Hardlines partnered with the Licking County Historical Society in 2025 to bring new momentum to treasured Newark landmark, the Buckingham Meeting House. The 1835 building now houses the Society’s Library & Archives and serves as a banquet facility. HDC’s detailed cost estimate to guide improvements helped secure a $250,000 state grant. HDC is now serving as criteria architect, alongside Karpinski Engineering as the criteria MEP engineer, to prepare documents for a design-build team to be selected later this year.
Buckingham Meeting House during initial fieldwork in February 2025
HDC has a decades-long legacy of preservation work in Licking County. In the late 1990s, the firm helped save and transform the Davis-Shai House in Heath. HDC’s feasibility study for the relocated historic home helped secure a $500,000 state capital grant to rehabilitate the structure into a community center. HDC also supported the Licking County Historical Society with a Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) survey of the 1828 Sherwood Davidson House in Newark.
Left: Davis-Shai House after rehabilitation in 2000; Right: Sherwood Davidson House during fieldwork in 1998
In 1998-1999, HDC completed ADA improvements to a group home in Newark for the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities (now Ohio Department of Behavioral Health) and Newark Resident Homes. The project consisted of dividing a large room on the first floor into an accessible bedroom and bathroom along with adding a wheelchair ramp to the first floor. The original plan was for a simple ramp from the rear parking lot to a new door in the dining room bay window. The facilities manager did not like the idea of giving up the bay window and also noted that many residents were picked up at the front door, not the parking lot. HDC design a new ramp to a new deck at the front door with a seating area at the ramp landing.
New ramp and deck in 1999
Beyond historic buildings, HDC has completed archaeological surveys across Licking County, beginning with its first Ohio Department of Transportation cultural resources project in 1998. More recently, HDC prepared a feasibility study for the Robbins Hunter Museum, an 1842 historic home reflecting generations of local history and philanthropy. From preservation planning to accessibility and archaeology, HDC’s work in Licking County demonstrates a sustained commitment to honoring the past while building a stronger future.
Side entrance to the Robbins Hunter Museum with clock tower where a bust of Victoria Woodhull that appears on the balcony on the hour
The Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church received its occupancy permit on November 12, 2025, just in time for the jubilee celebrating its re-opening! Click here for an article and additional photographs of the opening in the Ironton Tribune.
Left: Charissa Durst climbing into the attic during the final punch inspection on 11/7/2025. Center: Contractor Dan Mullins (left) and project manager Lacy Ward (right) with Charissa Durst on the church stoop after the punchlist. Right: Charissa Durst standing at the Jubilee celebration. All photos by Jason Lucas.
The Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in South Point had some state grant money redirected to another project, so some items not essential to the occupancy permit had to be postponed. These included items such as the new wood floor, installing the original tin ceiling and the replacement pieces, new window and door casings, reinstalling the wood wall base, and interior painting. The exterior painted wood handicap ramp has also been swapped for a premanufactured aluminum ramp. The owners are hoping to raise enough private funds to finish the remaining work this year.
Left: View of the northeast corner of the church, which is still awaiting delivery of the new custom front doors. Right: Interior looking northwest toward the location of the new egress door, which will lead to the wheelchair ramp.
Left: Detail of attic dormer at the Clifton Opera House. Right: Detail of Sign Plaque at Clifton School.
HDC has been working on preparing construction packages to rehabilitate the historic Cedarville Opera House in Cedarville and the historic Clifton Opera House and Clifton School in nearby Clifton. All three buildings were constructed in the late 19th century and have varying degrees of roof, brick wall, and wood window deterioration. HDC commissioned MAJ Consulting LLC to take high resolution photos of the exterior of each building and stitch the photos together into a high-resolution 3D exterior model of the building that is so clear we can conduct an exterior assessment and prepare remediation drawings based on the model alone! This method is extremely helpful for steeply sloped roofs and tall buildings where exterior conditions had to be observed and assessed from the ground.
Detail of Fire Department Hose Tower at the Cedarville Opera House.
Left: View of west side looking north before construction. Right: View of west side looking south during construction with new curb and dog waste station.
HDC was commissioned by the City of Columbus to make improvements to Carol Stewart Village, a former 1980s hotel converted into housing for youths aged 18-24 who have aged out of the foster care system. Although the buildings had been renovated since the 1980s, the site around the building had not. HDC’s project includes the replacement of 70 packaged terminal air conditioners, or PTACs, ductless, self-contained air conditioning units that heat and cool small areas such as motel rooms and studio apartments. These units are also being anchored to prevent someone from breaking in from the outside. Sitework improvements include replacing crumbling concrete curbs and adding curbs where they do not exist now. The project also includes new dog waste disposal stations, which have already resulted in cleaner lawn areas. Another project repaved the parking lots. This project is just the beginning of improvements being made at Carol Stewart Village. Read about it in this Columbus Underground article.
In recognition of Juneteenth this month, HDC looks back on our projects that were associated with Black history.
In early 2002, HDC started a project to prepare a renovation master plan for the Gammon House in Springfield, Ohio. The Gammon House was built in 1850 by George Gammon, a Black abolitionist and is one of the few Underground Railroad sites in Ohio that was owned by a free person of color. HDC subsequently implemented the first phase of the renovation plan to stabilize the exterior.
The Gammon House before (left) and during (right) stabilization in 2007.
In 2003, HDC was commissioned to prepare a feasibility study to renovate the Lincoln Theatre in Columbus into a modern performing arts center. The Lincoln Theatre, an Egyptian Revival theatre that opened in 1928, was funded by a Black developer, designed by a Black architect and built by a Black contractor. HDC’s study was used to secure funding from the City of Columbus and Franklin County, with the remaining funds raised by private donors. The grand re-opening occurred in 2009, and the project received awards from Columbus Landmarks Foundation, Heritage Ohio and the Ohio Historic Preservation Office.
The interior of the theatre before (left) and after (right) rehabilitation in 2009.
In 2005, the City of Wichita commissioned HDC to prepare a redevelopment study for the Dunbar Theater, which was constructed in 1941 and named after Paul Lawrence Dunbar, the Black poet and author from Dayton, Ohio.
It was the focal point of a commercial and entertainment hub that served the McAdams neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods that were predominantly African-American in origin until 1963, when the theater closed. Power CDC, a developer that specializes in inner-city Wichita, acquired the building in 2007 and restored the façade and marquee in 2012-2014.
The Dunbar Theatre continues to be a work in progress.
In 2007, HDC prepared a Historic Structure Report and implemented the stabilization and exterior rehabilitation of the Lathrop House, which was built c. 1850 by Lucian Lathrop, a prominent white abolitionist in Sylvania, Ohio. The house contains an Underground Railroad Museum in the new basement and HDC completed an update to the Historic Structure Report in 2021 to rehabilitate the interior of the house and make it accessible.
The Lathrop House before (left) and in 2021 (right).
In 2017, HDC prepared a master plan to rehabilitate the Ozem Gardner House in Sharon Township near Worthington, Ohio, which was built in the 1840s by a local abolitionist, into offices for the Flint and Walnut Grove Cemeteries. The Gardner Family donated the original land to create the cemetery in 1821. The pandemic set the project back from its goal of opening in 2021. It is currently anticipated to be completed in 2022.
The Ozem Gardner House before (left) and after restoring the original masonry window openings (right).
In 2020, the City of Athens commissioned HDC to prepare a renovation master plan to convert the Mount Zion Baptist Church, built in 1904 by a Black congregation, into a community center and museum of African American Appalachian culture. The study was used to obtain a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to start the rehabilitation process.
The Mount Zion Baptist Church in Athens, Ohio.
HDC recently worked with architect O.A. Spencer on the interior renovation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Performing and Cultural Arts Complex in Columbus, whose mission is to connect community through the arts by engaging central Ohio through performing, cultural and educational programs of high artistic merit that increase and disseminate knowledge regarding the vast and significant contributions of Black Americans to the culture and history of America and the world.
The main Auditorium with new flooring, ceiling and lights, looking through the updated column (left) and looking into the Lobby past the mural by artist Wali Neil (right). Photos by Shellee Fisher Photography.
And finally, HDC is very honored to have been awarded the project to prepare a Historic Structure Report of the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Lawrence County, across the Ohio River from Huntington, West Virginia. The church was built c. 1849 and is one of the first Black churches constructed west of the Appalachian Mountains. The team is looking forward to starting work in August!
The Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in South Point, Ohio.
The exterior (left) and interior (right) of the chapel at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis
One of the seven national cemetery locations HDC is investigating with Tetra Tech is Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis. The project here is not the historic superintendent’s lodge, but a chapel built in the 1970s. Since it is such a recent building, the team was lucky to be able to visit the studio of Emil Frei & Associates in St. Louis, the firm that designed and installed the stained glass windows in the 1970s and the faceted glass skylight in the early 1980s. In addition, Stephen Frei led our tour and demonstrated how faceted glass is made by chipping away at a 1″ thick block of glass. He also came to the site to inspect the skylight, which he himself had personally installed. Stephen Frei also explained how the stained glass trees around the perimeter were intended to blend in with the trees outside and that the faceted glass skylight was renamed “The History of Humanity” from “The History of Religion” to be accepted for use in a federal building.
The faceted glass skylight in the chapel (left) and Stephen Frei explaining how faceted glass works (right)
Northeast corner of the Meade House in Symmes Township
HDC is leading a team that includes engineers from Elevar Design Group to prepare a feasibility study to rehabilitate the Meade House in Symmes Township into a banquet facility. The house was built in 1906 on an over 200-acre farm for Dr. Charles C. Meade, a homeopathic physician, Pulte Medical College of Cincinnati professor of obstetrics, Homeopathic Medical Society president, and former president and director of the Hamilton County Fair Board. Dr. Meade was born in Fort Branch, Indiana in 1862, the son of Stephen Walter Meade and his wife Sarah Jane Rutledge, who was of English descent. Dr. Meade graduated from Central Normal College at Danville, Indiana, in 1886 before earning a medical degree from Pulte Medical College in Cincinnati in 1890. He went on to post graduate studies at the New York Post-Graduate School of Medicine and Surgery. As part of the teaching staff at Pulte College, Dr. Meade served as chair of embryology and junior obstetrics from 1898 to 1902. From 1902 to his retirement in 1905, he held a full professorship and oversaw both junior and senior obstetrics. Dr. Meade lived in this house with his second wife, continuing to assist neighbors with difficult births in his retirement. He sold the house in 1917 and moved to the Hyde Park neighborhood of Cincinnati.
(originally posted by Andy Sewell on January 6, 2015)
Yesterday marked the grand re-opening of the historic Stewart Elementary School in German Village, a project that Hardlines Design Company has worked hard to help Columbus City Schools complete. The renovated, 141-year-old building was redesigned to incorporate the latest technology and accomodate the needs of 21st-century schoolchildren, while retaining its historic character. Reviews of the school are positive, as evident from this article in the Columbus Dispatch:
“Kelly Graham grew up in German Village and attended Stewart from 1987 to 1994. (Her husband will not let her forget that he once defeated her in the Stewart Elementary spelling bee, even though he was a grade below her.)
Graham said she appreciates that the renovated building retains its old charm, with high ceilings, wood floors and huge windows that teachers can open on nice days.
“I think it will definitely have a positive effect,” said Graham, 31, an instructional assistant at Stewart with two children attending the school. “The kids are now excited to use it.”
A group of Hardlines employees tours Stewart Elementary School shortly before it opens. Company president Charissa Durst is in the foreground. Photo credit: Jeff Bates
(originally posted by Andy Sewell on April 15, 2014)
Welcome to Hardlines Design Company’s Spring 2014 update! As I write this, it sure doesn’t seem like spring, with snow on the ground and 30-degree temperatures, but that just exemplifies how the weather was a big factor in our projects during the last quarter, with numerous weather-related schedule modifications. Despite the weather, HDC archaeologists managed to complete two field projects; more on those in another post. Other updates of note include the following:
HDC Completes Work on Mulzer Mill Plaques for Highbanks Metro Park in Delaware, Ohio
HDC recently completed the design of two interpretive signs for the Ohio Department of Transportation, Office of Environmental Services (ODOT-OES). The signs were created to commemorate the site of the former Mulzer Mills and an associated house located near the intersection of State Route 315 (SR 315) and West Powell Road, at the northwest corner of Highbanks Metro Park in Delaware County. As part of a mitigation effort for the construction and alterations on this intersection, ODOT-OES agreed to install interpretative signs to commemorate the former mill complex, whose foundation ruins were sited within the construction zone. These signs will be erected along the walking path along the Olentangy River in Highbanks Metro Park.
HDC used historic and modern photographs and brief descriptions in the design of the signs to allow for the best possible user experience. Potential sign designs were reviewed and improved over a series of meetings with the public until the text, photographs, and overall design of the signs were approved. High-pressure laminate signs were chosen over the traditional bronze plaque, as they allowed for images and more detailed written descriptions of the site. After the design phase was completed, HDC was able to work with Fossil Industries, a high pressure laminate sign company operating in Deer Park, New York, to have the signs manufactured. Because of the low cost offered by the high pressure laminate versus bronze, an extra sign panel for each sign was delivered to Highbanks Metro Park to provide a spare in case a sign is vandalized or destroyed by an act of nature. The weather this winter has delayed the final installation of the signs, but Highbanks Metro Park will have the signs installed later this spring.
HDC CRM staff attend GAPP conference
HDC was well represented at the Gas and Preservation Partnership (GAPP) Conference, held in the ballroom of the Fairmont Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A historian and archeologist from HDC attended the conference, which is aimed at formulating a working partnership between historic preservation professionals and the oil and gas production industry. The boom in natural gas production in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania has resulted in a substantial increase in hydraulic fracturing. or “fracking’” projects. Because these projects are currently exempted from federal environmental permitting, fracking projects are not legally required take into account any impact to cultural resources. To address the concern of preservationists about the impact of fracking on cultural resources, GAPP hopes to create a voluntary “best practices” approach for the fracking industry to follow regarding the treatment of cultural resources without requiring additional government regulations. HDC will continue to stay appraised of this developing partnership, and will continue to work to preserve and document cultural resources, hopefully with the help and support of the oil and gas industry.
HDC’S Camp Perry Project Nears Completion
Construction on HDC’s project at four barracks buildings and the historic chapel at Camp Perry in Port Clinton, Ohio, is now nearing completion after a slowdown due to excessive cold. The project involved replacement of the asphalt shingle roof with metal, new metal soffit, fascia, gutters, and downspouts at two barracks; and replacement of existing siding, door, and windows at the other two barracks. Exterior work for the historic chapel consisted of washing, tuckpointing, and resealing the brick masonry, along with repair/replacement of fascia, soffits, steeple vents, exterior doors, and entry steps. Interior work included painting the chapel space as well as replacing the aisle carpet and refinishing the woodwork. HDC was also commissioned to prepared construction documents for a new HVAC system at two of the barracks, which would be bid at a later date when funding became available. Construction started in August of 2013 with construction completion in mid-April 2014.
Hard to Believe, but Donut the Beagle turned 10 Years Old on March 25!
This event almost slipped HDC’s collective mind if it wasn’t for an email from her vet reminding us of her birthday and upcoming vaccinations. The year 2004 went by very slowly with her weekly training classes and daily homework assignments, but once she stopped deliberately biting people, time seem to just speed by!
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As you can see in her 2004 photograph, Donut was like a cartoon of a “cute puppy.” This image was once posted on the Daily Puppy website and one of the comments received was “with that face she could get away with murder!” Well, she did get away with biting everyone who touched her but luckily we were able to get her to stop after she was 7 months old. In her early photographs, many people also commented on the “wild animal” look in her eyes.
Like Bagle her predecessor, Donut started going gray at the age of 5 in 2009. However, Sadie the Beagle didn’t go gray until she was 10. Our theory is that beagles (dogs) who are smart and worry a lot go gray by age 5, and those that don’t think about things too much, like Sadie, keep their color until sheer age catches up with them. Donut definitely calmed down by the time she turned one, which led one engineer to comment that she was like a totally new dog. In this Christmas photograph, Donut definitely looks calm!
In 2013 Donut was taken to one of the Columbus Metroparks on nice weekend days. After the recent polar vortex winter, Donut started going to a park whenever the weather was sunny and over 40 degrees Fahrenheit. We’ve learned that it takes a couple of miles to take the edge off her and get her to stop pulling at the leash, and after 5 to 7 miles she’s happily tired and ready for a nap. In this photograph, Donut also needed a long bath to wash the melting snow/mud off her!
Buckingham Meeting House during initial fieldwork in February 2025
The Lathrop House before (left) and in 2021 (right).
The faceted glass skylight in the chapel (left) and Stephen Frei explaining how faceted glass works (right)
Northeast corner of the Meade House in Symmes Township
