herr2ck: Not East High School

February 2026.

I was on Franklin Avenue in Franklin Park, searching for the remnants of East High School’s 1898 building. Since I take photos first and do my research later, this sometimes has the tendency to produce mistakes (i.e. missing things or taking pictures of something unrelated). In this case, I assumed this Tudor Revival telephone exchange building was the remaining portion of old East High School, whose remnants were actually a Mid-Century Modern design that was demolished before my visit anyways. I have these photos--might as well use them.

The Fairfax-Evergreen Exchange is located at 1415 Franklin Avenue in the Franklin Park neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by Franklin Avenue to the north, Abbott Alley to the south, houses to the east, and the Columbus City Preparatory School for Girls to the west. It is kitty-corner from the site of old East High School.

History

As with other weird, niche buildings like this one that I’ve covered, I have to do a lot of extrapolation to figure out the history of this one. My age also is a handicap here, as landline telephones were very uncommon even while growing up. Still, I feel like I have a better grasp on this building’s history and purpose than probably most other people my age.

A telephone exchange, or switchboard, is a system used by a small region that has an operator connect and disconnect different callers. Franklin Park’s population was booming by the 1920s, which was most likely the impetus for this switchboard’s construction. It replaced a series of houses on the site.

Snippet of the 1921-1961 Sanborn map depicting the exchange. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

The Fairfax-Evergreen Exchange is a Tudor Revival design that was completed in 1929. The main reason I thought it was part of old East High School was its similarity to North High School, a Frank Packard design from the same time. However, it is unknown who designed this building, and I doubt Packard did. It was designed with a fireproof structure, namely a concrete floor and ceiling, brick walls, and iron rafters.

The principle behind this telephone exchange's naming is that it used a different convention of phone numbers. Nowadays, the only common feature of Columbus phone numbers is the area code (614). However, this telephone exchange used its two names (Fairfax and Evergreen) as a proto-area code, in simpler terms. Instead of dialing 614-whatever, callers would dial the first two letters of the exchange and four or five numbers afterwards. For example, a phone number at the time might have been FAirfax-5555, or 32-5555. This numbering system was easier to remember, but as demand for the telephone system grew over time and area codes were introduced in the 1960s, the exchange names were phased out.

The building received an addition in 1946, which is an identical design but has a hipped roof versus the second story of the original. Ohio Bell was acquired and changed its name in 1984, and after several subsequent rebrandings, this exchange is now owned by AT&T Ohio.

Photos

Oblique view from Franklin Avenue:

This portion is the 1946 addition. It uses a very similar design, aside from the slate hipped roof. Modernism was becoming more popular by this time--it is rare to see a late 1940s Tudor Revival building that isn’t a house.

The wooden windows and slate roof appear to be original, too.

The main bulk of the building is so regular, it looks like Tudor Revival window frames were added onto a Modern building. Very anachronistic.

One of the arguments behind Modern architecture is that we require new styles for new building types, and that we shouldn’t be building things like telephone exchanges and power plants in styles that were pioneered centuries ago. I understand the logic, and though I agree to a degree, I still think there can be beautiful Romanesque power plants and Gothic skyscrapers. At the same time, there are also buildings like this one, which would have been better off as a Modernist design.

I thought the old East High School sat on this empty lot to the west (hence why I took this picture in relation to the main building), but it was houses beforehand, according to the Sanborn map.