The Lazarus House is a historic house in

Downtown Columbus, Ohio Downtown Columbus is the central business district of Columbus, Ohio. Downtown is centered on the intersection of Broad Street (Columbus, Ohio), Broad and High Street (Columbus, Ohio), High Streets, and encompasses all of the area inside the Inn ...

. It was built in 1886 for Frederick Lazarus Sr., president of the

F&R Lazarus & Company Lazarus was an American department store chain founded in 1851 by Simon Lazarus. It was headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, Ohio, and operated throughout the Midwestern United States, Midwest. The store was a founding partner of the Mac ...

, and was designed in the

French Second Empire The Second French Empire, officially the French Empire, was the government of France from 1852 to 1870. It was established on 2 December 1852 by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, president of France under the French Second Republic, who proclaimed hi ...

style. It has undergone numerous renovations since its construction, including for conversion into office space, into apartments, and back to predominantly single-family occupancy. The house is a contributing property of the

East Town Street Historic District The East Town Street Historic District is a historic district in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and the Columbus Register of Historic Properties in 1982; the district boundaries ...

, 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 ...

and

Columbus Register of Historic Properties The Columbus Register of Historic Properties is a register for historic buildings and other sites in Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, Ohio, United States. The register is maintained by the City of Columbus Historic Resources Commission and Historic Pr ...

Attributes

The Lazarus House serves as an example for townhouses in the

, on the

. It was added to the district when created in 1976, and to the district under the

in 1982. Its

mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called French roof or curb roof) is a multi-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper, and often punctured by dormer wi ...

, gable dormers, and heavy metal cornice exemplify the Second Empire style. It has about , including an addition at the back of the house dating to the 1940s.

History

The house was built in 1886 for Frederick Lazarus Sr., president of the

and son of company founder Simon Lazarus. The Lazarus family moved in about 1906 to a new and larger house at Bryden Road and S. Ohio Avenue; that house was demolished in 1924. By 1976, the house held the office of a medical doctor, Henry B. Lacey. By 1979 Lacey had sold it to one of his students, Thomas Mallory, who used it for the offices of Joint Implant Surgeons Inc. and continued restoring the property. Beginning in 1982, it was renovated for office rental use by the Bernstein Group. In 2013–2014, following concerns the house might be demolished, local restorationists Jeff Darbee and Nancy Recchie led a renovation funded by federal and state historic tax credits. The project restored many of the original features of the house, including the grand staircase and geometric wood flooring, and created three luxury apartments, and restoring many original features, including a grand staircase and geometric wood flooring. The house was listed for sale at $890,000 in 2020; the buyers began further restoration as a private residence with the help of a

tax abatement A tax holiday is a temporary reduction or elimination of a tax. It is synonymous with tax abatement, tax subsidy or tax reduction. Governments usually create tax holidays as incentives for business investment, although the arrangement has also ...

References

External links

* {{Columbus Register of Historic Properties Houses completed in 1886 Houses in Columbus, Ohio Second Empire architecture in Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Columbus, Ohio Historic district contributing properties in Columbus, Ohio Buildings and structures in Downtown Columbus, Ohio Columbus Register properties