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The restoration of the Seville Times Publishing House sees the removal of Tudor style façade.
Historical Overview
The Seville Times Building (located at 50 Center Street) occupies a prominent spot in the North-East block of downtown Seville, sitting on the South bank of Hubbard Creek with two façades being visible from Center Street. This small but imposing two story wood framed structure erected in the 1860s, and altered in the 1940s, retains much of its original design. As intended, the first floor is divided into a large front room and separate rear workspace, while the second floor is arranged into a single open style apartment. Indoor bathrooms were added to the building sometime around 1920, with the widespread introduction of indoor plumbing to Seville. The wooden storefront at street level was originally separated into three sections, with a recessed door flanked on either side by large windows full height divided into four lights (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Seville Publishing House (far left), home of the Seville Times as seen in 1911. Image in the Archive of the Seville Preservation Project.
The building is separated from its neighbor to the South by a staircase that provides access to the second floor. When the neighboring building was built, the false front of the Times building was extended to meet the new structure, making this building more physically imposing and creating a seamless streetscape. This accounts for the off centered appearance of the second-floor windows as seen from the street.
Apart from this, little has been done to alter the physical structure of the building, leaving the structural integrity of the 19th century wood frame building still intact. Cosmetic changes can be observed on the building from the 1940s, 1970s, and 1990s, which saw the covering up of the front street level façade (Figures 2 and 3), and the replacement of side and rear windows with smaller openings. The first floor, which was later used as office space, saw the front room partitioned into smaller offices with a false ceiling erected above, which lowered the ceilings on the first floor to 8 feet from their original 12-foot height.
The final addition to the building saw the creation of a Tudor Style façade over the street level portion (Figure 3), with a shingled overhang stretching the length of the building along Center Street. This addition also closed the original recessed entry to the building and the entrance to the original exterior staircase that provided the second floor apartment with access to the street.
Figure 2. View of East side of Center Street looking North, with the former Seville Times Building marked by an "x" at left, c. 1942. Image in the Archive of the Seville Preservation Project.
Medina County property records suggest this structure was built in 1900. However historical records support an earlier completion date through its use by the Seville Times as “The Times Publishing House.” The earliest mention of the building, found in historical records so far, comes from the 1881 illustrated History of Medina County and Ohio, which references “George Porter’s building upon the bank of the Hubbard, being the present Seville Times office.”[1]
A later history of Seville, written by Zola F. Murray in 1941, further recounts the history of the building and the history of the newspaper, by saying; “The building known as ‘the Seville Times Office’ was built by George Porter." [2]
Figure 3. 50 Center Street as it appeared in the early 2000s with alterations. Image in Archive of the Seville Preservation Project collection of digital images.
In his own 1966 history of Seville, published for the Seville Historical Society, Lee Cavin adds to this with; “Located in the building built by George Porter, on Center Street at the south side of Hubbard Creek, the Times under the ownership of the Day family became a sizable small town print shop."[3]
While further research is needed on the tenants of the building, Medina County records—beginning at George Porter—tell the ownership of the building with Porter selling the property to A. J. Rockey on October 17, 1889, who then sold it to Charles C. Day on September 23, 1893. The property stayed in the Day family until Charles and Mary Day’s son, Howard Day, sold it to Ralph B. and Lloyd. E. Keller on January 18, 1924. The property changed hands six more times before being purchased by the current owners in 2017.
[1] History of Medina County and Ohio, Illustrated (Baskin & Battey historical Publishers; Chicago, 1881), p 479.
[2] Zola F. Murray, Seville Ohio; 1816-1941 (The Banner-Press; Wadsworth Ohio, 1941), p 30.
[3] Lee Cavin, 1816-1966: A Book About Seville, Ohio (Seville Chronicle: Seville, Ohio, 1966), p 49-50.Exterior Restoration Plan
Exterior Restoration
The most noticeable changes in this restoration would primarily focus on the exterior street and creek facing sides of the building—with the most changes done to the street facing façade.
The original upper cornice, extending the length of the building, is still intact but has suffered water damage due to inferior flashing on the south side of the parapet wall (Figure 5). Water infiltration from this has caused the wood trim to rot, resulting in the need to replace it. The portion on the left of the cornice (as looking at it from the street) is still in good condition and can be used to match the profile for the replaced trim with what was historically there. A possible intervention to the existing parapet wall would be to level the top of the false front of the building, while restoring the cornice trim. This slant in the building is most visible when compared to the level vinyl siding below, but this slope is a result of time and not an original feature to the structure of the building.
Figure 5. Parapet and cornice seen from the street, showing water damage to trim.
The most dramatic portion of this work will be the restoration of the streetlevel storefront. The bottom of the street façade has already seen the removal of the shingled overhang and Tudor style cladding. During this, original portions of the wood frame store windows, and the original recesses for the drouble front doors, was found. These will provide guides for work to be done to recreate the style of window molding used in the mullions and trim. These windows will be recreated out of wood to be as historicly accurate as possible and finished to be sympathetic with the rest of the building.
Finaly, a new front door will replicate the original double wide entry, with measurements taken from the recessed transom window box found while investigating above the drop ceiling added sometime in the 1940s.
The newly recreated storefront, designed and built with the help of Lodi Lumber and J & J Glass, has been installed from the inside out in order to protect their work while the custom exterior wooden trim is being milled (Figure 6).
Figure 6. Interior view of installed windows and doors, fabricated by Trinity Land Development, Lodi Lumber and J & J Glass.
Project Update
4/10/2024: We are pleased to announce that permitted electrical work as well as the interior insulation and wall/ceiling drywall have been completed.
The initial phase of work on the exterior street level façade will begin next week.
Project Gallery
If you have images or stories of this building to share, please contact the Seville Preservation Project at sevillepreservation@gmail.com