{"nrhp_refnum":"76001532","name":"St. Paul's Sunday School and Parish House","other_names":["Firestone Conservatory"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"E. Market and Forge Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Akron","county":"Summit County","state":"OH","lat":41.08087009500008,"lon":-81.50673567599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-11-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story Victorian Gothic sandstone Sunday school and parish house at East Market and Forge Streets in Akron, Ohio, built in 1884-1885 for St. Paul's Episcopal Parish and now known as Firestone Conservatory I.","why_significant":"It is an early building designed specifically as a Sunday school and parish house, and an excellent, rare surviving example of the 'Akron plan' of religious education, which was developed in Akron by Lewis Miller. Miller's original 1868 Sunday school no longer exists.","narrative":"Built in 1884-1885 on a triangular lot at East Market, Forge and Fir Streets in Akron, this two-story Gothic sandstone building was erected for St. Paul's Episcopal Parish at a cost of $35,000 and dedicated on January 6, 1885. Its coursed sandstone walls, corner buttresses and irregular cross-shaped plan carry Victorian Gothic detail. Inside, a main-floor meeting room with a stage opens through a large folding wooden door to a tall west room ringed by a balcony and small classrooms. That arrangement reflects the 'Akron plan,' devised by Lewis Miller, an inventor and father-in-law of Thomas Edison, for graded Sunday school classes. Miller's original Sunday school of 1868 is gone, which makes this building a rare early example of the type. The University of Akron acquired it in 1952 with Firestone Foundation funds, and it now serves as part of the Firestone Conservatory of Music. The adjoining 1909 sanctuary is excluded.","period_of_significance":"1884-1885","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Victorian Gothic (Gothic Revival)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the University of Akron and used as a music school (Firestone Conservatory); a temporary wooden passageway links it to the later 1909 sanctuary, which is not part of the nomination.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:10.244931-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/76001532.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001532/a786184ccf-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001532/a786184ccf-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Robbie Schneider","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Paul%27s_Sunday_School_and_Parish_House_(Akron,_Ohio).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Robbie Schneider</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:St._Paul%27s_Sunday_School_and_Parish_House_(Akron,_Ohio).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71991575","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Paul%27s_Sunday_School_and_Parish_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7591199"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/summit-county/st-pauls-sunday-school-and-parish-house-76001532/"}