Charles Krumm (left) and estate caretaker Alva Richards (right)
The home at 7125 Riverside Drive was built as a permanent residence in 1941 by Charles and Sarah Krumm. Charles Krumm was a prominent attorney in the firm Krumm & Schwenker and had extensive real estate holdings, including dozens of acres surrounding the property. The Krumm family originally built a home at 7075 Riverside Drive in 1915 for use as a summer cottage, and a property at 7049 Riverside Drive was used as a caretaker’s home. Charles Krumm lived in the home from the time of its construction in 1941 until his death in 1944. Sarah Krumm and their son, Albert Krumm, continued to live in the home after Mr. Krumm’s death, and sold the property in 1947.
The home was built in the French-Eclectic style, popular in the United States at the time. Stories surrounding the construction of the house relate that Charles and Sarah Krumm fell in love with a stone Norman-style house they saw in the Bois de Boulogne, outside of Paris, during a trip to France in the late 1930s. One version relates that with photographs and memories in hand, Charles and Sarah came back to the States and set about creating plans for their new home. Another version relates that Charles Krumm approached the owners of the home outside of Paris about purchasing blueprints to the home, but the owners refused his offer. It is said that Krumm commissioned an architect and an engineer to visit the home in France and create their own plans to replicate the design. The French-Eclectic style is illustrated in the circular stone stair tower on the front façade, an asymmetrical plan, field stone wall cladding, full-length casement windows, wrought iron railings and balconies, dominant cross gable roofing, and the entry door set in a simple arched opening with limestone details.
Charles Krumm, an Ohio native and graduate of The Ohio State University College of Law, practiced as an attorney for many years in Columbus and served as the Director of the Ohio National Bank and Director of the American National Fire Insurance Company.
Alva Richards, caretaker of the Riverside Drive estate, maintained the property grounds and assisted on the construction of the home. Richards, his wife Aly (Polly) Tuller Richards, daughter Joyce Richards and son James (Jim) Richards lived in the caretaker’s home at 7049 Riverside Drive during Alva Richard’s tenure as estate caretaker from 1941 to 1946.
