624 9th St.
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The three-story building at 624 9th St.
was built in 1915-16.
This photo of it dates from when it was home
to the Huntington Athletic Club.
Photo courtesy of David Smith
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The sturdy, three-story building on the northeast corner of 9th
Street
and 7th Avenue has been part of downtown Huntington’s
history for more than 100 years. Built in 1915-16, it was
designed by architect Sidney Logan Day. The son of
well-known architect Robert Lum Day, he joined
his father’s firm in 1913, shortly after
graduating from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT)
The building may have been
the younger Day’s first
professional project. Among the other structures
he would go on to build during his long career
were the Caldwell Building, the Huntington
Coca-Cola Co. and at least two
schools — West Junior High
and Emmons Elementary.
When it first opened, his
9th Street building had retail
shops on the first floor and apartments on
the second and third floors. In 1922,
it became the Plaza Hotel.
Along with the nearby
Huntington Hotel and the Biltmore,
it was one of three hotels that were built just a stone’s
throw from the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway’s
passenger station in the 900 block of 7th
Avenue. The C&O’s trains were
a steady source of guests
for the three hotels.
After the closed Plaza
Hotel had stood vacant for a
number of years, it became the home of the
Huntington Athletic Club, opened by
William and Howard Schwartz.
For several years the
Schwartz brothers had operated
The Continental, a popular night spot in Chesapeake,
Ohio. In the late 1940s, Gov. Frank Lausche
charged that illegal gambling was running
rampant in several Ohio communities,
including Chesapeake, and launched
a campaign to put a halt to it. Feeling
the heat, the two brothers closed The
Continental in October 1949,
moving their operation to
the former Plaza Hotel.
It’s not clear when the
Huntington Athletic Club closed,
but in 1973 the club building was purchased by the
Southerton Beauty College, which moved there
from its previous location at 942 3rd Ave.
Today, the building houses the VA’s
Homeless Veterans Resource
Center.
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Note: This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on Jan. 1, 2025.
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