The Malvern Hills Development

Mrs. Frye sends update...

In March 2019, Mrs. Frye sent another package from Indianapolis with more "lost" history of Malvern Hills.  These newspaper clippings are not from Asheville, though.  When Carl Frye returned to Columbus, he tried to persuade the community that more careful planning should go into creating luxurious neighborhoods in their city, similar to what was under construction in Asheville, North Carolina. 

Although the text is not complete and the edges are worn, it is plain to see that he was very proud of his pinnacle design.  He wrote about the complete package that came along with each lot, including final landscaping and gardens that were included in the price of the lot.  There were only a handful of homes built in Malvern Hills before the Great Depression, and as far as we know, these are the oldest photographs of the neighborhood.  The exact date of these is unknown, but it is probably about 1927.

The first clipping is a view of what is now 161 School Road, taken from the hill top, probably near the intersection of Clarendon and Cranford. 

The second clipping is a real gem because it depicts the final streetscape of Malvern Hills - complete with street lamps, underground utilities, and sidewalk.  These amenities were ahead of their time, and the desperate years that followed allowed the copper to be stolen from the underground, and the street lamps melted down.  The clubhouse is shown, still under construction, along with a picture of Carl Frye himself, the designer of Malvern Hills.