

2020 Most Endangered Sites
South Side Learning and Development Center
Year Built: 1926
Address: 253 Reeb Avenue, Columbus, OH 43207
Original Building Use: Day Nursery
Owner: City of Columbus
Local philanthropist Mrs. W. A. Miller funded this building in 1926 for the South Side Day Nursery. This handsome two-story, brick Colonial Revival style building features a flat roof parapet, dentil molding, corner quoins, twin round-arched entries and round accent windows. Today, South Side Early Learning is an anchor tenant of the neighboring Reeb Avenue Center and remains dedicated to ensuring that every child benefits from a holistic, high-quality education.
Why is this site endangered?
The building has been vacant since 2015 and ownership transferred to the City of Columbus in 2019. Building accessibility issues pose a challenge for adaptive reuse, but this site presents an opportunity to contribute to revitalization momentum in the Reeb-Hosack/Steelton Village neighborhood.
2 Comments
Dina Frigo – April 18, 2022
City of Columbus is yet to make another bad decision regarding preserving the architectural integrity and history of the city by letting demolition of this 1926 colonial revival go to demo. What a shame. When will this city learn? When all the historically significant buildings have been razed and it’s too late?
Gary Lee – May 25, 2022
The building is very old and the inside to repurposeite would be way too expensive. It needs to be torn down and a new building put in its place. People want to save the architectural of the outside of the building but it’s almost impossible as bad as shape that the inside is in with multilevels and new codes to follow. Until it is gone it will sit there and be an old boarded up building. Another eyesore in the southend.