Neighborhood sees boom in interest

After Matt Mishler, 58, read about the Tillinghast Willys Bell house, he was obsessed.

He lost sleep thinking about the Gothic-inspired Tudor in Toledo’s Old West End neighborhood.

A foyer with tiger-striped, quarter-sawn oak from floor to ceiling. Nine bedrooms and a third-story ballroom. Above the stairway landing, three stained-glass windows in the colors of the sunset — red, orange, and yellow.

The home was originally designed for the licorice tycoon Alvin B. Tillinghast who sold the powder to tobacco companies for flavoring, then was bought by John North Willys in 1909, according to the home’s application for the National Register of Historic Places.

It was anything but Mr. Mishler’s house at the time, a lovely — but boring — place in the suburb of Lambertville, and he bought the Old West End house for roughly the same price that he sold his house in the suburbs — $270,000.

Mr. Mishler is one of many moving to the Toledo neighborhood in what might be called a housing boom among young professionals and families. However, as much as the Old West End’s growth might reflect the re-growth of downtowns across America, the neighborhood also bucks national trends.

What’s happening in the Old West End isn’t exactly gentrification or urban renewal.

Homes in the neighborhood, one of the largest collections of Victorian, Edwardian, and Arts and Crafts homes in the United States, are often older than the typical Toledo residence. On average, they were built around 1900, according to the Lucas County Land Bank’s 2021 Toledo Survey.

The neighborhood also houses 15.5 percent of the city’s licensed group living homes, like homeless shelters. These spaces aren’t necessarily getting phased or spaced out by the new homeowners — but the historic district has a history of tensions between owners, renters, and shelters.

Welcome to the neighborhood — again

A Realtor for almost 25 years and neighborhood resident since 1978, Judy Stone has seen in the past 18 months an influx of newcomers to the Old West End, especially from population centers like Washington or California.

Who are these newcomers? Mostly young families and people with teenage children. The demographics have changed, Ms. Stone said.

Nick Malenda, 39, and Jane Malenda, 36, who have a 16-month-old child, moved to the Old West End in 2016 following the June festival.

More young professionals are moving to the area, as well. Crystal Gale Phelps, 35, a marketing manager for the Toledo Museum of Art and self-described creative, moved to the Gotshall House in the spring of 2012. Since then, she’s seen more and more friends come to the area.

“We always wanted to live in interesting places that had character, not just a standard white box apartment,” Ms. Phelps said. “Those places are good and well, but they don’t fit our aesthetic or personality, or our approaches to life.”

Landon King, 35, and his partner, Jordan Latham, have lived in the Groff/​Reynolds/​Excalibur house on Collingwood Boulevard for about two months.

Much like other urban neighborhoods across America, white homeowners moved out of the Old West End and into the more racially homogenous suburbs in the 1960s’ “white flight.” Now many are moving back.

White flight in the Old West End is a bit more complicated, though, according to Ted Ligibel, a professor of history at Eastern Michigan University.

Though the area is now categorized as a central, or downtown, region by the Lucas County Land Bank, the Old West End was originally considered Toledo’s first suburb. And much of the neighborhood’s white flight occurred in the 1920s, when the descendants of the original builders moved elsewhere — to bigger houses or a different neighborhood.

Collingwood Boulevard and Parkwood Avenue were lined with the homes of the rich and famous, but the side streets were lined with the people who worked for them.

“It’s always been a very sort of integrated neighborhood,” Mr. Ligibel said. “Maybe not ethnically or racially at the beginning, but in terms of income.”

He knew people renting apartments for $600 a month, and others who just bought a house for $600,000.

And now, over half of the neighborhood’s residents are people of color according to the Lucas County Land Bank, with neighbors surveyed noting the area’s diversity.

The price to pay

Beyond the Collingwood and Parkwood mansions, affordable housing is complicated in the Old West End and often uniquely at odds with the neighborhood’s goals for historic preservation.

More renters live in the area than average in the city of Toledo, with only 68 percent of parcels in the area owner-occupied, according to the land bank.

Kent Illenden, an Old West End resident for four decades, has seen the neighborhood from the perspective of a renter and now an owner.

When researching his Foursquare Arts and Crafts style home on Parkwood Avenue, he found that the original owner built the house on two lots. But then the owner heard that another person was going to purchase the lot next door for an apartment building.

“He said, ‘Oh, no, I’m not going to have an apartment building next to my house,” Mr. Illenden said. “So he purchased a third lot. It is a lovely, lovely space.”

Affordable houses are available, though the historic nature of the neighborhood makes this option practically unviable.

Mr. Malenda could have bought a house through the Lucas County Land Bank. He didn’t because the homes left are becoming more and more blighted, he said.

“They’re not houses that are left alone for a few years and in tax arrears,” Mr. Malenda said. “They’re houses that are left alone for 10 years.”

In 2021, the Old West End had 28 percent more vacant lots than the city on average. And the neighborhood had 14.6 percent more tax-delinquent vacant structures than the city on average, according to the Lucas County Land Bank.

Currently, the land bank lists a four-bedroom house on West Delaware Avenue for $2,888, with a roof, plumbing, electricity, and furnace all in need of replacement and repair. The property details challenge potential buyers to see if their skills can bring life back to the home.

Living (in) history

What brings the Old West End Association together — renters and homeowners alike — is a drive to keep homes from the fates of those listed by the land bank.

As a renter himself, the Rev. Christopher Hanley, sees no barrier to getting involved in and having leadership in the Old West End. After all, he’s president of the association, which ensures the safety, education, and preservation of the neighborhood.

Neighborhood organizations like the Old West End Organization and the Women of the Old West End rose in the 1940s and 1950s and have grown in influence since then, becoming powerful in maintaining the character and stability of the neighborhood, Mr. Ligibel said.

In the group, people are dealing with the challenge of renovating or preserving a huge old house. Neighbors come together to swap trade secrets or discuss the history of their houses.

But neighbors also get organized when they’re concerned a contractor or someone from the city isn’t taking the historic character of the neighborhood seriously enough.

Old West End residents are most politically active over matters of home restoration and renovation.

Toledo’s municipal code designates the Old West End neighborhood as a historic district.

So as much as the association wants the neighborhood to be a community where anyone can preserve a house and everybody wants to live, Reverend Hanley said the historic district designation is important.

“We want to be more disciplined about welcoming people to the neighborhood, whether they’re homeowners or renters, and right up front making sure they know how special the neighborhood is and making sure that they’ve got the tools to do external work on their house and preserve it,” he said.

Reverend Hanley wants to be sure residents know that the landscape and outside appearance of the neighborhood cannot be changed without a certificate of appropriateness from the Historic District Commission.

And if outside appearances are changed, Old West Enders will spar with the city.

“The Old West End is on that list of people that will complain to the city,” Mr. Illenden said.

Mr. Illenden recalled that just over a year ago, city subcontractors cut down three trees to access water lines. Several Old West Enders objected. The situation turned into Old West Enders going down to city hall to meet with the mayor and city officials.

“The word is you cannot dig up anything that’s historic,” Mr. Illenden said. “We’re endlessly challenged by that.”

A neighborhood for all?

The Old West End’s identity as home to 15.5 percent of the city’s group homes is a polarizing topic among residents. Some support multifamily housing — though not in their proximity — while others believe it contributes to the neighborhood’s diversity.

Lisa Banks said that at one point, some people in the neighborhood weren’t happy about the presence of Leading Families Home Toledo, the emergency family shelter where she is the executive director.

“Yes, there’s a few people who still don’t want us there,” Ms. Banks said.

Leading Families Home Toledo experienced serious pushback from residents in late 2020 when they were trying to change the zoning and gain a special use permit for their office building at 2283 Ashland Ave. to be used as a homeless shelter. Because of the effects of coronavirus, 17 new bedrooms in the building were needed to house families, women, and children from the shelter on Erie Street.

Ms. Banks said that “Debbie downers” with a lot of negative things to say were present at a Dec. 1, 2020, Old West End community meeting required for Leading Families home to explain their plans. But at the Old West End Historic District Commission meeting, she said only minor questions needed to be answered.

Mr. Illenden said that some residents who live close to the group homes are not happy with them.

“If they’re raising a family, they don’t always feel that it’s appropriate,” Mr. Illenden said.

But he added that, given the Old West End’s proximity to bus routes, it is more accessible than the suburbs.

Mr. King is glad the group homes exist, but he noted ones further down from his house.

“[Those houses] kind of deteriorate the neighborhood a little bit, but not so much that it’s detrimental,” Mr. King said. “But I like the outreach the community provides.”

Health Partners of Western Ohio — Toledo, a community health clinic on Collingwood Boulevard, has seen no problem from neighbors.

“We don’t want people to have to be more concerned than they already are about transportation,” Dr. West said. “So oftentimes, we will find ourselves within walking distance, so people can access that integrated primary care easily.”

Mrs. Banks said that she sees Leading Families Home as part of the Old West End community just like anyone else.

“For the Greater Toledo area to thrive and expand and continue to be a great place to live, it needs to have a viable downtown, a viable city center,” Mr. Mishler said. “And this neighborhood is a big part of that.”