The Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections The University of Toledo Finding Aid Spitzer Building Lease Records, 1896-1960 MSS-273 |
Size: 14 linear feet (7 oversize boxes)
Provenance: Gift of Patrice Spitzer, 2013
Access: Open
Collection Summary: Collection consists of leases signed by tenants of the Spitzer Building in downtown Toledo from 1896 to 1960
Subject(s): Architecture; Business and Commerce
Related Collections:
Processing Note: The organization of this collection is done both chronologically and alphabetically. Some ledgers had both and some just had one or the other. In an effort to keep the ledgers intact, they were not taken apart in order to choose one organizational system over another.
Copyright: The literary rights to this collection are assumed to rest with the person(s) responsible for the production of the particular items within the collection, or with their heirs or assigns. Researchers bear full legal responsibility for the acquisition to publish from any part of said collection per Title 17, United States Code. The Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections may reserve the right to intervene as intermediary at its own discretion.
Completed by: Mark Troknya, August 2014; last updated: Arjun Sabharwal, November 2014
Historical Sketch
The historic Spitzer Building in Toledo, Ohio, was built by Celina Milo Spitzer and his cousin Adelbert Spitzer at the corner of Madison Avenue and Huron Street downtown. The cousins, both capitalists and investment bankers, hired local architects Bacon and Huber to design the building. Construction began in 1893, and after two stories were completed construction stopped due to financial woes. Construction began again in 1895, and was completed in February of 1896. It was the first steel frame building in Toledo, and with the stores in the first floor arcade, it became the first shopping mall in Toledo. Through the years, restaurants, coffee shops, jewelry stores, drug stores, dress and card shops, and hair salons all had space among the arcade’s 25 shops and seven counters. However, the majority of the rooms in the Spitzer building were not stores but offices for Toledo area lawyers. In addition to the many law offices, tenants have included insurance agencies, accountants, stock brokers, custom jewelers, tailors, employment agencies, and mortgage offices. At one time, three beauty shops were found in the upper floors.
After more than a century, the Spitzer building had to close its doors in December 2013 due to a declining number of tenants, expenses for needed maintenance and repairs, and additional staff required for fire safety checks mandated after the building’s alarm system failed. The Spitzer family remained in control of the building all but the last five years of the 117 year history of the building.
Scope and Content Note
The Spitzer Building Lease Records consists of 14 ledgers that list the tenants and lease agreements for this historic building from 1896-1960. Each of these 14 ledgers contains a set of years, however some of the years overlap with other ledgers due to long term leases. (Most leases were for a year at a time but some were for multiple years and therefore one ledger may mainly contain 1900-1904, but one tenant may have signed a lease from 1903-1907, therefore that ledger is labelled 1900-1907, and the next ledger will be labelled 1905-1908.)
Most ledgers (9) have an alphabetical index in the beginning of the ledger, and then a chronological section after that. Three ledgers are solely alphabetical, but there are letters missing. (Ledger 1 has A-C, Ledger 2 has D-J, and Ledger 3 has R-Z; therefore K-P are missing) One additional ledger from the later years of 1924-1959 is organized alphabetically and one additional ledger from 1948-1960 is organized chronologically.
Folder List
Box |
Folder |
Item |
1 |
1 |
Ledger (organized alphabetically and chronologically); 1896-1910 |
1 |
2 |
Ledger (organized alphabetically and chronologically); 1897-1898 |
2 |
1 |
Ledger (organized alphabetically and chronologically); 1900-1902 |
2 |
2 |
Ledger (organized alphabetically and chronologically); 1900-1904 |
2 |
3 |
Ledger (organized alphabetically and chronologically); 1901-1905 |
3 |
1 |
Ledger (organized alphabetically and chronologically); 1902-1904 |
3 |
2 |
Ledger (organized alphabetically and chronologically); 1902-1905 |
3 |
3 |
Ledger (organized alphabetically and chronologically); 1902-1905 |
4 |
1 |
Ledger (organized alphabetically and chronologically); 1903-1908 |
4 |
2 |
Ledger (organized alphabetically); 1924-1959 |
4 |
3 |
Ledger (organized chronologically); 1948-1960 |
5 |
1 |
Alphabetically organized (A-C); 1903-1946 |
6 |
1 |
Alphabetically organized (D-J); 1903-1946 |
7 |
1 |
Alphabetically organized (R-Z); 1901-1946 |