herr2ck: Barrett Junior High School

February 2026.

The Barrett, as it is known today, was once the original home of South High School. It closely resembles East High School’s older, demolished location in Franklin Park. The former school has recently been adaptively reused into apartments.

The Barrett is located at 345 East Deshler Avenue in the Merion Village neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by Deshler Avenue to the north, the newly built apartments and Thurman Avenue to the south, new houses and Washington Avenue to the east, and Bruck Street to the west.

History

South High School, along with East High School, was established due to overcrowding at North and Central High Schools. (North High School itself was founded in 1892 after Central High School was outgrown.) This was a result of the desegregation of Columbus schools in the 1880s and stricter attendance laws for students. The rapidly growing south and east sides of Columbus were seen as suitable candidates for new high school buildings. German Village was already densely populated, but nearby Merion Village was seeing rapid growth as factories were built further south in Steelton. Prior to the construction of the first purpose-built school for South High, students attended classes at Ohio Avenue Elementary beginning in 1895 and Central High School in 1897.

The Barrett in 1909. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

The Barrett was built as South High School by Columbus City Schools resident architect David Riebel. A Renaissance Revival design with a concrete and steel frame, it opened on October 12, 1900 in a ceremony attended by Ohio State president William Oxley Thompson. (Thompson would soon go on to advocate for resegregation of Columbus’s schools.) Riebel modeled the building after his then-recently built East High School, which was nearing completion when South High School’s construction began in 1898. The NRHP listing noted that many of the original interior finishes remained in 2015, including wooden trim and stamped tin ceilings. Aside from conventional classrooms, the basement had a kitchen and trade classrooms, and the third floor once housed an auditorium.

As of 1901, the surrounding area had lots divided and two outhouses built for the school’s use, but only a few houses had then been built. However, the school’s completion spurred rapid development in the area. The school property was extended southward to Thurman Avenue circa 1920.

1924 postcard of The Barrett. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

In the 1920s, every single high school in Columbus received a new building. South High School was the second of these, completed in 1923 at 1160 Ann Street a few blocks east down Deshler and opening in March 1924. East High School’s new building was completed a year earlier in 1922, North and Central High Schools also opened in 1924, and the new West High School was the last to be completed in 1929. Howard Dwight Smith designed some alterations to the old East High School building in 1924, namely new steel and concrete stairs with partitions for fire safety. Smith also converted the third floor’s auditorium to a gymnasium. Old South High School became Barrett Junior High School (later Barrett Middle School) thereafter, named after South High School’s first principal, Charles S. Barrett.

A one-story Modern addition was built onto the southeast end of The Barrett in stages, with the three opening in 1953, 1958, and 1963, respectively. The first two were designed by Benham, Richards, & Armstrong, while the third was by C. B. Forward & Associates with David E. Jones. The addition was demolished as part of the conversion process to apartments, but it had minimal effect on the original building. This added more classroom space and two gymnasiums, allowing the older gymnasium/former auditorium to be subdivided into classrooms. At this time, the original site was expanded to its current configuration, extending eastward to Washington Avenue and demolishing the houses formerly between the alley and Washington Avenue.

The school building as of 2015. (NRHP listing)

Barrett Middle School operated until 2006, and the building was temporarily used by South High School from 2007 to 2009, while their newer building was being renovated. After that, it was abandoned for a period of time. It was listed on the Columbus Register of Historic Properties in 2006 and the National Register of Historic Places in 2015 as the Charles S. Barrett Building.

The vacant building was converted to apartments circa 2015-2016, now known as The Barrett. Along with the school, five three-story apartment buildings were built to the south, as well as 22 houses to the east.

Photos

Approaching the building from the west:

It was tough to get a shot of the entire facade due to its length and the houses right behind me. Here is an angled view that does a fair job:

Very Renaissance design with the rougher stone foundation, string courses separating each floor, and a “piano nobile” on the top floor. Each wing appears to be a disparate part, but they are all connected with smaller passages.

The main “block” of the school:

That cherry picker in the way made my life difficult, too. The first two floors are pretty unremarkable aside from the slightly larger lintels on the second floor with keystones. The third floor is double-height, with tall vaulted windows lining the facade. A massive denticulated cornice with modillions runs below the building’s roof. The third floor here is taller and has a larger cornice than the others, which also establishes a hierarchy in relation to the smaller wings.

The entrance is also emphasized with this large stone portico, which has doubled Doric columns supporting an entablature and balustrade:

The columns themselves look good, but the cornice seems pretty nasty with age. Hard to believe it’s only 120 years old instead of 2000 like the Greek temples it was modeled after.

Main entrance, which has two pilasters supporting an arch:

Had to peek through the gap made by the steel decking…you can sort of make out the tin ceiling here:

Zoomed in on the third floor:

More yummy Renaissance details:

Is that paint or bird poop on the keystones? Something makes me think the former.

One of the recessed connectors, which also has a secondary entrance:

A closer look at the entrance here:

Eastern wing:

From the northeast:

Back to the western end--here’s the west facade:

It is shorter and less intricate, with regular window openings across the entire span.

The new apartments aren’t really similar to the old high school, which was likely deliberate. Their height and simpler design does not compete with the historic building.

At least they make a nice frame for the building and reinforce its classical axis:

MUCH better framing and distance from the facade here, even if it’s just the rear.

It is remarkably similar to the front aside from absent string courses and the vaulted third-floor windows. Remember, it was designed to be viewed from all sides.

Not sure what’s up with the aluminum foil on the third floor’s windows:

Zoomed in on the cornice:

It appears to be metal, not stone.

The side wings are pretty much identical, only missing the string courses. It seems like a few modillions and dentils on the cornice have gone missing over the years.

Seems like some openings on the inside have been infilled, too:

Same case on the eastern end, too. They seem smaller than windows, but there’s big gaps below that were also bricked up…were they skybridges? I don’t know what’s up with the scorching, either.