herr2ck: Windy City Avenue

January 2026.

The Chicago Avenue School is a historic school building in Franklinton. It’s a pretty simple Renaissance Revival design, nothing crazy like David Riebel’s other designs at the same time, and it was recently restored and put back into use.

Chicago Avenue School is located at 40 Chicago Avenue in the Franklinton neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by Broad Street to the south, Chicago Avenue to the west, and houses all around.

History

Historic photo of the school. (All Columbus Data)

As is pretty common with these lesser-known schools in Columbus, there isn’t much history online about this one. Its cornerstone is dated 1897 and states that David Riebel was its architect. The school opened in 1898. It has a Renaissance Revival design, and the numerous pedimented roofs are similar to Riebel’s 1884 design for the Beck Street School.

Mislabeled image of the high school after Franklinton’s 1913 flood. (Picryl)

Pretty much all history online is cut off after construction, so the rest is going to be my own extrapolation. The school building received some minor alterations (removal of its decorative cornice as well as the balustrade above the entrance), and an addition on the north side circa 1970. The addition didn’t appear on the 1921-1961 Sanborn map, and the auditor’s website claims 1970 (which is usually a ballpark estimate). After its closure, the school was acquired by Franklinton Preparatory Academy, which reopened the building in 2014. Along with a church in the building’s addition, both continue to operate today.

Photos

My rather poorly framed view of the building today:

It has a simple three-part design, with two projecting wings crowned by pediments and a recessed area with the building’s entrance. The windows have fancy stone surrounds versus the buff brick that the rest of the school is built out of.

Really zoomed out view of one of the wings:

The pediment is supported by a decorative cornice, which is appropriate to the building’s character but not original:

In the historic photos, it had more fanciful corbels and modillions, versus the simpler denticulation here. Still, it’s remarkable that the restoration used such a historically accurate design.

The entrance has a large stone portal, and the doors have a vaulted transom above, which is exaggerated by the massive arch surrounding it:

Note the engraving of the building’s name. There used to be a balustrade on top of this, but it has been removed.

Cornerstone, which attributes the building to David Riebel:

Oblique view, with the beautifully lit south facade:

Way back in the day, care and attention was put into even small school designs like this one. There are several different materials used--rough-cut stone on the base, smooth stone for the window frames, brick, and metal on the cornice.