Zimmerman House
Orr Zimmerman, who owned the Olympic Swimming Pool, owned the Tudor-style house that still stands on the northwest corner of Henderson and Olentangy River Road. Zimmerman built the house in 1929 on what was then a 52-acre estate; at the time, Henderson was a country gravel road and Olentangy a narrow two-lane street. The architect was Thomas Tulley. Interior walls were decorated by a New York artist, with beautiful wooded scenes in both the trophy room and the living room. Two Canadian bear cubs, captured on a hunting trip, were raised in a small house on the property. In 1977 the house was a Decorators’ Show House.
Unfortunately, this lovely home was destroyed as a donation to the fire departments. One more piece of Columbus history lost forever.
I knew the Zimmerman mansion since I was a kid in the 60s. It was regal. I passed it everyday as a teenager in the early and mid 70s on my way to Whetstone High School. In 1977 my girlfriend took me through to see it “redecorated” by a consortium of interior designers (it was awful). It had a bowling alley and shooting range in the basement.
Richard Zimmerman became a client of mine in 2000. At the time, he was ill and working to get his affairs in order. He told me how the house had been sold out of the family in 1976 and that he had spent years trying to get it back. He succeeded in 1990.
I delivered some documents we produced for Richard to the house in 2000 but wasn’t invited in. Tragically, it was torn down in 2015. The property is still held in trust by the Zimmerman family.