City guide

architecture in Dayton.

2 buildings worth a detour, each with what to look for. Open them on the map, or walk them with the iPhone app, which collects each one you photograph.

Styles you'll see Renaissance Revival

Landmarks

The buildings that define the city's architecture.

Landmark

Wright Cycle Company

This brick storefront at 22 South Williams Street is the surviving home of the Wright Cycle Company, the bicycle repair, rental, and sales business Wilbur and Orville Wright started in 1892. The brothers worked from this building from 1895 to 1897, selling bicycles of their own design and running their printing shop upstairs while the shop's profits helped fund their aeronautical studies. It is the only extant building on its original foundation and site that housed a Wright bicycle shop, and it is now part of Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park.

Photo: Nyttend , Public domain

Notable buildings

Worth a stop when you're nearby.

Renaissance Revival

Dayton Arcade

Frank Maxwell Andrews · 1902

Built between 1902 and 1904 for Eugene J. Barney of the Barney & Smith Car Company, the Dayton Arcade is a complex of nine interconnecting buildings in the heart of downtown Dayton, designed by architect Frank M. Andrews. As president of the Arcade Company, Barney outfitted it with the latest innovations of the day, including elevators, a power plant, and a cold-storage plant.

Photo: Photo by Greg Hume (Greg5030) , CC BY 3.0