Category Archives: Hardlines Design Company
At left, the new Devon Pool Mechanical Building designed to match the Bath House and at right, the Scioto Southland Recreation Center with the renovated gymnasium left of the new entry and addition.HDC Wins Diversity in Business Award
Hardlines Design Company was named an Outstanding Diversity Organization by Columbus Business First. The eight organizations and 10 individuals will be honored at a happy hour reception on Thursday, April 6, at the Columbus Museum of Art and will be featured in Columbus Business First in their April 7, 2023, issue.
HDC Remembers Cathie (Chris) Senter 1966-2023
The historic preservation community was shocked to hear of the sudden passing of Cathie Senter on February 27, 2023, of a heart attack. Cathie started her career in Canton, Ohio, where her passion for historic preservation earned her multiple awards, including Stark County Citizen of the Year. Cathie first interviewed for a job at HDC in 2007 but ultimately decided to go back to school. Before she started school, she worked at HDC over the summer on the window package for the Woodward Opera House and helping to finishing the HAER drawings for Monongahela River Locks and Dam project for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District. After getting a degree from Belmont Technical College, she stayed to become a beloved instructor of the preservation trades, including doors and windows, model and mold making, plaster, roofing and flooring, and all types of historic masonry. Cathie came back to work for HDC in 2017 and endeared herself to preservation clients, who appreciated her knowledge and willingness to explain proposed solutions. She conducted assessments and prepared reports for the St. Louis Arsenal, caretaker lodges and chapels at national Veterans cemeteries, and was working to complete the final phase of the rehabilitation of the Historic Gardner Homestead. Her attention to details and desire to take care of her clients often led to extended schedules, but her premature passing is one deadline we gladly would have postponed.
Cathie (Chris) at work at HDC.
At left, a 2007 drawing from the Monongahela Lock and Dam documentation project and at right, the restored windows at the Woodward Opera House in Mount Vernon.
HDC Looks Back On and Forward to Black History Projects
In recognition of Juneteenth this month, HDC looks back on our projects that were associated with Black history.
In early 2002, HDC started a project to prepare a renovation master plan for the Gammon House in Springfield, Ohio. The Gammon House was built in 1850 by George Gammon, a Black abolitionist and is one of the few Underground Railroad sites in Ohio that was owned by a free person of color. HDC subsequently implemented the first phase of the renovation plan to stabilize the exterior.
The Gammon House before (left) and during (right) stabilization in 2007.
In 2003, HDC was commissioned to prepare a feasibility study to renovate the Lincoln Theatre in Columbus into a modern performing arts center. The Lincoln Theatre, an Egyptian Revival theatre that opened in 1928, was funded by a Black developer, designed by a Black architect and built by a Black contractor. HDC’s study was used to secure funding from the City of Columbus and Franklin County, with the remaining funds raised by private donors. The grand re-opening occurred in 2009, and the project received awards from Columbus Landmarks Foundation, Heritage Ohio and the Ohio Historic Preservation Office.
The interior of the theatre before (left) and after (right) rehabilitation in 2009.
In 2005, the City of Wichita commissioned HDC to prepare a redevelopment study for the Dunbar Theater, which was constructed in 1941 and named after Paul Lawrence Dunbar, the Black poet and author from Dayton, Ohio.
It was the focal point of a commercial and entertainment hub that served the McAdams neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods that were predominantly African-American in origin until 1963, when the theater closed. Power CDC, a developer that specializes in inner-city Wichita, acquired the building in 2007 and restored the façade and marquee in 2012-2014.
The Dunbar Theatre continues to be a work in progress.
In 2007, HDC prepared a Historic Structure Report and implemented the stabilization and exterior rehabilitation of the Lathrop House, which was built c. 1850 by Lucian Lathrop, a prominent white abolitionist in Sylvania, Ohio. The house contains an Underground Railroad Museum in the new basement and HDC completed an update to the Historic Structure Report in 2021 to rehabilitate the interior of the house and make it accessible.
The Lathrop House before (left) and in 2021 (right).
In 2017, HDC prepared a master plan to rehabilitate the Ozem Gardner House in Sharon Township near Worthington, Ohio, which was built in the 1840s by a local abolitionist, into offices for the Flint and Walnut Grove Cemeteries. The Gardner Family donated the original land to create the cemetery in 1821. The pandemic set the project back from its goal of opening in 2021. It is currently anticipated to be completed in 2022.
The Ozem Gardner House before (left) and after restoring the original masonry window openings (right).
In 2020, the City of Athens commissioned HDC to prepare a renovation master plan to convert the Mount Zion Baptist Church, built in 1904 by a Black congregation, into a community center and museum of African American Appalachian culture. The study was used to obtain a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to start the rehabilitation process.
The Mount Zion Baptist Church in Athens, Ohio.
HDC recently worked with architect O.A. Spencer on the interior renovation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Performing and Cultural Arts Complex in Columbus, whose mission is to connect community through the arts by engaging central Ohio through performing, cultural and educational programs of high artistic merit that increase and disseminate knowledge regarding the vast and significant contributions of Black Americans to the culture and history of America and the world.
The main Auditorium with new flooring, ceiling and lights, looking through the updated column (left) and looking into the Lobby past the mural by artist Wali Neil (right). Photos by Shellee Fisher Photography.
And finally, HDC is very honored to have been awarded the project to prepare a Historic Structure Report of the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Lawrence County, across the Ohio River from Huntington, West Virginia. The church was built c. 1849 and is one of the first Black churches constructed west of the Appalachian Mountains. The team is looking forward to starting work in August!
The Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in South Point, Ohio.
Ziti Looks Back on a Productive 2021
Ziti always looks as if she’s having a blast at The Gated Dock (left). Ziti looking not too impressed at the ribbons she’s racked up for 2021 (right).
Ziti participated in 32 FastCAT races and earned enough points to achieve BCat, DCat, and FCAT levels! She is currently the fastest beagle in the country with her fastest three runs averaging 26.07 MPH. Ziti, however, looks much happier actually running the races than posing with her awards.
Click HERE for a copy of the 2022 Ziti Motivation Calendar
Interesting Feature of a Water Meter and Backflow Preventer Building
The southwest corner (left) and interior of the building while under construction (left)
HDC was on M-Engineering’s team to design two buildings to house new backflow preventers and water meters where Ohio State University’s water system connects with the City of Columbus’ infrastructure. Construction completion was delayed due to issues in delivering the specified brick, but the contractor was able to achieve substantial completion in December of 2021. The available infrastructure made traditional floor drains very expensive, so the team was charged with coming up with another solution if the equipment suffered a catastrophic failure and flooded the building.
Our solution: flap valves on the rear elevation that only open with sufficient water pressure!
The southeast corner shows the round openings that are the flap valves that release water during a catastrophic failure
Stained Glass and Faceted Glass at Jefferson Barracks Chapel
The exterior (left) and interior (right) of the chapel at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis
One of the seven national cemetery locations HDC is investigating with Tetra Tech is Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis. The project here is not the historic superintendent’s lodge, but a chapel built in the 1970s. Since it is such a recent building, the team was lucky to be able to visit the studio of Emil Frei & Associates in St. Louis, the firm that designed and installed the stained glass windows in the 1970s and the faceted glass skylight in the early 1980s. In addition, Stephen Frei led our tour and demonstrated how faceted glass is made by chipping away at a 1″ thick block of glass. He also came to the site to inspect the skylight, which he himself had personally installed. Stephen Frei also explained how the stained glass trees around the perimeter were intended to blend in with the trees outside and that the faceted glass skylight was renamed “The History of Humanity” from “The History of Religion” to be accepted for use in a federal building.
The faceted glass skylight in the chapel (left) and Stephen Frei explaining how faceted glass works (right)
HDC Starts Work on the Historic Meade House in Symmes Township
Northeast corner of the Meade House in Symmes Township
HDC is leading a team that includes engineers from Elevar Design Group to prepare a feasibility study to rehabilitate the Meade House in Symmes Township into a banquet facility. The house was built in 1906 on an over 200-acre farm for Dr. Charles C. Meade, a homeopathic physician, Pulte Medical College of Cincinnati professor of obstetrics, Homeopathic Medical Society president, and former president and director of the Hamilton County Fair Board. Dr. Meade was born in Fort Branch, Indiana in 1862, the son of Stephen Walter Meade and his wife Sarah Jane Rutledge, who was of English descent. Dr. Meade graduated from Central Normal College at Danville, Indiana, in 1886 before earning a medical degree from Pulte Medical College in Cincinnati in 1890. He went on to post graduate studies at the New York Post-Graduate School of Medicine and Surgery. As part of the teaching staff at Pulte College, Dr. Meade served as chair of embryology and junior obstetrics from 1898 to 1902. From 1902 to his retirement in 1905, he held a full professorship and oversaw both junior and senior obstetrics. Dr. Meade lived in this house with his second wife, continuing to assist neighbors with difficult births in his retirement. He sold the house in 1917 and moved to the Hyde Park neighborhood of Cincinnati.
HDC President Spotlighted by Women Presidents’ Organization
HDC President Charissa W. Durst was recently highlighted as a “Member of the Moment” by the Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO). Charissa was invited to join the WPO Columbus Chapter II in 2014 and she has continued to be an active member. WPO was founded in 1997 by Dr. Marsha Firestone as the ultimate affiliation for successful women entrepreneurs worldwide. Its mission is to accelerate business growth, enhance competitiveness, and promote economic security for women-led companies through confidential and collaborative peer-learning groups.
