{"nrhp_refnum":"75001539","name":"Western Reserve Academy","other_names":["Western Reserve College - Academy"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Aurora St. and both sides of Oviatt, High,","address_restricted":false,"city":"Hudson","county":"Summit County","state":"OH","lat":41.246213625500076,"lon":-81.43729498943404,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-06-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district of about 58 acres in Hudson, Summit County, Ohio, covering the campus of Western Reserve College and Academy and surrounding professors' houses. The oldest buildings date from the late 1820s and 1830s.","why_significant":"The district holds the original campus of Western Reserve College, founded in 1826, and the later Western Reserve Academy, with a notable group of early 19th-century Federal and Greek Revival buildings. The nomination presents it as important for education, architecture and campus planning, and as an integral part of Hudson's community life. Later buildings were deliberately harmonized with the early ones under James Ellsworth's 1916 requirement for colonial architecture.","narrative":"Western Reserve Academy occupies the Hudson, Ohio, campus first laid out for Western Reserve College, planned in the early 1820s and founded in 1826. The district includes the Chapel of 1835-36, built by Simeon and Orrin Porter and described in the form as the most important work of architecture in a town rich in good buildings. Other early structures include the President's House, North College, the Observatory and the Athenaeum, with professors' houses and the 1806 David Hudson House nearby. The college moved to Cleveland in 1882, while the academy stayed in Hudson, closed from 1903 to 1916, and then reopened with James Ellsworth's financial backing. Ellsworth required new buildings to follow colonial architecture so they would harmonize with existing ones. The district was listed for its architecture, its role in education, and its campus planning, and for its lasting influence on the village of Hudson.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Simeon and Orrin Porter (Chapel, President's House); Simeon Porter (Observatory, Athenaeum, Seymour house); Leander Starr (Hosford House); Page and Corbusier (Seymour Hall)","architectural_style":"Federal and Greek Revival, with Classic Revival and colonial-style later additions","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as excellent and altered, on its original site; occupied and in educational use, with some buildings used for museum and residential purposes.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.090135-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/75001539.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001539/609bb3f798-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001539/609bb3f798-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":null,"credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WRA_brick_row.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown author</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WRA_brick_row.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"89001452","name":"Hudson Historic District (Boundary Increase)","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/ohio/hudson-historic-district-boundary-increase-89001452/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71991577","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Reserve_Academy","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7988234"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/summit-county/western-reserve-academy-75001539/"}