The Huffman Historic District is a historic section of the Historic Inner East neighborhood in
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater D ...
, United States. Formed at the end of the nineteenth century primarily by a wealthy businessman, it has long been home to people of many different occupations and numerous places on the social ladder. After seeing very few changes throughout the twentieth century, it was named a
historic site
A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been rec ...
in the 1980s.
William P. Huffman was both a banker and a
real estate developer
Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re- lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to othe ...
; although some of the land in the neighborhood had already been developed before Huffman became involved, he spurred development by arranging for the construction of a
street railway on Third Street. The area's early residents occupied numerous places on the socioeconomic spectrum, ranging from laborers to merchants and artisans to executives. Their presence together in the neighborhood can still be seen in the
built environment
The term built environment refers to human-made conditions and is often used in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, public health, sociology, and anthropology, among others. These curated spaces provide the setting for human a ...
, most of which was built between 1870 and 1890.
[Owen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 2. ]St. Clair Shores
St. Clair Shores is a suburban city bordering Lake St. Clair in Macomb County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It forms a part of the Metro Detroit area, and is located about northeast of downtown Detroit. Its population was 59,715 at the 2010 ...
: Somerset, 1999, 1042. Several major architectural styles of the late nineteenth century appear in the district, including the
Gothic Revival,
Italianate
The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...
, and
Queen Anne.
City of Dayton Historic District
, City of Dayton, n.d. Accessed 2013-12-17. Although the district's peak period of growth ended by 1890, construction continued over the next decade, but virtually nothing was built after 1900. Minimal changes since that time have left the neighborhood resembling its appearance of over a century ago, preserving it as an example of late 19th-century developmental patterns.National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
, qualifying both because of the buildings' well preserved architecture and because of the entire district's connection to William P. Huffman. One of nineteen National Register-listed historic districts in the city,[National Register Districts: City of Dayton, Ohio]
, City of Dayton Department of Planning and Community Development, 2011-02. Accessed 2013-12-18. Its boundaries encompass , more than ⅛ of a square mile. At the time the district was designated, it comprised 668 buildings, of which 663 were deemed contributing properties
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...
and 5 non-contributing; the ratio of contributing to non-contributing is far higher than in most historic districts in the United States,
See also
*
References
External links
Neighborhood website
{{National Register of Historic Places in Ohio
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio
Italianate architecture in Ohio
National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery County, Ohio
Neighborhoods in Dayton, Ohio
Queen Anne architecture in Ohio