{"nrhp_refnum":"05001576","name":"Brownell School and Annex","other_names":["Sumner St. School, CUY-132-1","Cuy-3390-1"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1300-1360 Sumner St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cleveland","county":"Cuyahoga County","state":"OH","lat":41.497891707000065,"lon":-81.67999287399994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-02-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Brownell School & Annex is a pair of brick school buildings with a gymnasium addition at 1300-1360 Sumner Street in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The annexes date from 1884 and 1903, and the gymnasium from 1909.","why_significant":"The nomination argues significance under Criterion A for education. It is the last remaining school building in downtown Cleveland and reflects the era when the area east and south of Public Square was residential. The school is tied to educating immigrant students and to pioneering new educational theories.","narrative":"Brownell School & Annex is a group of two brick school buildings and a gymnasium addition facing Sumner Street and the Erie Street Cemetery in downtown Cleveland. The original 1865 school was demolished in 1930, leaving the 1884 Italianate annex designed by Eisenman and Blunt, and the plainer 1903 annex by Frank S. Barnum, who served as consulting architect to the Cleveland Board of Education. A 1909 Classical Revival gymnasium connects to the earlier annex. Overcrowding drove the construction of the annexes, and the school served a large, diverse student body, with a newspaper noting that forty-two nationalities passed through its doors. It is the last remaining school building in the downtown district. Inside, the buildings keep original stairways, wainscoting and classroom layouts, while the gymnasium now houses a law office. Together with the brick street, stone curbs and cemetery wall, the buildings form an intimate historic streetscape. The property was listed for its role in Cleveland's educational history.","period_of_significance":"1884-1930","architect_builder":"John Eisenman; Frank S. Barnum","architectural_style":"Late Victorian/Italianate","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"The gymnasium has been adapted as a law office, and the 1903 annex classrooms have been subdivided into offices. The current function is listed as Education/College.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:07.371863-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/05001576.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05001576/a7556b1e11-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05001576/a7556b1e11-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"LeeG7144","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1300_Sumner_Ct.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">LeeG7144</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1300_Sumner_Ct.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71987853","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownell_School_and_Annex","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q30626848"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/cuyahoga-county/brownell-school-and-annex-05001576/"}