Dayton Arcade - Dayton, Ohio - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

From the Preservation Dayton website:

The Historic Arcade is a historical, architecturally elegant complex located in the heart of Dayton’s central business district. Built in 1902, it was conceived by Eugene J. Barney of the Barney & Smith Car Company and consists of five interconnecting buildings topped by a glass-domed rotunda, 70 feet high and 90 feet in diameter, below which two balconied upper floors circle the central enclave. As President of the Arcade Company, Barney made sure the Arcade had the latest innovations, including elevators, a power plant and a cold storage plant. The architect was Frank Andrews, known also as architect for NCR’s factory buildings and the American Building at Third and Main in Dayton.

The most notable building, which fronts on Third Street, is of Flemish design and is said to be patterned after a guild hall in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The Fourth Street and Ludlow Street facades are done in Italian Renaissance Revival. The most interesting architectural feature is the great dome. The classic detailing usually found in such rotundas was replaced by detailing representative of Ohio. The cornucopias are filled with fruits and vegetables from Ohio. There are festoons of oak leaves with acorns, ram heads and garlands of grain. At each framing member of the dome are colorful turkeys.

Originally, the main spaces were used as a major farmers’ market with housing located on the upper floors. Through the first four decades of this century, this super supermarket was one of downtown’s prime attractions. Here was where one went for the unusual in fruits and vegetables, seafood, baked goods, food specialties, meats and meat specialties, fresh-cut flowers and assorted luxury items available in or out of season.

In the late 70s, investors began planning and implementing a major restoration of the Arcade. In May 1980, the newly refurbished Arcade was reopened as a retail shopping center, but success eluded the Arcade and the Arcade was closed in 1990. Although currently mothballed, several plans are in the works by preservation minded organizations to reopen the Arcade and its adjacent upper levels.

Street address: Ludlow to Main St between 3rd and 4th Sts Dayton, Ohio USA 45402 County / Borough / Parish: Montgomery Year listed: 1975 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1900-1924 Historic function: Commerce/Trade, Domestic Current function: Commerce/Trade, Domestic Privately owned?: yes Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.

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Date Logged Log User Rating   05/11/2018 buffalohiker visited it 03/17/2017 stevepre2 visited it 09/19/2014 petendot visited it

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