Moment in Time (April 7, 2022)
Three views of the Lanman home at 2015 West Fifth are shown in this composite. The bottom view is from Fifth Avenue, looking to the south, and shows the carriage house that was at some point connected to the main home. The view at the top right is from the south lawn, looking north, and the side view at the top left is looking to the east.
Several years after John and Timothy Price and Charles Griswold platted the Arlington Place Subdivision on the ridge south of Fifth Avenue overlooking the Scioto River, they sold a large section of property to J.F. Miller, an executive with the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad. Mr. Miller was a resident of Richmond, Indiana, but had spent time in Columbus on business, often staying at the old Arlington Inn on Roxbury, and built a summer home at what is now 1600 Roxbury. In 1907, Miller deeded a portion of his property to Samuel Prescott Bush for his mansion, and sold three lots along the north boundary of his acreage to William Kelsey Lanman for his family home.
William Lanman graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University in 1895, and joined his father Henry as the Treasurer of Columbus Bolt Works, later becoming President and General Manager. Henry Lanman was a direct descendent of John and Priscilla Alden, who both arrived on the Mayflower, and the Trumbull family, who were prominent in Connecticut political circles. (His family included two Connecticut U.S. senators, Jonathan Trumbull and James Lanman, two governors, Jonathan Trumbull and Matthew Griswold, and Jonathan Trumbull’s son John, who was renowned for large paintings in the rotunda of the U.S. capitol).
As a teenager, due to the impact of the start of the Civil War on the economy, Henry was sent to Columbus to learn a trade. He joined the Ohio Tool Company, but soon showed his business acumen, partnering in a saw making company. At 25 years old, he became treasurer of the Columbus Rolling Mill Co. and principal owner of the Columbus Bolt Works. The business was located on three blocks between Naughten and Spring Streets in the near North area of Columbus. They made bolts and nuts for the railroads and agricultural product manufacturers, drop-forged parts for carriages and wagons, and later parts for the emerging automotive industry.
He was also involved in the Columbus Machine Co., the Columbus Citizens Telephone Co., and his brother’s business, E.B. Lanman and Company, manufacturers of hardware specialties. Henry was a founding member of the Columbus Club and one of the original members of the Arlington Country Club, which connected him with the Marble Cliff area. He and his wife Esther had three children, William Kelsey, Cornelia, and Catherine.
In 1901 William married Harriet Sharp, and they had four children: William Jr., Henry, Jonathon, and Harriet. William and Harriet hired prominent Columbus architect Frank Packard to design their stunning tudor-style mansion at 2015 West Fifth. The home, almost 5,000 sq. ft. of living space, was built on lots 17, 18 and 19 of the Arlington Place Subdivision. It also had a large carriage house, which was later connected to the home. The house was three stories and had large bedrooms, a massive entry, dining rooms and a beautiful wood-paneled den/library. There were six tiled fireplaces in various rooms of the house. The Miller home at 1600 Roxbury was used by the Lanmans to house the caretaker for their property.
The three sons of William and Harriet all graduated from Yale University, and two (William Jr. and Jonathon) have donated substantial sums of money to Yale. Col. William K. Lanman, who was a naval and marine aviator, headed up the World War II “Flying Boxcar” squadron, and won the Distinguished Flying Cross. His donations to Yale totaled over $40 million, and he has two buildings named after him on the campus. Jonathon graduated in medicine, and traveled the world collecting maps. His collection of oriental maps, the largest such collection in the world, was donated to Yale. Their brother Henry married Elizabeth Rising Lupher, daughter of a prominent Lancaster oil and gas tycoon who founded the Logan Natural Gas and Fuel Company and the Preston Oil Company. Their sister Harriet married Cyrus Fulton, son of Thomas Fulton, the co-founder of Anchor-Hocking Glass Co.
The Lanman mansion was purchased by several other people beginning around 1922, most notably the E. W. Ingram family. Mr. Ingram was a co-founder of the White Castle company, and after buying out his partner, he moved the company to Columbus from Kansas. He purchased the property at 2015 West Fifth and lived there for several years. In 1953, the civil engineering firm Burgess-Niple purchased the mansion and property from Martha O. Wallick and moved their company headquarters there from East Broad in Downtown Columbus. Over 150 engineers, managers and administrative personnel worked at the headquarters. The Lanman’s porch was converted to a drafting room, the library was converted to a corporate officer’s office, and the dining room became administration offices. Old photographs show the company’s fleet of field cars, jeeps and trucks lining the Lanman’s driveway, and secretarial staff working in the massive living room in front of the ornate white fireplace which the Lanmans were so proud of.
The company also sold off the properties to the east and west of the main home site (lots 17 and 19) for single family and apartment units starting in 1954, leaving approximately 1 1/3 acres. In 1963 B&N added a brick addition to the back of the house, and connected the carriage house to the main dwelling. This addition added approximately 3800 square feet to the building. The property and structures were again sold in 1974 and remained as offices since that time.
In 2018, developers brought forward a proposal to demolish the Marble Cliff mansion to make way for a 67-unit residential complex, and it was placed on Columbus Landmarks’ 2018 Most Endangered List. After that plan met with criticism from multiple fronts, and after significant discussions with Marble Cliff, a plan to renovate the home, tear down the 1963 addition, and build condominiums around it was accepted, saving the original mansion.
References:
William Alexander Taylor, Centennial History of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Volume II, 1909, pp786-789.
https://www.columbuslandmarks.org/marble-cliff-gateway-mansion/
https://marblecliff.org/2015-w-fifth-ave-development-proposal-presented-at-march-council-meeitng/