Lansdowne House - Greenville, Ohio

 

Zachary Lansdowne in front of British Airship R34. He trained with the crew, and became the first American to cross the Atlantic nonstop by air as the American naval observer aboard the R-34's 1919 transatlantic flight.

The ZR-1 U.S.S. Shenandoah 1923-1924

The Lansdowne House was built about 1870 f o r James M. Lansdowne. A son, Zachary, was born to him in the house on December 1, 1888, and the boy lived there while attending the Greenville schools. Shortly before graduating, Zachary left for the Navy Academy in Annapolis. He then served in Europe with the Naval Air Service during World War I. Here Lansdowne became involved with lighter-than-air aircraft, and upon returning to the states, was made commander of the Naval Air Station at Akron, Ohio, where he helped supervise blimp construction. In 1921, Captain Lansdowne was attached to the new Bureau of Aeronautics and assisted in the construction of the first U.S. built large rigid airship. For a time in the early 20s he served at the American Embassy in Berlin as the special liaison with the Zeppelin Works. After transfer back to the Bureau offices in Maryland, he was made Commander of the Navy's major airship, the Shenandoah. Zachary Lansdowne had an impressive list of pioneering achievements in lighter-than-air aviation and made major contributions toward the development of this field into a true military science. He suggested many design improvements that were incorporated in later American built airships. The Shenandoah made a number of important flights and the Captain developed special techniques for long overland flights and landings which were entirely unprecedented. Captain Lansdowne maintained close ties with his hometown of Greenville where his elderly mother still resided in the family home. During the transcontinental round-trip of the Shenandoah in October 1924, the Captain flew over Greenville and circled it while he conversed with his mother over a short he had bought for her. Although he lived in Lakehurst, New Jersey with his wife and daughter, the house in Greenville was listed as the home of the Captain upon his death in 1925.

The crash of the Shenandoah in early September 1925, resulting in the death of Lansdowne and 13 other crew members, was one of the most controversial air disasters in the 20th Century. Lansdowne had previously advised his superiors against a trip into the mid-west during the thunderstorm season, but the Navy's desire for publicity overrode these concerns. Sadly, the airship broke in two during severe thunderstorm over Noble County, Ohio. Architecturally, the Lansdowne House is unremarkable, it is a simple two-story rectangular frame structure ( Its horizontal wooden siding is now covered with synthetic shingles and the original louvered shutters have been removed and replaced on the facade with solid shutters ).  However, due to its connection to Zachary Lansdowne, it qualified to be posted to the National Register of Historic Places on April 20, 1979. GPS: 40.10410°N, -84.62888°W.