POST, LEWIS & RADCLIFFE BUILDING
Post-Lewis Radcliffe Bldg. East Water Street is engulfed in the Centennial Parade in this stereo image from July 4, 1876. Today, the exterior of the Post-Radcliffe Building is much modified from its original design. Image courtesy of Sandusky Library Archives Research Center
Halsey C. Post, Lucius W. Lewis and James B. Radcliffe purchased the corner lot on Columbus Avenue and East Water Street in 1866 and built a three story Romanesque style building of limestone with a brick façade to house their grocery and ship chandlery.
In 1869, Alfred Platt opened his photography studio on the third floor (third floors often featured skylights, favored by photographers in the days before industrial lighting). After Platte’s death Charles Wildenthaler established a photography shop in the same location.
This picture shows the building as seen from the lakefront. Although difficult to see, there are fire escapes along the side of the building and horse drawn wagons on the street.
The Pabst Café and Dining Room (above), managed by Albert Lauber opened in 1910, and the Royal Movie Theater operated on the first floor until 1916.
The Royal Order of Moose rented the top floors in 1919, and later purchased the entire building. The group removed most of the decorative aspects of the structure, resulting in a plain front exterior.
The clean lines of the building can be seen here, on the right side. The larger building further down the street is Graham Drug.
Thomas Steinemann bought the building in 1978 and made many improvements, including the removal of permastone from the first floor façade and replacing it with brick. In 1984 Lee and Rita Baumeister established the Brass Pelican, a popular bar and grille. Most recently, the building housed the Water Street Bar and Grill, which closed in 2015. Cleveland developer Rick Semersky bought the building that same year and received a $100,000 loan from the city of Sandusky to open the Leaking Boot, a high-end restaurant and bar. that project was never completed – Post Lewis Radcliff bar plans.
In July 2018 a massive storm damaged several buildings along Water Street. Here you can see some of cleanup effort as the front of the building gets repaired as well as the rear of the Post-Lewis Radcliffe Bldg.