{"nrhp_refnum":"74001552","name":"Monteith Hall","other_names":["Monteith-Gates Residence"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"218 East Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Elyria","county":"Lorain County","state":"OH","lat":41.36556908800003,"lon":-82.10367323699995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-10-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Monteith Hall (Monteith-Gates Residence) is a large three-story frame house at 218 East Avenue in Elyria, Lorain County, Ohio. It was built in 1835 in the Greek Revival style and remodeled in the Neo-Classic Revival style beginning in 1897.","why_significant":"The house was built by John Monteith, first president of the University of Michigan and an abolitionist, and was later the home of Nahum B. Gates and William N. Gates. It is also notable architecturally as a Greek Revival house enlarged into an excellent example of Neo-Classic Revival, with the 1897 additions planned by Cleveland architect Frank B. Meade.","narrative":"Monteith Hall is a large three-story frame house at 218 East Avenue in Elyria, Ohio. John Monteith, the first president of the University of Michigan, built it in 1835 in the Greek Revival style and ran a girls' school there. An outspoken abolitionist, he used the house to shelter fugitive slaves traveling toward Lake Erie. In 1848 it passed to his son-in-law Nahum B. Gates, and in 1893 it was willed to William N. Gates, founder of what was described as the second oldest advertising agency in the nation. Beginning in 1897 Gates remodeled it to plans by Cleveland architect Frank B. Meade, widening the facade to seven bays and adding a two-story Ionic portico. The central hall keeps its Greek Revival woodwork. Later changes included a sun porch and dormers in 1913 and a kitchen in 1954, the year the Elyria Woman's Club acquired the property.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (specific dates 1835; 1897)","architect_builder":"John Monteith (builder, 1835); Frank B. Meade (architect of 1897 additions)","architectural_style":"Neo-Classic Revival (originally Greek Revival)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in excellent condition and altered; occupied and owned by the Elyria Woman's Club, which acquired it in 1954.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.697523-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/74001552.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001552/9d1ef26216-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001552/9d1ef26216-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"TnrSmith","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MonteithHall.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">TnrSmith</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:MonteithHall.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"00001663","name":"Elyria Downtown-West Avenue Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/ohio/elyria-downtown-west-avenue-historic-district-00001663/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71989829","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138497133"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/lorain-county/monteith-hall-74001552/"}