{"nrhp_refnum":"66000604","name":"Manasseh Cutler Hall, Ohio University","other_names":["College Edifice"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Ohio University campus","address_restricted":false,"city":"Athens","county":"Athens County","state":"OH","lat":39.326137033000066,"lon":-82.10037907199995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1965-12-21","areas_of_significance":["Education"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Manasseh Cutler Hall (also called the College Edifice and the Center College) is a three-story Federal-style building with a gabled roof and wooden cupola on the Ohio University campus in Athens, Ohio. It was begun in 1816 and completed in 1819.","why_significant":"The nomination holds that it is the oldest college building in the old Northwest Territory. It is named for Manasseh Cutler, who wrote the university's charter, and it housed the president's office, including that of William Holmes McGuffey (1839-43). It was later modernized and its exterior restored to its original appearance.","narrative":"Manasseh Cutler Hall is a three-story Federal building with a gabled roof and a wooden cupola, standing on the Ohio University campus in Athens. Construction began in 1816 and finished in 1819 at a cost of $17,806. Originally called the College Edifice, then the Center College, it was later named for Manasseh Cutler, the New England minister, physician and botanist who wrote the university's charter. It is described as the oldest college building in the old Northwest Territory. Early on it served as a dormitory with some laboratory rooms and held the president's office, occupied by William Holmes McGuffey from 1839 to 1843. A remodeling in 1882 raised the roofline three feet. Classes ended in 1937, when the building was declared unsafe for such use, and the interior was modernized with concrete, metal stairs and an elevator. In 1949 the roofline was returned to its original level, so the exterior appears much as first built. It now houses university administrative offices.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in good condition; used as the university's administration building and maintained by the university.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.3204-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/66000604_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000604/69450f0613-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000604/69450f0613-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Orchysterium","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ohio_University_Cutler_Hall.png\" rel=\"noopener\">Orchysterium</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ohio_University_Cutler_Hall.png"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"79001783","name":"Ohio University Campus Green Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/ohio/ohio-university-campus-green-historic-district-79001783/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71986441","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manasseh_Cutler_Hall","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6747025"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/athens-county/manasseh-cutler-hall-ohio-university-66000604/"}