The Beasley Building is a historic

commercial building Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

in downtown

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Constructed at the turn of the 20th century, this industrial building has been named a

historic site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been re ...

. Built of brick with elements of iron, the Beasley Building is a three-

story Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Narrative, an account of imaginary or real people and events ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting ** News story, an event or topic reported by a news orga ...

structure with a five-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

facade. Each bay features paired

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

windows above a

beltcourse A belt course, also called a string course or sill course, is a continuous row or layer of stones or brick set in a wall. Set in line with window sills, it helps to make the horizontal line of the sills visually more prominent. Set between the f ...

with

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

, while an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

of geometric shapes surrounds the building near its roofline. Upon its construction, the building was intended to convey a sense of architectural balance, contrasting the two-story height of the main windows with the beltcourse and frieze, as well as a sense of pure massiveness.Owen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 1. St. Clair Shores: Somerset, 1999, 41. Situated in downtown Athens, the Beasley Building lies within an area that has served as Athens' commercial center since the community's founding. Substantial industry in the area began in 1840 when the

Hocking Canal The Hocking Canal, in southeastern Ohio, was a small 19th century lateral/feeder canal of the Ohio-Erie Canal. It began in Carroll, Ohio (which was on the Ohio-Erie Canal) and ran to Athens, Ohio, Athens, Ohio. It paralleled the Hocking River in ...

was constructed through the area, and the coming of the Scioto and Hocking Valley Railroad in 1855 expanded its commercial importance. Charles Higgins, a local miller, was one of the partners in the firm of Eldridge and Higgins, which bought the building's site in 1904 and began construction, although it was then purchased by Frank Beasley, a prominent miller from nearby Amesville. His firm eventually turned the Beasley Building into the region's largest

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

powered by electricity, although it eventually closed and was converted for grocery purposes. Late in 1982, the Beasley Building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

, qualifying both because of its architecture and its place in the area's history. One year later, the building was awarded approximately $1.1 million in federal rehabilitation tax credits.Approved Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit Projects by County

University of Toledo The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a Public university, public research university in Toledo, Ohio, United States. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, ...

, 2009-01-28, 1. Accessed 2013-12-08.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Athens County, Ohio Food retailers of the United States Grinding mills on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Commercial buildings completed in 1905 Buildings and structures in Athens, Ohio 1905 establishments in Ohio