Mansion in Youngstown Ohio
George J Renner Jr. House, Youngstown Ohio
This is one of the most elaborate residences in Youngstown, Ohio, in the Georgian Revival style. It was built by the proprietor of the largest brewery in the city, and symbolizes the cultural aspirations of a rich manufacturer at the turn of the century.
By 1900 Youngstown was already an important iron and steel center, with a population of 45,000. George J. Renner, Jr., was the proprietor of the City Brewery. His father had arrived in the United States in 1848 and operated brewing businesses in Cincinnati, Akron and Mansfield, Ohio. George Jr., was born in 1856 and educated in Covington, Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. He located his own business in Wooster in 1880, and four years later he established the brewery in Youngstown. In 1890 a completely new and modern plant was, erected (now razed). The largest in the city, it had a capacity of 100,000 barrels of beer per year, and employed sixty people in 1907, the year that Renner built his palatial Georgian Revival house. While it is an excellent example of the type, it is basically conservative, as the height of this style was reached a decade earlier. Some of the informal plan features are still those of late Victorian living.
This is a very large mansion of masonry construction in the academic Georgian Revival style. It is basically a large square block with a short ell at the southeast corner. The main feature of the north facade is a monumental two-story portico the entire width of the house. The veranda is approached by wide stone steps between solid stone railings. The portico has only three wide bays, emphasized by double Ionic columns. The central pedimented bay has clusters of three columns. A rather unusual feature is the use of full-round columns next to the house in addition to pilasters. The cornices of both the entablature and the steep pediment are massive and have both dentils and eaves' brackets. The roofs, gabled over the house and hipped over the portico, are tiled. There are two square, bulky dormers over the portico.
The flat stone window lintels in the red brick wall also have tall keystones. The corners of the house are quoined. On the east elevation there is a semi-circular bay. The rusticated foundation and smooth sill course are carried around the bay at the same level.
On the west elevation there is a wide porte-cochere carried on columns, There are two massive chimneys, on the east and the south, which rise perfectly straight from the ground to the summit above the roof line. The south elevation has an irregular functional outline unlike the classical facade. The massing of the steep tile roofs on the house, the ell and an additional rectangular bay on the ell have almost an Oriental aspect. In the west corner of the ell there is a small back porch, again with double and triple Ionic columns.
The main entrance, beneath a semi-elliptical balcony, leads to a vestibule with glass doors, and then into a center hall. Here a symmetrically placed marble stairway leads to a divided landing where there is a large stained-glass window. The living rooms of the house have been divided into a number of small apartments.
North facade, looking southeast (1975)
East elevation and north facade, looking southwest (1975)
