Phelps House

PHELPS HOUSE

c. 1860

Rollin and Nancy Clouse Phelps purchased this lot and 4 adjacent ones in 1855, 3 days before their wedding. Rollin Phelps was a currier (a person who works with leather) and he established his tannery just south of this building, on the corner of Main Street and Dublin Granville Road, shortly after the purchase. He and his wife built this home between 1856 and 1868, and continued to live here until 1882.

After the Phelps family owned the house, it was owned by the Frederick Swickard family and the Harry Taylor family, among others. The Swickards and Taylors were long-time residents of New Albany/Plain Township. Many of their descendants are still in the area.

Just after World War II, when the country was concerned with nuclear attacks on the U.S., an owner of the property built a bomb shelter in the basement of the Phelps House. According to Arloia Walton, a long-time resident, the residents of the village of New Albany, which totaled only a few hundred people at the time, were told they could gather in the basement in case of nuclear attack. Even as late as the 1990′s the house had a small yellow and black sign attached to the exterior wall, indicating it was a part of the area’s nuclear defense system. Parts of the bomb shelter still remain. Since it is a relatively small room, one wonders how many people could have actually gathered there at one time.

In 1982, the property was purchased by Mark and Karen Zarley as an investment. The Zarleys divided the house into 3 small apartments. They eventually sold the property to John J. Vlahos, a real estate developer. During his ownership, the property remained vacant, weeds surrounded the home and it became the victim of vandalism. Interior walls were spray painted with graffiti and many of the perpetrators even signed their names on the walls! After every window pane was broken out and much other interior damage took place, Mr. Vlahos put plywood boards over the windows to secure it.

In the 1990′s Mr. Vlahos first proposed building a McDonald’s Restaurant on the property. When his request was denied, he approached the Village for permission to put a CVS pharmacy on the spot in the late 1990′s. Shortly thereafter, the New Albany Company purchased the property from Mr. Vlahos and persuaded the CVS to locate its store on Main Street, near the intersection of a new street the New Albany Company was building at the time called Market Street.

In 2005 and 2006 many local residents wanted the school district to build an auditorium for school events. Some residents also saw an opportunity to build a better building which would serve both as a high school auditorium, a community center and performing arts center. Representatives of the school district, village, township and the New Albany Community Foundation met to explore the idea and search for a location which would be on the school campus, but also be in the Village Center.

In 2006, Leslie and Abigail Wexner and the New Albany Company generously donated part of the land to the McCoy Community Center for the Arts, and donated this house and the remaining land to the Village of New Albany.

As the Arts Center was designed, the community stakeholders determined that the auditorium and classroom spaces should be prioritized over building office spaces. As a result, only a few small offices were constructed in the Arts Center building and they are used primarily for school purposes. As the Arts Center Board began interviewing for a Director to serve the community’s interests, the Village of New Albany offered to give the Director and his staff temporary space in Village Hall until additional space could be found.

In 2009, the Village of New Albany, with significant financial assistance from David and Ellen Ryan, restored the house for use as offices for the staff of the McCoy Center.