herr2ck: Loser

February 2026.

South Columbus Preparatory Academy, built as the Beck Street School, is the earliest of Columbus’s school buildings that was not an Italianate design. Its architect was David Riebel, who would go on to become the in-house architect of Columbus City Schools, and it is both his earliest school design and the oldest of his documented works in Columbus.

South Columbus Prep is located at 387 East Beck Street in the Schumacher Place neighborhood (not German Village) of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by Beck Street to the north, an alley to the south, Lathrop Street to the east, and Briggs Street to the west.

History

The Franklin County Poorhouse in 1872. (Google Books)

The Beck Street School was completed in 1884, one of the earliest existing schools in Columbus. It was designed by David Riebel in the Renaissance Revival style, with a much different expression than its Italianate predecessors. (Columbus Landmarks calls it Richardsonian Romanesque, which is not correct.) It was built on the site of the Franklin County Poorhouse/Infirmary, which was constructed around 1839 and suffered a fire in 1878. Although the city planned to repair the structure and use it as a school, it was weakened after it was divided into classrooms, and it was ultimately demolished.

The exterior of the school in 1922. (All Columbus Data)

Beck Street School was remodeled twice in 1925 and 1953. The first renovation seems to have altered the entrance by removing the entablature and replacing it with a vaulted transom window. The second involved an addition to the building. It isn’t clear to me if the Modern addition on the southwest side was done in one go or expanded later on, as it has a pretty large footprint.

The school circa 1960-1970. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

In 2015, the elementary school became the Columbus Gifted Academy for 3rd-8th graders. However, the school closed in 2017 and relocated to the former Everett Middle School in Victorian Village, designated a Most Endangered Site by Columbus Landmarks soon after in 2019. Luckily, it was put up for sale and purchased by the South Columbus Preparatory Academy, its current tenant. South Columbus Prep is a K-8 school with free tuition, meals, and transportation.

Photos

Here is the school as it appears today:

Crazy to think that this design was about 20 years ahead of its time, and that by the turn of the 20th century almost every single Columbus school was being built in a similar classical manner. I was shocked when I found out it was built in 1884.

Off-center photo of the north facade:

Most of the facade is brick, with a stone water table and lintels. The classical ornamentation is metal, based on the chipping paint before it was recently painted blue. It has a symmetrical design that is very common with classical and Renaissance-influenced buildings.

The entrance’s stone columns are original, but the vaulted window and curvy entablature above are alterations that probably date to the school’s first renovation.

The design is so harmonious with the original that I didn’t even notice.

I like the lintel engraved with the school’s name:

One of the two pedimented corner wings:

The school’s cornerstone is here, crediting Riebel as the architect:

The pediment itself is a design I’ve seen on many other Columbus schools, meaning it was probably mass-produced. It has corbelling and denticulation along its length:

The bulk of the school from Beck and Briggs:

This view of the west facade is obscured by the addition. I have a better one of the east facade coming up in a bit, which is identical:

It is shallower than the front and has a central pediment.

Never really been a fan of these Modern additions. They’re just like Ohio State’s mid-century additions to existing buildings--not related in form, style, or expression in the slightest.