Residents in Akron’s West Hill neighborhood are rallying to save the former Theiss Mansion after a demolition notice was posted on the historic property on April 29.
The mansion, located on Crosby Street near the corner of Bittman Street, was built in 1902 and is one of the last remaining Queen Anne Victorian homes in the area.
After three years of vacancy and deterioration, residents fear the long-abandoned structure could soon be torn down.
“It’s a house that everyone in the neighborhood knows,” said Raina Gonzales-Homs, 39, president of the West Hill Neighborhood Organization. “It is an important house. It almost defines our neighborhood in a certain way.”
Gonzales-Homs said residents have grown frustrated with the building’s extended vacancy and unclear ownership. The Summit County Fiscal Officer’s website lists David W. Butler as the owner since 1992. He died in 2018.
The neighborhood association previously explored repurposing the property as a community space, but efforts stalled due to lack of access and unresolved ownership questions.
She added that vacant properties like the mansion also affect neighborhood safety and quality of life.
“By leaving these houses abandoned, the crime rate in the neighborhood goes up,” she said.
Now, the organization is seeking to temporarily halt demolition plans while residents gather information and engage with city officials at the Department of Neighborhood Assistance and the Housing Appeals Board.
“Our first goal is to see if we can halt any plans of demolition until we can have a conversation,” Gonzales-Homs said.
A historic home residents can’t imagine losing
A demolition notice posted outside the home alarmed West Hill residents, said Ashley Martinez, 27, a historical photographer who runs the Naturaclaimed Facebook page.
“The community is basically freaking out because they would like to purchase the property to rehab and create a small business out of the building,” Martinez said.
She said advocates view the mansion as part of broader revitalization efforts.
“It will bring a sense of community back into the area when a historic building is redeveloped,” Martinez said. “It brings economic growth to that area.”
Martinez gathered historical information to promote the mansion’s significance, drawing on resources such as Summit Memory for archival photographs and Newspapers.com for historical records. Her research is intended to contextualize the home’s place in Akron’s past.
The mansion was built for Frank B. Theiss, an attorney and industrial-era businessman connected to the city’s early rubber and banking industries. Theiss served as vice president and director of the Miller Rubber Company, which was later absorbed into the BFGoodrich empire during Akron’s rise as the “Rubber Capital of the World.”
West Hill’s preservation rules are under pressure
The possible loss of the mansion is also testing preservation protections that West Hill residents spent decades building, Martinez said.
In the 1990s, neighborhood advocates worked with former Ward 1 Council Member Rich Swirsky to establish Akron’s UPD-40 zoning overlay district, intended to preserve West Hill’s historic character while allowing adaptive reuse of older homes.
Under the district guidelines, outlined in Section 153.578 of the city code, demolition proposals must be reviewed by both the West Hill CDC Housing Committee (a part of WHNO) and Akron’s Urban Design and Historic Preservation Commission before permits are issued.
Ward 1 Council Member Fran Wilson called the mansion a “hallmark asset for the neighborhood” and said residents have repeatedly urged city leaders to preserve it.
“You have to make sure that you save this house,” Wilson recalled one resident telling them during a ward meeting.
Wilson said the property appears to have significant interior and water damage. “Hopefully, I would love to see it restored to its former glory,” Wilson said.
The Housing Appeals Board, which is expected to hear information from the city’s housing department about the property, is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Thursday in City Council chambers.
Residents point to a wider problem with vacant properties
The mansion, with its distinctive tower, is “impeccably beautiful,” said Kat Novak, 44, a member of the West Hill Housing Committee who lives next door. She noted that its location within the UPD-40 overlay district also creates opportunities for mixed-use redevelopment, including residential, commercial or community use.
Neighbors, she added, regularly monitor the property and report concerns to the city.
“Everybody kind of has their eye on it at all times,” she said.
But residents say the mansion is part of a longer pattern of absentee ownership and deteriorating historic properties in West Hill.
Krista Curl, 48, a member of the WHNO, said demolition is often preventable if properties are properly maintained.
“The demolition of these homes is completely preventable,” she said. “This is why we live here. This is why we work so hard to make the neighborhood nice.”
She said residents want stronger accountability for absentee owners, along with better enforcement tools from the city.
“We want to use all the tools that the city has to make sure that people who own these homes are taking care of them in a way that is responsible,” Curl said.
Neighborhood leaders are now discussing an effort to inventory vacant and deteriorating properties, identify absentee owners, and explore enforcement options. They hope the attention surrounding the mansion will lead to stronger long-term protections.
The mansion represents both what has been lost and what could still be preserved in West Hill’s future, Novak said.
“If we are able to save this, preserve it, potentially have it as some community-oriented space, this would be a shining gem,” she said.
