Demolition plan for home irks group

COLUMBUS (AP) — A century-old mansion built by Joseph Firestone is set for demolition to make way for an office renovation project, angering some preservationists who want the historic home spared.

The 9,859-square-foot home in Columbus’ Old Towne East neighborhood will be in the way of an $8 million renovation to the Columbus Foundation’s offices, in the former governor’s mansion next door, the foundation said.

The Firestone home, was built in 1906 by Firestone, then-vice president and manager of Columbus Buggy Co. Firestone’s relatives also created the tire empire that bears the family name. Though the building is on the National Register of Historic Places, it has outlived its usefulness and needs to be torn down, foundation president Douglas Kridler said.

A complete restoration for the increasingly decrepit mansion, acquired by the foundation in 1999, would cost about $2.5 million, Kridler said. That price is too expensive for a building that no longer meets the foundation’s needs.

The Franklin County auditor values the building at $388,700.

Members of a movement to save the building, led by neighborhood preservationists and Columbus City Councilwoman Maryellen O’Shaughnessy, have met with the foundation to suggest adaptive reuse of the mansion.

“We are afraid this is going to set a negative precedent,” said Heather Bowden, vice president of the Old Towne East Neighborhood Association. “Everybody in our neighborhood devotes a lot of money to renovation, and I wish Columbus Foundation had done that first before demolishing the building.”

Under the foundation’s current renovation plan, the Firestone house, another small office building and a former gas station at the site will be turned into overflow parking and two new buildings for the foundation.