{"nrhp_refnum":"74001463","name":"Telling, William E., House","other_names":["South Euclid Branch Library"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4645 Mayfield Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"South Euclid","county":"Cuyahoga County","state":"OH","lat":41.52015339600007,"lon":-81.51267147199997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-10-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A twenty-six room Norman-inspired mansion at 4645 Mayfield Road in South Euclid, Ohio, built 1928-1930 for dairy executive William E. Telling and designed by architect John S. Kelly. A brick gatehouse on the estate was added to the listing later.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it one of the last surviving large industrialist's mansions in its community and an excellent example of eclectic French provincial design, notable for its interior ornamental detail. It is also set into a sloping 23-acre site to create a striking view from the north. It is tied to Telling, president of the Telling Belle Vernon Company.","narrative":"This twenty-six room mansion on Mayfield Road in South Euclid was built in 1928 for William E. Telling, president of the Telling Belle Vernon Company, a Cleveland dairy and ice-cream business. Architect John S. Kelly designed it in an eclectic style drawn from country houses of Normandy, with a stone foundation, half-timbered upper stories faced in plaster or stucco, and turreted shapes on the north garden side. Inside are Gothic-arched doorways, a stone staircase, a living room ceiling with molded plaster zodiac signs, an octagonal breakfast room and a two-story study. The complex was finished in 1930 at a cost of $700,000. Telling lived there less than ten years, and the Cuyahoga County Public Library bought it in 1950, using it as a branch library with few structural changes beyond enclosing the conservatory. A brick gatehouse, the first building on the estate and also by Kelly, was later added to the listing.","period_of_significance":"1928-1930","architect_builder":"John S. Kelly (architect)","architectural_style":"Eclectic French provincial style derived from Normandy country houses","criteria":[],"status_note":"Used as a county public library since 1950; condition stated as excellent and altered only by modern library fittings and the enclosed conservatory. The nomination notes the property is zoned commercial.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.971438-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/74001463.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001463/9260edfeb2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001463/9260edfeb2-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"THD3","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Telling_back.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">THD3</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:Telling_back.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71987725","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q137734779"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/cuyahoga-county/telling-william-e-house-74001463/"}