HARWOOD BLOCK

(found in News Herald Newspaper on July 20, 1978)

HARWOOD BLOCK Added to National Register
by Gail Diehl - News-Herald Reporter

    The Harwood Block, located on the corner of Broad and Main Streets has been added to the U. S. Department of Interior's National Register of Historic Places, according to Dr. Thomas Smith, director of the Ohio Historical Society.

    The National Register is a nationwide listing of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects significant in American history, architecture, archaeology and culture, according to Smith.

    Application for the listing was submitted in late 1976 by owner of the building, Mrs. Elarka Hakansan of Cleveland.  The application included historical and architectural information for which the building was selected, a society spokesman said.

    The Harwood Block, built in 1889, housed an opera house on its third floor until 1903.  This was a major stop for touring companies between Buffalo and Cleveland, providing the historic qualifications of the building for the national listing.

    The third floor was then leased to the National Guard for drills, and after World War I became a dance hall.  The stage is still intact.  The building housed the former Pelton Store for a number of years and several merchants now occupy the first floor.

    The historic architecture leads to the high Victorian Italianate mode.  The cast-iron storefront was produced in Chicago and shipped to Conneaut on the Nickel Plate Railroad.  With no instructions for its installation, Main Street was roped off and pieces assembled on the street, then attached to the building, the application told.

    Along with the application, a photo, slides and detained condition of the building was also submitted, a society spokesman explained.

    After the qualifications were approved by the Ohio Historic Site Preservation Advisory Board, the information was sent to the Department of Interior, Washington, D.C. for review and approval by architecture historians, according to David Simons, coordinator.

    Simmons said an average of 30 nominations are submitted every six weeks to the Department of Interior.

    The listing qualifies the building owner to apply for a number of grant programs established to protect, stabilize, preserve, rehabilitate, restore or reconstruct historic properties.  Any renovations could then be made privately as well, with tax deductions in effect.