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Eastwood Historic District
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Houses on Eastwood Circle
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| Location: | Roughly along Eastwood, Collinwood, Overbrook, Madison and Duck Creek Rds., Cincinnati, Ohio |
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| Area: | 152 acres (0.62 km2) |
| Architect: | Firth, Wilbur M. and Lee P.; et al. |
| Architectural style: | Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Bungalow/Craftsman |
| Governing body: | Private |
| NRHP Reference#: |
5000093 [1][2] |
| Added to NRHP: | February 25, 2005 |
Eastwood Historic District is a registered historic district in Cincinnati, Ohio, listed in the National Register of Historic Places on February 25, 2005. This historic distric is bounded by Duck Creek Road, Collinwood Place, E. Eastwood, and Madison Road in Madisonville. It contains 86 contributing buildings.
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Listed in 2005, the Eastwood Historic District is Cincinnati’s newest National Register district. Eastwood is a fusion of overlapping and evolving 20th century trends rather than a representative example of a single distinctive type of residential suburb. It exemplifies various principles and practices of community planning, as well as specific architectural styles and development patterns that occurred throughout Cincinnati, the state, and the nation in the 1920s through the 1950s. It is also the first resource listed in Ohio specifically for the presence of Sears and Roebuck mail order homes.[3]
The Eastwood Historic District is located 10 miles (16 km) from downtown Cincinnati, between Cincinnati’s Oakley and Madisonville neighborhoods. The district includes 66 modestly scaled houses built prior to 1950, 19 historic pre-1954 garages and a cabin (2 additional houses and 1 garage are non-contributing). The houses were built in several architectural styles from this time period, including Tudor and Colonial Revival and some Bungalow/Craftsman. Many houses built after 1940 are Cape Cod and Ranch house types. Ten of the houses are Sears kit houses (one non-contributing, see attached copies). The Sears houses are in diverse styles and are frame construction. The rest of the early houses are largely masonry in the Tudor Revival style. At least three houses are the work of Wilbur M. Firth (4900 Madison Road) and his brother, Lee P. Firth (5068 West Eastwood Circle and 5081 West Eastwood Circle). Wilbur Firth was a local architect responsible for parts of Hyde Park and Terrace Park, nearby Cincinnati neighborhoods. He was also the designer of “Home Beautiful” exhibits of the time shown downtown at Music Hall. Firth was a member of Madisonville Masonic Lodge and the Norwood Chapter, Cincinnati Commandery Knights Templar. His work spanned the period from the early 1900s to the middle of the century. Before his death he designed at least one house on Eastwood Drive in a modest neighborhood to the north. Even though each house is unique, there are many commonalities in styles and materials chosen. The streets have the feel of an English village. This is possibly the influence of the nearby planned community of Mariemont (NR, 1979). Many of the older houses have the same mail slots and many of the newer houses also have mail slots that match each other. Besides exterior similarities there are interior style and material similarities. Much of the interior flooring, ceiling and archway styles is identical to the other houses from the same decade. Because of the commonalities in the houses and because this neighborhood was planned, it is surmised that most of the houses may be Mr. Firth’s work. One of the houses was constructed by the builder Charles E. Dawson, and at least ten others were built by George J. Dell (a company across from the Firth Office in nearby Oakley). The grandson of Wilbur Firth says that his father continued the business and he says they generally retained the same builders.
Outside the district, two houses on contiguous streets are large and very striking, and predate the period of significance. The house across from the neighborhood to the south on Madison Road dates from 1883. The buildings of the Children’s Home, which date to the early part of this century, are on the east side of the neighborhood. Some of its original buildings still exist and one house on the circle was moved from there.
The Eastwood houses are well maintained and exist largely in the style and layout of the original plans. The later houses are moderate and attractive and help maintain the character of the original houses. The Eastwood District was platted in 1922 (see plat map) and is bounded by Madison Road, Oaklawn, Duck Creek and the wooded land of the Children’s Home. From a 60-acre (240,000 m2) farm and forest the developers purchased 30 acres (120,000 m2) for the residential development. The neighborhood consists of two streets, East and West Eastwood, that form a “circle,” or flattened hexagon, and two small streets, Overbrook and Collinwood, that extend to the west of it. All three join through a point on the circle. The Eastwood Realty Co. had restrictions on the deeds in 1924 that required 40-foot (12 m) setbacks, a minimum value of $7,000 for single building housing and a “first class residential neighborhood”. This is a Sears street and trees were also available in the catalog. These trees may have been ordered through Sears. Many original maple trees with their wide tree lawns still line the streets. In the last ten years the city has replaced about thirty with new trees of many varieties. The landscaping of the tree-lined streets was all done at once, giving the neighborhood an attractive and unified feel.
Madisonville was founded in 1809. Oakley was founded in 1852 as a coach stop. Both were in Columbia Township. Industrial growth expanded the area. Streetcar service between the neighborhoods was available from 1900 - 1910. Madisonville and Oakley were annexed by Cincinnati in 1911 and 1913 respectively. The nearby Cincinnati Milling Machine Co., today known as Milacron, built in 1911, had relocated to the nearby industrial area of Oakley. This company brought many prospective homebuyers to the area (see attached digital photo). World War I brought employment and the postwar era generally brought a building boom between these two neighborhoods, despite the Great Depression. In 1926 the Mill was the country’s “largest machine tool company” according to the Bicentennial Guide to Greater Cincinnati. The company remained prosperous by selling a variety of products, because the auto industry was growing and because the company was exporting to the USSR. “By the late 1930s, (they) led the world in making machine tools”. The William’s Cincinnati Directory of 1929-30 notes in its forward that after “the World War” the government lifted a ban against “unnecessary building.” A streetcar route ran nearby and Cincinnati Milling Machine was served by railroads. These lead to the development of the area. The Bicentennial Guide to Greater Cincinnati calls Oakley-Madisonville a “streetcar and railroad suburb”.
Eastwood was a planned neighborhood which started as a 60-acre (240,000 m2) wood and farmland. Platted in 1922, Eastwood Subdivision largely developed beginning in the 1930s and continued gradually through the early 1950s, during the time of the Great Depression, World War II and the post-war housing boom. As a result of the increased vehicular mobility and access offered by automobiles and buses, suburban development began to fill in Cincinnati’s larger undeveloped, pre-suburban tracts. Eastwood was able to develop as a modest, tightly knit middle-class residential enclave despite hard economic times because of its proximity to relatively stable Cincinnati industries, notably Cincinnati Milling Machine, the nation’s largest machine tool manufacturer. Eastwood’s housing development during the 1940s reflects the relatively dependable growth of nearby industries, many of which operated at peak capacity during WW II and after. Of the 34 occupations listed in the city directories for property owners during the 1930s, 28 were identified as managers or professionals.
Original plats show Eastwood Subdivision #1 platted by the Eastwood Realty Co. This is now East and West Eastwood Circle and part of Madison and Duck Creek Roads. The deed records of Hamilton County show Eastwood #2 and Eastwood #3 as Collinwood Place and part of Madison Road, and Overbrook Place and part of Duck Creek Road, respectively. There were 30 acres (120,000 m2) sold from the estate of Phoebe A. Settle (an original Madisonville family) to A. Raymond and Alice G. Kratz on 8/17/22. The Settles had had a farm here with a farmhouse next to the Children’s Home. On 9/1/22 the Kratz’ began to have the land surveyed into the plats that still exist in what seems to be the same form today. Mr. Kratz is listed in the1920 city directory as a music teacher living on Woodburn Av. and in the 1929-30 directory as a teacher at Hughes High School and as living on Erie Avenue.
Kratz’s obituary indicates he was a well-known music teacher and supervisor, bandmaster and author of teaching guides. His brothers were doctors, one of whom was J. Collin Kratz, who owned the house at 4900 Madison Road and for whom Collinwood is named. In his house today exists the original sign he used to sell the rest of the lots of the street of Collinwood. It advertises them for $95.00 each. Dr. J.C. Kratz was a prominent citizen of Cincinnati. He founded an osteopathic hospital. He was a close friend to many in the local political scene and an active supporter of the symphony and the fine arts. He was a writer as well as the developer of many landmark medical techniques. His wife Minnie Kratz was a member of the Vanderhortz family who built many area church steeples. They had a sign hanging during the Depression to indicate to hobos that they could receive a free meal at their house. The father of these men, William.H. Kratz (a mechano-therapist), owned the house at 5031 West Eastwood Circle. Plat copy shows G. L. Stichnath as the surveyor. There is interestingly enough a survey tool found in the corner of the attic of 5049 W. Eastwood Circle (a house that is said once belonged to the original builder). The oldest houses are mainly on Collinwood; and on the circle the middle, outside of the circle was built first. The center stayed empty the longest because Ray Kratz, the developer, kept these lots for himself yet never built there.
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