{"nrhp_refnum":"76001515","name":"Riddle Block","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Public Sq., Chestnut, and Main Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ravenna","county":"Portage County","state":"OH","lat":41.157307864000074,"lon":-81.24296119299999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-03-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A large four-story brick commercial block in the Romanesque style on Public Square at Chestnut and Main Streets in Ravenna, Portage County, Ohio. Henry W. Riddle erected it in 1888.","why_significant":"The block is presented as a product of the commercial enterprise and prosperity of a small county seat in the 1880s. It is an individually designed yet representative example of late nineteenth century Romanesque architecture. It also has a largely intact exterior and interior, and it is tied to Henry W. Riddle, a local businessman and builder.","narrative":"Riddle Block is a four-story brick commercial building on Public Square in Ravenna, Ohio, at the corner of Chestnut and Main Streets. Henry W. Riddle built it in 1888, and the date is incised in a stone in the main gable. The design is Romanesque and deliberately unsymmetrical, with a pyramidal-roofed tower at the north corner, a grand round-arched entrance, and dormers set in a mansard roof. Apart from a stone-faced ground story at the corner bank, the exterior has seen little modernization. Inside, an oak staircase with a skylight rises to all four floors, offices line the upper corridors, and a public hall occupies the center of the fourth floor. The building was listed as a reflection of the commercial prosperity of a small county seat in the 1880s. Riddle, a former carriage-factory worker who became its owner, put up many business buildings, and about a dozen Ravenna structures bore his name.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Romanesque, described in a later data sheet as eclectic with Richardsonian Romanesque elements","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as occupied in 1975 and in good, largely unaltered condition. The fourth-floor public hall was described as deserted and somewhat deteriorated.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.70315-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/76001515.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001515/f571a31e02-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001515/f571a31e02-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"JonRidinger","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Riddle_Block.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">JonRidinger</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Riddle_Block.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71990979","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138653998"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/portage-county/riddle-block-76001515/"}