Though Athens has heaps of history visible in bricks and buildings, some of its richest history has been demolished.
Building 26 is only the latest in a series of historical buildings that have been destroyed in the past 40 years.
Prior to his attempts to save Building 26, Ron Luce, director of the Athens County Historical Society & Museum, failed in his goal to save a local building on Stimson Avenue, which most recently housed BellaVino, a former wine and alcohol store.
BellaVino, built in the 1880s, was originally a mule barn for the Athens Brick Company, Luce said. The building was demolished in January.
The building was purchased by developer Ric Wasserman, who planned to demolish the building and construct an apartment complex on the land. Luce protested this in a planning commission meeting this past October because the old mule barn was located in a B3 business zone, which requires at least one business on the first floor of the building, he said.
“I took it to everyone that would listen and told them that this is not right,” Luce said.
The commission allowed the building and land to be sold, Luce said.
Ohio University itself demolished four of its buildings in order to make room for Alden Library.
Bill Kimok, university archivist for Archives & Special Collections in Alden, said the university demolished the women’s gym, the first Boyd Hall, the fine arts building known as Tupper Hall and Ewing Hall.
The first Tupper Hall and Ewing Hall were built in 1883 and 1898, respectively. Tupper Hall originally held the Old Chapel, and Ewing Hall was home to a 900-person auditorium, offices and classrooms.
Despite the buildings’ ages, the demolitions did not cause a lot of controversy to the students and city, Kimok said.
“In the mindset, it was the progress that was important,” Kimok said.
However, university officials did cause controversy when they sold some of the stained glass windows that decorated Ewing Hall in order to pay for the cost of demolition, according to a previous Post article.
Though students can still see a few of the stained glass windows in Walter Hall, the history is lost with the destruction of the original building, said Tom O’Grady, president of the historical society’s board.
“(The artifacts) are the kinds of things that are really important to a town,” O’Grady said.
dk123111@ohiou.edu
