Renovation of Historic Wren Hill - Tectonics’ New Office Location

A native of Ireland Edward J. Wren moved to the United States with his wife Margaret in 1872. In 1877, he and his partners started a dry goods retail business in the heart of downtown Springfield, Ohio. The store was originally called Kinnane, Wren and Company. In 1883 the name was changed to Edward Wren Company. By the mid-1880s the builders had completed the construction of “Mount Pleasant” the name Wren gave their new house at 1115 North Limestone Street – the site and historic residence now been restored and rechristened in his honor “Wren Hill.”

The Edward Wren and Company department store or "Wren's" as local residents knew it, was Springfield's first, large, and most successful department store. The enterprise was very successful, building its reputation for offering quality goods, honest dealings, and responsive customer service. Edward Wren died in 1917 and the family sold the store in 1920, and it remained locally owned until 1952. Eventually the store went through a series of mergers with other regional department store chains. Wren’s was initially bought out by Allied Stores of New York City, which in-turn became part of Federated Department Stores, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Federated merged with William H. Block and Company of Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1984. Block's Department Store operated for a number of years before closing. However, since its closing in 1987, Springfielder’s still fondly refer to the historic Bushnell Building, a magnificent five story building built in the Beaux Arts and Second Renaissance Revival styles, that takes up a major portion of Main Street – a central downtown block, as “Wren’s,” and that’s been almost twenty-five years ago.

The Edward J. Wren house has served a variety of functions over its 90 years. In the 1930s it was Payton R. Stewart & Sons Furniture Store; in the 1940s Degenhart Funeral Home, then Degenhart-Conroy Funeral Home; and, most recently, from the 1960s through the 1990s it served as the Clark County Board of Education offices.

“Wren had a tremendous positive influence on Springfield, it was truly a labor of love to restore this beautiful old house,” stated Chris Simonton, Tectonics’ president. “We spent nearly a year doing the research – searching through the local historic archives to be sure we knew exactly what the original house and grounds looked like, and then we spent another two years of restoration work and construction. But, it has been well worth all we’ve invested into it.”

The structure, the windows, and basic framework of the house were in very good shape. The biggest challenge was removing all the paint from over the years of change, and taking the beautiful Mahogany woodwork back to its original condition. The house has five fireplaces, all are different with some detailed inlays and fine decorative tiles – the mantels are very striking as you might imagine. At one point we had over seventeen craftsmen working in the house. It was an experience I will never forget – for someone that loves old houses this was a wonderful opportunity.

Today, Wren Hill houses the offices of Tectonic, LLC, a real estate development, design/build construction, and property services company in Springfield, Ohio. It also serves as the headquarters for the Nextedge Applied Research Technology Park office, a high technology real estate development Tectonic helped to create.   

Since completing the restoration in 2001, local preservationists have lavished high praise on the new Wren Hill and the work of Chris Simonton and his restoration team. “Edward Wren was a gentleman of impeccable style and taste,” stated Simonton, “so we had to make certain that we lived up to his legacy.”

Media Inquiry: info@tectonic.biz