{"nrhp_refnum":"74001570","name":"Rayen School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"222 Wick Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Youngstown","county":"Mahoning County","state":"OH","lat":41.102492564000045,"lon":-80.63611073099997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-10-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick Greek Revival school building at 222 Wick Avenue and 20 West Wood Avenue in Youngstown, Mahoning County, Ohio, opened in 1866 with additions made in 1894 and 1910.","why_significant":"The original wing is an excellent Greek Revival building and a rare surviving mid-nineteenth century academy building. It brought together an unusual number of recognized building tradesmen, including brick mason P. Ross Berry, a free Black craftsman. The later additions were designed to match the original style, and the building survived in the center of a large city.","narrative":"Rayen School is a brick school building on a slight rise facing Wick Avenue, two blocks from Youngstown's central square. The original two-story, four-room section opened in 1866 and follows the Greek Revival style, with a seven-bay facade, a portico of four wooden fluted Ionic columns, brick pilasters, sandstone foundations and lintels, and a low cupola with a lantern. Additions in 1894 and 1910 matched the original exterior, and the 1910 Wood Avenue wing has a Neo-Classical revival entrance. The school was founded under the will of Judge William Rayen, who died in 1854 and asked for a school free to all regardless of color or religion. It later became the public high school. The building is valued as a rare surviving mid-nineteenth century academy and for the skilled trades who built it, including brick mason P. Ross Berry, a free Black craftsman. The building now houses school board offices.","period_of_significance":"1866; 1894; 1910","architect_builder":"Nomination names Simeon Porter as architect, William Watson as contractor, William Byers as stone mason, P. Ross Berry as brick mason and Daniel V. Tilden as carpenter. A 1987 letter withdraws the Porter attribution as unsupported.","architectural_style":"Greek Revival, with Italianate brackets and a Neo-Classical revival entrance on the Wood Avenue addition","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as in good condition and altered; the whole building serves as the Board of Education headquarters.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:08.946022-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/74001570.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001570/8b22881c9c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001570/8b22881c9c-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Judge_William_Rayen_Building.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Judge_William_Rayen_Building.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71990092","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayen_High_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7298442"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/mahoning-county/rayen-school-74001570/"}