February 2026.
The Reeb Center, built as the Reeb Avenue School, is an adaptive reuse of a former school building into a community center. I wouldn’t say the building has any special architectural significance, but it’s still a solid historic building and deserved to be saved.
The Reeb Center is located at 280 Reeb Avenue in the Reeb-Hosack neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by an alley to the north, Reeb Avenue to the south, Washington Avenue to the east, and 8th Street to the west.
History
Reeb Avenue School was built to accommodate the demand for schools in the industrial area at Columbus’s southern end. Reeb Avenue School began construction in 1905, and it opened for the school year in September 1907. It was designed in the Beaux-Arts style by Columbus City School architect David Riebel. A 1907 report noted that the “well located” schools would help relieve overcrowding at Fair Avenue Elementary School in Franklin Park and the 23rd Street School in King-Lincoln Bronzeville.
This first phase only included the central bay of Reeb Avenue School, and the wings on either side were added in 1910 at a cost of $43,087. The city’s population had grown by 60,000 people between 1900 and 1910, meaning most schools were overcrowded. Since the school was in a rapidly growing area of Columbus (due to the steel companies nearby), it naturally needed more classroom space for incoming children.
The school in 1950. (All Columbus Data)
As of 1921, Reeb Avenue School had 690 students, fourth overall out of around 50 elementary schools in Columbus. (Nearby Southwood Elementary School was first with 738 students.) Yet again, the city continued to grow and so did enrollment, so there was a grand building campaign ongoing at the time. Although it resulted in Columbus’s directional high schools (North, South, East, West, and Central), Reeb Avenue School instead received a renovation project designed by David Riebel’s successor, Howard Dwight Smith. Smith added new cloakrooms, light fixtures and outlets, a new plaster ceiling, and renovated the teachers’ lounge.
Reeb Avenue School hosted the “Americanization Program” established by the Columbus Board of Education beginning in 1923. Although the name sounds a little indoctrination-y, it actually taught English to immigrants, as well as American history and government for those seeking to apply for citizenship. It was the only school to host this program in the whole south side. Along with this special after-hours program, the Reeb Avenue School had two classrooms especially for students with special needs during the school day.
In 1953, the firm Tully & Hobbs designed renovations to the school building, which relocated interior walls, upgraded the building’s systems, and repaired original features such as the wood floors and plaster. Later, a Modern brick addition was built onto the east end of the school between 1967 and 1968 by architects Eiselt & Eiselt, a rather poor exemplar of the style with few windows and boxy massing.
Google Maps snippet of the school from the southeast in 2009, showing the Modern addition.
Enrollment in the south side declined with the turn of the 21st century, and Reeb Avenue School and Southwood Elementary School merged beginning with the 2006-2007 school year. Students attended classes at Reeb while Southwood was being renovated, and after the latter reopened in 2009, the school became vacant and was transferred to the city of Columbus. It was listed on the Columbus Register of Historic Properties in 2013.
After its listing, the Reeb Avenue School received an extensive renovation and addition project. Part of the 1968 addition was demolished, and a one-story Contemporary addition with a footprint similar in size to the original school was built in its place. The school reopened in 2015 as the Reeb Center, a community center, offering services such as preschool and child care, programs for local children, job training, and social services for lower-income residents.
Photos
Here is the facade of the Reeb Center today:
The school is largely brick with a stone foundation and has the typical symmetry and classical ornamentation of the style.
For an otherwise pedestrian Beaux-Arts school, the stone entrance is pretty special. It has two gigantic corbels with lion’s heads supporting a massive entablature:
The pediment and broad second-floor window:
Remember, these branching wings were built in 1910 and were not part of the original building:
Very regular fenestration here.
The end wings are blind and lack any windows. Perhaps the stairs run in this area?
Communities are often anchored by their historic landmarks and their social services, and the Reeb Center manages to combine the two.
Sources:
No comments:
Post a Comment