{"nrhp_refnum":"74001555","name":"Westervelt Hall","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"39 S. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Oberlin","county":"Lorain County","state":"OH","lat":41.290660298000034,"lon":-82.21670594399995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-05-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Westervelt Hall is a three-story brick and stone building with a basement at 39 South Main Street in Oberlin, Lorain County, Ohio, built in 1873-74 as a school.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as a notable example of an 1870s educational building, with a sturdy wood frame and an attractive masonry exterior. Its placement set back from Main Street, near the municipal building and half a block from the Oberlin College campus, makes it a focal point of the townscape. It also had a long relationship with Oberlin's citizens and college students.","narrative":"Westervelt Hall, at 39 South Main Street in Oberlin, Ohio, is a three-story brick and stone building with a basement, constructed in 1873-74. Its walls are masonry and bear the load, with a wood frame inside. The design is Victorian with a Gothic flavor: narrow pointed-arch windows, buttressed corners, stone string courses, bracketed eaves and decorative brick corbelling. A hipped roof with a flattened center, two elaborate chimneys and the truncated base of a former tower top the structure. Inside, a long central hall runs east to west, with four large corner rooms, pressed metal ceilings and wood wainscots. The building served as a school house for many years until 1926, when Oberlin College acquired it and used it for various purposes. It sits well back from the street, forming a small green space, and stands near the municipal building and close to the college campus. It was listed as a notable example of 1870s educational architecture and for its role in the townscape.","period_of_significance":"19th Century","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Victorian Era, with a somewhat Gothic character","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as in good condition and altered; the original tower has been reduced to a truncated base. The form marks the building as unoccupied and owned by Oberlin College.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:10.426434-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/74001555.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001555/4d386bd243-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001555/4d386bd243-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"GrandmaR","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Westervelt_Hall.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">GrandmaR</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:Westervelt_Hall.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"03000324","name":"Downtown Oberlin Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/ohio/downtown-oberlin-historic-district-03000324/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71989831","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138514950"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/lorain-county/westervelt-hall-74001555/"}