herr2ck: Old & New

Photos from October 2024 & February 2026.

Stewart Alternative Elementary School, built as the New Street School, is one of Columbus’s historic Italianate schools. It is immediately adjacent to Schiller Park, making it probably the best-known of these schools as well. The big gap in my coverage is because the first photos I took of the school were during my visit to Schiller Park (which were also my first photos of Columbus outside of OSU campus), and I only revisited much later to take photos in more detail.

Stewart Alternative Elementary is located at 40 Stewart Avenue in the German Village neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by houses to the north, Stewart Avenue to the south, City Park Avenue and Schiller Park to the east, and Pearl Street to the west.

History

Photo of the school in 1920, looking northeast from the corner of Pearl and Stewart. (Wikimedia)

Stewart Alternative Elementary was built in 1874 and designed by architect P. A. Schlapp. It opened in 1875 and contained five classrooms. Though the datestone reads “New St. Schoolhouse,” the building was renamed several times. It was City Park School in 1892, Schiller School in 1893, and finally the Stewart Avenue School in 1894. As of 1916, the school had 14 teachers and 530 students.

The school building has been pretty heavily modified. It has had two historic additions, one in 1894 on the western end of the building (designed by David Riebel) and another in 1926. Like 3rd Street School, its pedimented stone entrance on Stewart Avenue also dates to 1925, meaning that it was probably designed by Howard Dwight Smith as well.

In 2010, the building caught on fire (a suspected arson) and closed for repairs. A $11 million renovation by Hardlines Design Company renovated the damaged school and added another addition to the north side. It continues to operate today as an alternative school under Columbus City Schools.

Photos

I later duplicated the two photos I have from October 2024, but I’ll share them regardless for comparison’s sake. Here’s an angled view of the school from the corner of City Park Avenue and Stewart Avenue:

versus one from 2026:

The fall photo has a richer tone of sunlight versus the harsh winter, don’t you think? Anyways, the original portion of this school is the rightmost block, while the little wing with an identical design is on the left. The connector between the two is modern.

My older photo of the main facade is in shadow…

…but it lacks the car in the way that this newer one has.

This facade is symmetrical and very Italianate in design. Aside from the stone hood molds and brickwork beneath the roof eaves, the building is pretty bare.

Detail of one of the windows--the glass and frame are replacements from after the fire:

The new pedimented entrance, which has an engraved date of 1925:

Crazy to think that the school was already 50 years old when that entrance was added, and now the entrance is a century old.

Detail of the carved ornament:

A bit of rhythm achieved through the different windows, gable, and brickwork:

Zoomed way in on the datestone:

This brickwork is subtle, but it adds a nice texture to the facade.

The entire south facade:

From left to right: 1894 addition, 2015 addition, 1874 original building.

Brightly lit south facade of the 1874 school:

This addition doesn’t try to blend in, as it has much different square windows. It maintains the brick walls and stone foundation, however. It also obscures a portion of the 1874 and 1894 buildings.

The 1894 addition is pretty much identical to the 1874 building, minus the window spacing and shade of brick used. Its cornerstone credits David Riebel as the architect.

From Stewart and Pearl:

The west facade is largely original to the 1894 design, though the three openings in the center were formerly windows, and there was no entrance there: