Berry Boltworks brick facade and clerestory windows
Est. 1888  ·  National Register of Historic Places

Berry Boltworks

350 East First Avenue  ·  Italian Village  ·  Columbus, Ohio

One of two bolt factories built to supply the buggy makers and machine shops of Columbus. The only one in the city that survived, and it is still working, now as modern-day office space.

Current Availability Building History
The Building

A century of character no modern office building can manufacture

The Berry Brothers Bolt Works constructed this building in 1888 for one purpose: to make bolts and nuts for Columbus's carriage factories and machine works. The site was chosen deliberately: alongside the Big Four Railroad and directly across from the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, a ready customer at the front door.

The plant grew twice, in 1900 and again in 1910, each addition matching the original brick, roofline, and window openings. By the early 1920s the building had the footprint it holds today. What is unusual is what happened next: almost nothing. Berry Brothers ran its original 1880s bolt-making machinery straight into the 1980s, staying in the same family for nearly a hundred years.

That continuity is what earned the building its place on the National Register, which recognized it as the last intact historic industrial facility of its kind remaining in Columbus. The work has changed since then, but the building has not. The same brick walls, exposed wood ceilings, original floors, tall windows, and stair tower that once served a working factory now serve its office tenants.

Original bolt-making equipment preserved in the building
Original equipment, still in the building
1888
Original factory built
100
Years in one family
1988
National Register listing
2004
Renovated as offices
The full First Avenue elevation with the stair tower and on-site parking
1886 – Present

The History

Drawn from the building's 1987 National Register nomination and our own research. Scroll within the timeline for the full history.

1886
Founding

Richard Berry comes to Columbus

Richard Berry arrives in Columbus, drawn by the city's booming carriage industry. He contracts with Columbus Bolt Works to manufacture nuts that can be marketed alongside their bolts, the seed of what becomes Berry Brothers.

1887
Founding

The brothers arrive

Richard brings his two brothers from Cleveland. Together they erect a small shop of their own near Columbus Bolt Works and install five new machines for nut manufacturing. Columbus that year is at its peak as a carriage-making center, with eighteen buggy factories running in the city.

1888
This building

A factory built to order

Berry Brothers constructs the building that still stands at 350 East First Avenue: a 2½-story main building fronting E First Ave with a one-story forging area and clerestory to the rear. For the first time the brothers make and sell both bolts and nuts under their own name. Products include tire bolts, stove and step bolts, carriage and machine bolts, rivets, nuts, and coach screws.

1900
Growth

The business outgrows its walls

The first major expansion: a second floor over the rear shop, the original clerestory relocated above the new level, and the four-level exterior stair tower added on the west side, still the building's most recognizable feature.

1905
Growth

Cited in the national bolt industry history

W. R. Wilbur's History of the Bolt and Nut Industry of America calls the firm's business "uninterruptedly prosperous and progressive." Of twenty-five bolt and nut plants then operating in Ohio, only two are in Columbus: Berry Brothers and Columbus Bolt Works.

1910
Growth

The building takes its final shape

A second two-story section extends the factory to the rear, again matching the original materials, roofline, and window treatment. The frame garage and the gabled brick annealing room follow by 1921. From the early 1920s on, the footprint is the one you see today.

1950s
Peak years

Peak production

Berry Brothers reaches its peak with a workforce of seventy-five. Buggies have disappeared from Columbus streets, but the factory's original bolt-making machinery keeps producing parts for the automotive industry. In 1953 an Ohio State study names metal forging the oldest surviving industry in Columbus, and Berry Brothers the only firm of its group still operating in its original plant.

1970s
Peak years

One change in nearly a century

Individual electric motors replace the original line-shafting system. The nomination calls it the only significant change made to the operation of the machinery since the nineteenth century. Equipment dating from as early as 1888 and as late as 1927 remains in daily use.

1988
Preservation

Listed on the National Register

On February 19, 1988, Berry Brothers Bolt Works is added to the National Register of Historic Places (reference no. 88000051), a rare listing for a factory still running its original nineteenth-century equipment. The nomination describes a working museum of turn-of-the-century industrial process, complete with its original factory office, wood paneling, time clock, and safe.

2000–04
Adaptive reuse

A new chapter begins

The building is purchased in 2000 for redevelopment, well ahead of Italian Village's later wave of investment. Construction starts in 2004, when renovation turns the century-old factory into offices. "Berry Brothers Bolt Works" becomes Berry Boltworks.

Today
New ownership

Under new ownership

New ownership is leaning into what makes the building rare, investing in its exterior, interior, and common areas while drawing out the history already in the walls. The intent is not to modernize away the factory, but to make its story legible to everyone who works here.

The Archive

The factory floor, photographed in the 1970s

By the time these photographs were taken, nothing on the floor had meaningfully changed since the building was a working bolt factory. The machines, the wire stock, and the office were all as they had been for most of a century.

Original Building. The 1888 main building fronting East First Avenue, with the stair tower visible down the length of the site.
Original Building
The 1888 main building fronting East First Avenue, with the stair tower visible down the length of the site.
Stair tower. Four levels under a hip roof, added in the 1900 expansion and still the building's signature from the street.
Stair tower
Four levels under a hip roof, added in the 1900 expansion and still the building's signature from the street.
Annealing room. The gabled brick annealing room added by 1921, with the 1900 stair tower behind it and the sawtooth clerestory running left.
Annealing room
The gabled brick annealing room added by 1921, with the 1900 stair tower behind it and the sawtooth clerestory running left.
Main shop. The open die headers Berry Brothers designed themselves, lined up under the clerestory. Some of this equipment dated to 1888.
Main shop
The open die headers Berry Brothers designed themselves, lined up under the clerestory. Some of this equipment dated to 1888.
Stock and drives. Coiled wire stock stacked against the window wall, with the belt-and-pulley drives that replaced the original line shafting in the 1970s.
Stock and drives
Coiled wire stock stacked against the window wall, with the belt-and-pulley drives that replaced the original line shafting in the 1970s.
The factory office. Wood paneling, roll-top desk, and counter, cited in the National Register nomination alongside the original time clock and safe.
The factory office
Wood paneling, roll-top desk, and counter, cited in the National Register nomination alongside the original time clock and safe.
Full Building History
New Ownership

Upgrades Underway

Work is in progress on the interiors and on the building's identity. Anything on the exterior sits in the Italian Village Historic District, so it moves at the pace of the Commission's review; the interior work does not.

History Wall

In progress

A permanent installation on the ground floor telling the factory's story, with archival material and reserved space for artifacts from the building itself.

Equipment Plaques

In progress

The original machinery still in the building, including the wheel upstairs and the shelving, identified and labeled so it reads as a collection rather than leftovers.

Interior Paint & Lighting

In progress

Common areas repainted in a warm foundry palette of creams and beiges, with warmer lighting to match the brick and timber instead of fighting it.

Art Removal & Curation

In progress

The existing corridor art comes down, replaced by a curated program drawn from the building's own industrial record.

Monument Sign

Planned

A new building and tenant-directory sign at the First Avenue entrance, built as an oversized steel bolt with replaceable brass tenant slats. Pending Italian Village Commission approval.

Exterior Mural Update

Planned

Restoration of the existing exterior mural, submitted to the Commission as a restoration rather than a repainting. Pending approval.

Exterior Up-Lighting

Planned

Grazing light on the brick and stair tower after dark, so the building reads from First Avenue at night. Pending approval.

Not changing

The National Register plaque on the south elevation stays exactly where it is.

Office Space For Lease

Current Availability

Current availability at Berry Boltworks is listed below. Contact our team to schedule a tour.

Berry Boltworks brick stair tower and main entrance
Available 4/30/2027

Suite 150

Size
4,609 SF
Floor
First
Lease rate
$17.95/SF NNN
Features
  • Exposed brick and heavy timber
  • Original wood floors
  • Arched factory windows
  • On-site parking
  • Creative office space
Berry Boltworks brick stair tower against the sky
Available immediately

Suite 210

Size
1,854 SF
Floor
Second
Lease rate
$17.95/SF NNN
Features
  • Exposed brick and heavy timber
  • Original wood floors
  • Arched factory windows
  • On-site parking
  • Creative office space
Let’s Connect

Contact Our Team

Leasing inquiries
Allied
500 S Front St, Suite 980
Columbus, OH 43215
Property Location
350 East First Ave
Italian Village
Columbus, OH 43201
Sources
  • National Register of Historic Places nomination, Berry Brothers Bolt Works, Columbus, Ohio, 1987. Ref. No. 88000051. National Archives Catalog.
  • W. R. Wilbur, History of the Bolt and Nut Industry of America, 1905.
  • Ohio State University study of Columbus forging industry, 1953, as cited in the nomination.
  • Archival interior photographs, 1970s, from the National Register nomination file.
  • Present day photography and property records, Allied.
Berry Boltworks  ·  Est. 1888  ·  National Register of Historic Places, Ref. No. 88000051
Leased by Allied
Allied
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