The United Brethren Publishing House, now known as the Centre City Building, traces its origins to 1853, when the denomination established its publishing operations at the corner of Main and Fourth Streets. Over time, the site evolved into a prominent complex constructed in phases between 1903 and 1924, reflecting Dayton’s emergence as a center of business and progressive thought. Visionary publishing agent William Funk led plans for a modern office tower on the site, intended to generate revenue to support pensions for retired ministers while elevating the organization’s national profile. The building attracted notable tenants, including the Wright Brothers, and stood as a defining presence in the city’s downtown skyline. 

The adjacent Air City Garage was completed in 1960 to serve growing demand for downtown parking. Built in reinforced concrete in the brutalist style, it supported mid-century commercial activity before falling into significant disrepair.

Constructed in 1939 to house the main department store of the Lansing-based J.W. Knapp Company, the building was converted into space for state government offices in 1983 before becoming vacant in 2002.

The Mercantile Block, located at 125-135 Washington St, dates back to 1901 and is composed of several buildings that were joined over time. It is owned by AS220, Providence’s leading nonprofit artist support organization, who renovated the abutting Dreyfus Hotel in 2006, which is home to artist live/work studios and a popular restaurant and bar. Both buildings are about a block away from the arts organization’s main space at Empire and Washington Streets.

The Hibernia Building was completed in 1921. The 23-story, 335-foot tall building was the tallest in Louisiana until the State Capitol building in Baton Rouge surpassed it in 1932. The building was New Orleans’ first modern skyscraper and known for its cupola, which is it in various colors for holidays throughout the year and once served as a navigational beacon for ships along the Mississippi River. The building’s original occupant, Hibernia National Bank, was founded by Irish immigrants in 1870 and took its name from “Hibernia”, which was the Latin name for the island of Ireland. Hibernia National Bank was Louisiana’s largest bank until it was bought by Capital One Bank in 2005. Following the purchase, the building’s first floor bank lobby remained in use while the upper floors, comprising 93% of the net rentable area, became vacant.

Constructed between 1917 and 1919 by the Department of Public Works as part of a larger industrial complex called the Navy Yard Annex, the Boilermaker Building was originally used to manufacture boilers for Navy ships.

The Arcade Building was constructed in two stages beginning in 1909 and 1919. While it hosts one of St. Louis’ largest collections of Gothic Revival features, the building takes its name from a striking two-story arcade with a rib vaulted ceiling that runs through it connecting Olive and Pine streets. This arcade functioned as an indoor shopping street, and was unique among St. Louis skyscrapers. Whereas earlier arcades employed natural lighting, this arcade utilized electric lighting which allowed an office building to be constructed above. Unfortunately, due to a number of factors, the building fell out of use and was ultimately abandoned by the 1980s.

The Pythian building was originally built in 1908 by Smith W. Green, who was reputed to be the richest African American in New Orleans, and one of the wealthiest in the country. It was built for the Knights of Pythias, a late 19th early 20th-century fraternal order that grew out of a Civil War-era organization, and for almost 40 years operated as the organization’s headquarters.

Pythian Temple served for several decades as a hub of the African American community, with lodge rooms, a barbershop, a theater, a bank, an opera house, and an auditorium/dance hall. Tenants through the 1940s included many African American-owned businesses, such as the Industrial Life Insurance Company of Louisiana and the Peoples Benevolent Industrial Life Insurance Company of Louisiana.

In the 1940s, the Pythian became a wartime hiring office for Andrew Jackson Higgins, who built the Higgins boats that President Eisenhower famously said “won the war.” Higgins hired men and women of all races through a single personnel office, one of the first times this had occurred in the South. The Pythian’s top floor was a double-height ceiling dance hall where soldiers and sailors could dance and hear live music before shipping out to fight in WWII. Following its WWII use, the Pythian Building was primarily used as an office. In the late 1990s, the building began falling into disrepair space before ultimately becoming vacant after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The Renaissance District project rehabilitated two of the four remaining buildings of the former South Bend Studebaker plant, a massive industrial complex that at one time consisted of over 1,400 acres and eight million square feet of manufacturing space. The Studebaker Corporation’s roots originate in the mid-1850s when the company’s namesake founders began producing wagons. Business boomed following the Civil War. At the turn of the century, the company began exploring automobile production, and by the early 1920s, it became the fourth largest automobile manufacturer in the world. Unfortunately, the company struggled during the Great Depression, and while World War II created increased demand for its products, the company finally closed in 1966.

The buildings comprising Renaissance District were built between 1923 and 1946 for auto body assembly, tool/machine shop, and truck cab production. At the facility’s peak, the campus employed over 21,200 individuals in the South Bend community but following the company’s decline had been vacant for over 50 years.

The Whitney first opened in 1879 and operated in its early days as the J.H. Needless wagon and carriage factory. In 1931, Edward A. Boss, the owner of the Boss Hotel System, dramatically altered the building into a hotel, making additional enhancements including the addition of a third story and a remodeled primary entrance. The adaptation of the building into a hotel during the Great Depression reflected an economical approach to filling a local void for clean and comfortable accommodations. After being used as a hotel through the mid-1970s, the building was sold to the Iowa Rehabilitation Center, which housed recovering alcoholics in the rooms that once hosted overnight motorists and local community groups. In more recent years, the building had been utilized for apartments, with a restaurant occupying the coffee shop area on the first floor until it became vacant in 2016.

Cleveland Athletic Club (“CAC”) was constructed in 1911 as a 15-story private club catering to individuals interested in athletics. This white terra cotta and brick building was designed by J. Milton Dyer who also designed Cleveland City Hall. CAC members included prominent figures such as businessman and former Mayor Charles Otis along with 1920’s aquatics Olympic medal winner Johnny Weissmueller also known for his acting as Tarzan. After decades of prominence in the Cleveland community, CAC ultimately ran into financial difficulty and became vacant in 2007.

Once a hub of economic vitality for the community, the factory was eventually closed and stood vacant for more than a decade before a new vision for revitalization emerged. Together with local residents and community organizers, nonprofit Community Solutions redeveloped the complex to capitalize on the assets of the community and address needs for high-quality jobs and community services.