Berea District 7 School
Also known as: Berea Fine Arts Club, Inc.
Why it's listed
Built in 1913 on Bagley Road in Berea, this brick schoolhouse served as Berea's District 7 school. It is one story, rectangular in plan, with a hipped slate roof, a gabled center entrance bay with a louvered semicircular opening, and a small open belltower. Arched windows on either side of the entrance have been bricked in. The only major exterior change is a rear wing added in the early 1950s containing a kitchen and two restrooms. Originally a two-room school, it was taken over by the Berea Fine Arts Club in 1935, when the sliding door between the rooms was removed, a stage added and cloakrooms installed; the wooden walls, ceilings and floors remain. The nomination describes it as a good example of the two-room district schoolhouse, an early twentieth-century improvement on the one-room school of the previous century. It continues to host art classes, ballet, theater and church groups, as well as monthly club meetings.
Significance in brief: The nomination presents it as a good example of the two-room district schoolhouse common in the early twentieth century, an improvement on the one-room schoolhouse of the nineteenth century. It notes the building has had very little major alteration and remains in good condition and in regular use. Significance is claimed in architecture and education.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 75001355, listed April 3, 1975. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 323 E. Bagley Rd., Berea |
|---|---|
| County | Cuyahoga County |
| Listed | April 3, 1975 |
| Reference number | 75001355 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 20th Century; specific date 1913 |
| Architectural style | Georgian Revival elements noted in the National Register write-up (handwritten, partly garbled) |
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | In good condition and used almost daily by the Berea Fine Arts Club, art classes, ballet, Little Theater of Berea and church groups. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Coordinates | 41.37274, -81.84132 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For a publicly owned building or structure, listing mainly matters when federal funds, permits or licences are involved: projects then go through Section 106 review so effects on the property are considered. Listing also strengthens applications for preservation grants and, for leased income-producing uses, can enable the federal rehabilitation tax credit.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 75001355.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikidata Q137641095
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.