The 1910 Arts and Crafts style home at 2021 Indianola Ave., designed by architect David Riebel, as seen from the Indianola bridge. The house is now owned by Kay Bea Jones. Credit: Emma Bush | Lantern Reporter
Each day, hundreds of students walk past homes — aging and time-honored — with rich histories they might not be aware of.
Once primarily residential, the Iuka Ravine District has seen shifts in ownership, preservation efforts and a constant push for more temporary student housing, leaving it at a crossroads between history and development. Within this district sits a series of historic homes, each with its own unique story.
For example, behind the Indianola bridge — located between East 19th and Frambes avenues — sits a large blue house, tucked away behind trees. The 2021 Indianola Ave. home was designed in 1910 by David Riebel, an architect known for designing many of Columbus’s early 20th-century school buildings, according to the International Architectural Database.
The home was constructed in the Arts and Crafts style, defined by features like a traditional square shape, extensive woodwork, a front porch and built-in shelving, according to the Homes and Gardens website. It’s now owned by Kay Bea Jones, professor emerita of Ohio State’s Knowlton School of Architecture and a Columbus Historical Society board member.
The large, wood-burning fireplace original to the 1910 home is one of five fireplaces in the home. Owner Kay Bea Jones pointed out how the fireplace fits right between the two windows and aligns with the wooden ceiling beams, further illustrating the intentional symmetry and design of the home. Credit: Emma Bush | Lantern Reporter
Inside, the house is a striking example of the era’s architectural philosophy — carefully proportioned rooms, dark wood paneling and a passive solar design that predates modern air conditioning.
“The stairwell goes all the way up to the attic,” Jones said. “So, when the attic windows are open, it draws air up, naturally cooling the house.”
Jones explained the strategically placed deciduous trees, which shed annually, also help to block sunlight during warmer months and further aid in cooling the house.
The home’s design incorporates visual corridors, allowing rooms to be connected through light and sightlines rather than being completely enclosed, Jones said.
“There’s an Austrian architect, an early modernist architect, named Adolf Loos, and he talked about and developed ‘Raumplan,’” Jones said, referring to Loos’ concept of proportional volumes and interconnected spaces.
Jones said in Victorian periods, closed rooms with closed doors were more popular compared to the open-concept layouts often seen today.
Jones said turn-of-the-century Arts and Crafts homes balance these two extremes by incorporating visual corridors that make rooms feel more open while maintaining distinct spaces.
Hand-drawn floor plans and construction specifications for the 1910 Arts and Crafts home at 2021 Indianola Ave. The documents, given to Kay Bea Jones when she moved in, detail architect David Riebel’s original design and instructions for builders. The home was built for E. B. Gerlach, the general agent for The Equitable Life Assurance Society. Credit: Emma Bush | Lantern Reporter
“Now, it’s starting to open up,” Jones said. “The volumes are opening up with these visual corridors, and [Loos] was a master of that.”
She noted this concept was emerging around the same time the Indianola house was built.
Jones said while Loos worked in Europe, similar ideas were making their way to the United States, influencing American architects who trained at institutions like the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“It wouldn’t have been unusual for well-educated Midwestern architects to be exposed to quite a broader cultural range of ideas,” Jones said.
The house uses symmetry in its design, creating a balanced, intentional and harmonious feel in each room.
“See how the beams on the ceiling break the room down symmetrically? See how the windows down there fit right in between the beams?” Jones said.
The Iuka Ravine Historic District has maintained many of its original features, including tree-lined streets and a sloped landscape, contrasting the high-density student housing developments nearby.
“Even in a very urban area, it feels bucolic,” Jones says. “When the leaves are on the trees, it’s even darker and more secluded.”
Beyond their architectural significance, some University District homes have unusual histories.
David Beers House — 40 E. Norwich Ave.
Built in 1804, the David Beers House was originally located at 2673 N. High St. — near Dodridge and North High streets — before being moved in 1899 by Conn Baker, a well-known bicycle racer, and his brother Herman Baker, according to the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s website. The brothers relocated the cabin to 40 E. Norwich Ave., where it served as their painting studio.
David Kellough, a senior systems consultant at the James Cancer Hospital and longtime University District resident, said he has researched many historic homes in the area, but this one stands out from the crowd.
“That was the first European American settlement in the area,” Kellough said.
When Kellough initially saw the 220-year-old log cabin, he was a student, and the sight caught him off guard.
“The first time I ever saw that, I was making my way home one Friday night as a student, and I decided to take a shortcut,” Kellough said. “I’m driving down the alley in the middle of campus, and all of a sudden, there’s a log cabin in front of me, and I’m like, ‘What?’ I went back the next day to see if I really saw it.”
Former Kappa Sigma House — 1842 Indianola Ave.
The structure of what was once the Kappa Sigma fraternity house is perhaps the most recognizable structure in the Univeristy District. The Neil Mansion was built around 1852 and originally belonged to Robert Neil, later being passed to his brother Henry Neil, according to Columbus Landmarks’ website.
Kappa Sigma Fraternity purchased the home in 1919, and in 1938, architect Ray Sims redesigned the structure in the Virginia Colonial style to reflect the fraternity’s heritage, according to Columbus Landmarks.
Kellough said he has thoroughly researched the history of the Neil family and their connection to the area.
“Neil Avenue used to be their driveway, and they had a house about where the main library is now,” Kellough said. “They made a fortune in stagecoaches and owned most of this land, which was their farm. One of the sons built his mansion right there, and that is the core of that house. All the names around there — Indianola and Iuka — come from battles he was involved in during the Civil War.”
Kellough said Robert Neil was involved in helping enslaved people escape the Southern states.
“Prior to the war, he was an abolitionist, and there is a long, long tunnel that goes from the frat house toward the river,” Kellough said. “I don’t think anybody’s ever taken it all the way. I’m sure it’s collapsed in places now, but that was used for the Underground Railroad.”
In 2020, Kappa Sigma’s national fraternity revoked the Ohio State chapter’s charter after members violated the fraternity’s code of conduct, per prior Lantern reporting. The house is currently being subleased by Kappa Alpha Order, which has an inactive status, according to the Student Activities webpage.
Milton Caniff’s home — 12th Avenue
Kellough said on 12th Avenue, across from East Village Apartments, sits an unremarkable apartment building with another unexpected history. Kellough said it was once home to Milton Caniff, a renowned cartoonist who lived there as a student and helped develop the artistic style that would later define the golden age of comics.
“Caniff was wildly influential,” Kellough said. “He created ‘Steve Canyon’ and inspired the artists behind the superheroes that are popular on screen today.”
The home of William Sproat and Mary Petry — 178 W. 8th Ave.
Kellough said he recalls one home in the University District that was the site of a brutal double homicide.
The building in question, 178 W. 8th Ave., still houses rental apartments. But in February of 1970, it was the scene of a violent crime that shocked and saddened the entire Columbus community.
According to prior Lantern reporting, Ohio State graduate student William Sproat and his girlfriend Mary Petry — a third-year at the College of Mo unt St. Joseph in Cincinnati — were murdered in Sproat’s apartment.
“It was a scene out of Charles Manson, just such a brutal, macabre murder,” Kellough said.
Unfortunately, the case of Petry and Sproat’s murders remains unsolved.
“It’s a cold case, now, for 55 years,” Kellough said. “I don’t think they will ever solve it, probably.”
Decades later, however, detectives are “cautiously optimistic” the case could be solved in the future, per prior Lantern reporting.
Challenges of preserving historic homes in the age of development
Some historic homes in the University District have been converted into multi-unit rentals or replaced with apartment complexes — a trend that has accompanied Ohio State’s growing student population.
Jones, who has served on the University Impact District Review Board, said she has seen firsthand the challenges of preserving the district’s historic integrity while still accommodating the needs of a changing neighborhood.
“Our job is design-focused, but it’s about seeing that the buildings that go through processes of change are done well,” Jones said. “And that’s not preservation-focused at all. It’s recognizing the reality that someone’s coming for approval, for change in windows, or a new teardown of a building on the site [or] building a new [building] is done as well as possible.”
Some transformations have been relatively successful. Jones specifically pointed to a 1911 Chi Phi fraternity house designed by Frank Packard at 2000 Indianola Ave., which has since been converted into student apartments but still retains much of its original exterior’s character.
Other conversions, like the demolition of the Summit Methodist Church — formerly located at 82 E. 16th Ave. — have been more disappointing, Jones said.
Designed by award-winning architect Edward Sövik — who was also Jones’ architecture mentor in Minnesota — the church was a significant icon of modern architecture. Jones said a Chicago-based developer bought the building and is now constructing a six-story apartment building at the site.
“Most sad and inappropriate for me is that the beautiful stained glass could not be reutilized in a way that could do it justice,” Jones said. “We lost a really important modern icon.”
For Jones, homes like hers reflect the architectural styles of an earlier time, each structure holding its own history. But as the demand for student housing continues to grow, and as more historic homes are sold, their futures remain uncertain.
