Former Elementary and High School Building in OH
Smithfield School, Smithfield Ohio
The lots where the Smithfield School is located were set aside for educational purposes at the original platting of the village. The present building was erected in 1906 to take the place of a smaller brick structure built in 1868. The first floor in the 1906 structure was designed for elementary students and the second floor for high school students. A larger high school was constructed in 1928 on the lot adjacent to this school but was demolished in 1971. The 1906 school was deeded to the village with the stipulation that it be used for some community purpose. It has remained in a vacant and vandalized condition since that time as the village government attempts to identify the best use for the structure.
The building was destroyed by fire sometime between 1981 and 1983.
Building Description
The Smithfield School is a two-story brick structure measuring approximately 75' square with a full basement. Constructed on a rock-faced limestone foundation, the red-brick building has a watertable and quoins formed from buff-colored contrasting brick. The facade is divided into three portions by the central projecting pavilion. At the base of the pavilion is the recessed main entrance located within a rock-faced limestone archway supported by short detached smooth stone columns. Above this is an arcade of three buff-colored brick arches, whose central arch has a stone keystone. A wooden molding crosses the pavilion at the cornice line and the entire element is topped by a full pediment with modillion blocks. An oval date stone of "1906" is set in the center of the tympanum. Fenestration is very symmetrical throughout the building with windows grouped in threes on the facade. Each window has a flat stone lintel and sill as well as double-hung sash. The entire building is topped with a truncated slate hip-roof that originally had a central tower and four chimneys. The latter have since been removed.
The main entrance opens into a central hallway that has a split staircase converging on a balcony where the office is located. A single stairway leads from the balcony to the second floor.
The school has been subjected to considerable vandalism in recent years with windows being broken. A fire was set on the second floor which burned through the center of one classroom floor before being extinguished.
The building was destroyed by fire sometime between 1981 and 1983.
(1981)
(1981)
(1981)
