation.
Briggs is looking forward to staying put.
''I hope to be here for another hundred years,'' he said.
Mary Beth Breckenridge can be reached at 330-996-3756 or mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com. You can also become a fan on Facebook.
MORE INFORMATION
About the GAR Foundation:
The GAR Foundation supports efforts primarily in education, arts and arts education, health and social services, civic enhancement and nonprofit enhancement.
GAR stands for Galen and Ruth, the first names of founders Galen and Ruth Roush. Galen Roush was chairman of Roadway Express and designated half his estate to start the foundation in 1967.
About the Odd Fellows:
The Odd Fellows trace their history to 18th century England, when it was considered odd for people to organize to help those in need and pursue projects for the benefit of all people. Those who belonged to such an organization were called odd fellows.
The movement came to North America in 1819, when Lodge No. 1 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows was founded in Baltimore. Odd Fellowship became the first national fraternity to include both men and women when it adopted the Rebekah Degree in 1851.
Odd Fellows are involved in a variety of civic and philanthropic efforts.
