CSX Transportation plans on demolishing a 95-year-old brick roundhouse on the Far South Side that a preservation group has been trying to save for years.
The Columbus Landmarks Foundation put the Parsons Yard roundhouse on its most endangered list in 2020.
Drivers on Parsons Avenue can easily see the roundhouse south of Route 104. Affixed to the roundhouse are CSX signs that say, "Waiting for demolition."
The railroad said that's the plan, although it's unclear when it would begin.
"As part of our ongoing infrastructure maintenance program, CSX has been conducting a wide range of terminal clean-up activities and facility improvements across our network," CSX spokeswoman Sheriee Bowman said in an email. "This systemwide clean-up includes the removal and consolidation of old, unused yard structures and old equipment. At CSX, safety is our highest priority and that starts with a safe, well-maintained work environment.”
"No timeline has been set for demolition," she said.
Chesapeake & Ohio built the 27-bay brick roundhouse in 1927. During the 1950s, parts of the roundhouse at the railroad's Parsons Yard were closed, with unused bays demolished. Fifteen bays remain.
Becky West, Columbus Landmarks' executive director, said CSX doesn't seem to be open to the idea of private investment.
"The demolition of this roundhouse would be a tremendous loss for South Columbus," West said, as well as the city as a whole, the state and the nation.
"Our understanding is that it is one of the few roundhouses with a turntable left," she said.
Local architect Peter Krajnak, president of the Columbus Landmarks Board and chairman of its Endangered Properties Fund Committee, said in an email that the roundhouse should stay.
"The beauty of this roundhouse building lies in the unique form of the building which clearly conveys the former function of locomotive maintenance and storage," Krajnak said.
"The building still has a story to tell, and with a splash of creativity, this structure could potentially be adaptively reused as a destination gathering place, similar to the successful transformation of the former trolley car service building into the East Market in the Trolley District."
Stu Nicholson, the executive director of All Aboard Ohio, also mentioned the old trolley barn complex on the Near East Side that has been redeveloped.
"This is a building worth preserving. Especially in light with what they’ve done with the trolley barn," Nicholson said.
"Make the railroad an offer. They may let it go for a token amount," he said.
The South Side of Columbus is doing a lot to upgrade its look and image, he said. The roundhouse could be used for something else, even a farmers' market, he said.
"This is the last of a breed in Columbus," he said.
Alex Campbell, who runs the columbusrailroads.com website, said the roundhouse was used decades ago for steam locomotives.
Campbell said he hopes it stays but is doubtful.
"I think the railroad would view it as a nuisance," he said. "Rail fans would like it."
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