It was a morning made for a celebration: a brilliant, blue sky; bright, warm sunshine; a crisp, fall breeze; and a crowd of more than 100 smiling fans of a restored architectural gem in downtown Newark.
There were speeches with shout-outs on Monday, Oct. 27, for the many people who painstakingly worked to bring the former Home Building Association building back to life as the new home for the Explore Licking County tourism office.
Visitors were greeted with little cookies in the shape of some of the building’s iconic mosaic tiles. And virtually everyone who entered the former banking hall for the first time had the same reaction to the restored artwork: Jaws dropped, smiles appeared, and cellphone cameras shot up to record the moment.
“This moment is a vision realized,” said Connie Hawk, who has shepherded the renovation project for the Licking County Foundation. “Realized because of the dedication and expertise of many volunteers and many professionals, realized because of the generosity and dedication of many donors and supporters, realized because of the commitments and tenacity of many partners and collaborators.”
The building now known as The Sullivan Building was designed by architect Louis H. Sullivan as one of eight Midwest “jewel box” bank buildings he designed between 1906 and 1920. They gained their “jewel box” moniker because of their boxy form and ornate features.
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Among the first in the door were Laurel Kennedy and Darrick Courson of Granville, who have traveled the country to tour all eight of Sullivan’s jewel boxes.
Kennedy explained that visiting the other jewel boxes put into perspective what is here in Newark.
“They understood they had a jewel and they did whatever they could to preserve it,” Kennedy said.
She and Courson were interested in the architecture and they noticed certain motifs repeated throughout the eight jewel boxes. They also saw a commonality among the communities where the jewel boxes are found.
“There is a lot of civic pride around these structures,” Kennedy said. “There is no question which structure it is. We understand why there is so much pride here in Newark.”
Explore Licking County is hosting a full week of activities and events to show off The Sullivan Building, and the public is invited to stop by the office at 1 N. 3rd St. to look around.
Many of the century-old jewel-box buildings are brick, but when Sullivan came to Newark and saw the sandstone Licking County Courthouse across the street, he decided that the Newark building should be faced with terra-cotta tiles, some of which are adorned with intricate designs and relief images of lions, leaves and scrollwork.
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One of the architects for the restoration, Peter Krajnak of Columbus, said that it was important to understand the character of Louis Sullivan and the intent behind his original project.
“Getting the drawings that he did – the hand-sketched drawings – it’s like a treasure,” Krajnak said.
Darryl Rogers, another architect for this project, said that the most difficult part of the restoration was balancing the building’s new function with the original historic elements.
“How does all that come together?” Rogers asked. “Where you celebrate the past, save anything original but also repurpose this building into an adaptive reuse project that’s totally different than a bank,” Rogers said.
Rogers said, for example, that the green stone on the floor of the building was the original floor. Yet, because there were places where the flooring had been damaged or lost, the architects decided to recreate the floor plan of where the teller stations would have stood with new material. In short, he said, they recreated the floor plan in a two-dimensional abstract pattern on the floor.
The building opened as a savings and loan office in 1915 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It is now home to Explore Licking County, which makes it both a destination for fans of Louis Sullivan – who was a mentor to famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright – and a font of information about many other tourist destinations in the county, such as the Newark Earthworks, The Works museum of science and industry, and local breweries and restaurants.
“Today we celebrate the past,” said Dan Moder, executive director of Explore Licking County. “I mean, really, we do celebrate the past; but at the same time, we’re rededicating it to a new purpose. Today is the day we stop talking about what could be, and we start saying what will be.”
Across nearly a century, “The Old Home” Building Association building at N. 3rd Street and W. Main Street on Courthouse Square was home to two other banks until 1943, when it became a meat market. In 1946, the meat market moved out and a jewelry store took over the space. It sat vacant between 1973-79, when it again became a savings and loan.
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In 1984, it became Tiffany’s Ice Cream Parlor. In 2007, Stephen and Joanne Jones bought the building with the intention of restoring it, and they did some work on the interior before donating the building to the Licking County Foundation, which has spent the past 12 years raising funds and overseeing the restoration.
“From start to finish, saving The Sullivan has been one of the most remarkable projects the Licking County Foundation has ever taken on,” said Mike Schmidt, president of Licking County Foundation. He thanked Hawk and many others for their work on the project.
As Megan Wood, executive director and CEO of the Ohio History Connection put it, preserving historic buildings benefits the Newark and Licking County community.
“Any time a building is being saved and being used over again, it’s contributing to a community,” Wood said. “I think that’s the ideal for us, that historic buildings can be making an economic impact on their community. We believe deeply that they make places better. If the communities can save their beautiful historic buildings, they make a place a place.”
County Commissioner Tim Bubb came to the dedication event wearing a Christmas tie.
“Today is like a beautiful Christmas present under the tree with a big red bow on top,” Bubb said. It’s “a gift not only to the people of Licking County, Ohio, but to the nation and internationally. Students, artists, architects and tourists from all directions around the globe have been and will be coming here to see what our little community has accomplished.”
The restoration of The Sullivan Building was a community effort involving donations of nearly $5.5 million from foundations, $3.4 million from individuals and families, $1.1 million from businesses and corporations, and more than $3.7 million in federal, state and local government funds and tax credits. The Licking County Foundation is seeking another $244,422 in donations to pay the final bills on the project.
Sherri Somers and Sally Uhde from Johnstown are active in the Licking County Foundation. The two attended the rededication to see the fruits of much labor. They took a tour of the building in the spring, when the renovations were still going on.
“It was incredibly enticing then, so now, to see it totally finished and to know the history, is just wonderful,” Somers said. “It is a promise of what can be done, whether you’re a small community or a large community.”
This year, Newark completed restoration projects at the Licking County Courthouse across the street and The Arcade, a few doors north of The Sullivan.
“This is a trifecta for downtown Newark this year,” Bubb said. “The courthouse, The Arcade and The Sullivan. How many small communities could brag that in one year?”
The Licking County Foundation has officially handed the key to The Sullivan Building to Moder. The Sullivan Building is now home to the Explore Licking County tourism office.
As Hawk said, “110 years after its first opening and 18 years of vacancy, The Sullivan Building of Newark, Ohio, is ready to begin a bold chapter in its storied history.”
Ella Diehl and Alan Miller write for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.