320-322 Broadway

320-322 Broadway. History of the Building. The double townhouse at 320-322 Broadway was built in 1850 for Captain Christopher G. Pearce, superintendent, Louisville and Cincinnati Mail Line and owner of a substantial number of steamboats., From the late 1870's until 1920, the property was the home of prominent merchant, James Dunn Lehmer, his wife Jane, and their four children. James D. Lehmer (1817-1903) was a cotton and peanut dealer, and president of Western Manufacturing Company, makers of "oleomargarine". Pearce had steamboats, was a philanthropist, business and civic leader., Mrs. Lehmer was a Colonial Dame and 9th generation Mayflower descendant. Her elder daughter provided the Fanny Bryce Lehmer Endowment/Fund that made possible the acquisition of many of the more important works of art at the Cincinnati Art Museum., From 1923-1960 a group of American Legion and veterans related organizations were located here. In 1960 it became headquarters of Academy of Medicine., The building has a handsome early Italianate façade of a type of which very few are left in downtown Cincinnati., In 2007 Larry A. Sheakley purchased 320-322 Broadway and spent several years having the building restored to its original structure. The auditorium, which was not original, was demolished from the back of the building allowing Mr. Sheakley to install a bricked courtyard, a covered patio and fountain. The rooms on the first floor were brought back to their original historical appearance. The property is primarily the Sheakley Family Office. The Pearce-Lehmer House is significant historically, architecturally and urbanistically.