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History behind
the House
The year was
1890 and Ohio
State University
had just played
and won it's
first football
game. Amos
Solomon,
architect and
banker, paced
off the frontage
of the house he
had just built
on Harrison
Avenue. It had a
side yard and a
back yard and
its own private
carriage drive
off Fifth
Avenue. The lot
had appealed to
Solomon right
away. Located
north of
Columbus, it had
been part of the
land granted to
John Starr after
the War of
Independence
more than a
hundred years
earlier.
Starr had a farm
there and sold
part of it in
1818 to William
Neil, who had
bought up all
the land around
Columbus he
could get his
hands
on-especially
land to the
north. What land
Neil didn't own
north of
Columbus, Ohio
State University
did. When Neil
died, his
property was
subdivided and
sold to
developers and
investors, and
eventually
people like Amos
Solomon.
Within a few
years of
building,
Solomon added a
parlor, foyer
and two rooms
upstairs. He
added a false
turret and a
gable with a
false balcony to
the roof. He
doubled the size
of his home,
added a new
front porch and
changed his
address from
1269 Harrison
Avenue to 313
West Fifth-a far
more fashionable
address. Solomon
and his family
lived in the
house until
1907, when they
moved to Mt.
Vernon, Ohio
when opportunity
arose for Amos
to advance his
banking career.
The house on
Fifth Avenue
became one of
the first in the
neighborhood to
be left to a
series of
tenants. For 23
years, although
the Solomon
family still
owned the house,
its occupants
changed often.
As the house's
tenants changed,
so did Columbus
and the rest of
the world.
Women's
suffrage,
bathtub gin,
vaudeville and
the nickelodeon
all left their
mark, as did a
Great World War
and a
depression.
In 1965,
Olentangy
Management
Company (OMC, a
subsidiary of
Battelle
Memorial
Institute,
bought the house
on Fifth Avenue
and the
neighboring
structures. In
the late 1970's,
OMC began their
own Renaissance
program-the
nation's largest
privately
financed
renovation
project-and
rejuvenated the
run-down house
at 313 West
Fifth Avenue.
The beautifully
renovated house
was a perfect
fit for Cardinal
Industries need
of an executive
retreat and they
purchased the
house in 1980.
Cardinal renamed
it “Harrison
House” and made
full use of the
property until
1990 when it was
again sold and
turned into the
beautiful Bed &
Breakfast Inn we
see today.
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