Built in 1905 by architect David Reibel, this school served Columbus, Ohio until its closure in 1982. It was sold two years later to a private entity and ownership has changed hands several times since. During this time, the building has become unstable and is a maze of collapsed floors and ceilings. It has also been set on fire a time or two. There are twelve classrooms in the building, some of which are inaccessible due to various collapses. It is slated for demolition in 2023 when the nearby interchange will be re-done and the property will become an on-ramp.

This is a building that I have been intrigued by since I discovered it in 2012. I went and took some outside shots but there was no way inside. Whoever owns the property does a very good job of painting over exterior graffiti and quickly re-closing various entry points that appear. I stopped by again on the way to an event and was ecstatic to find a way in but unfortunately had no time to explore. So I returned in short order with a friend and was relieved to find that the POE had not yet been sealed. Other problems included that the school is located in a residential neighborhood and that a gas company is using the parking lot to store vehicles, pipes and other equipment. A few workers were around the first time but they never saw me and nobody was there when we actually went in.

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.


7.


8.


9.


10.


11.


12.


13.


14.


15.


16.


17.


18.


19.


20.


21.

Wow that thing's in rough shape in an awesome way. That's a great location. Was structural integrity a big issue/safety concern?

It's crazy that the inside is in such miserable state. From the Outside the building looks perfectly stable and in descent shape. But guess you can't judge a building by its cover. Lol! Nice work taking advantage of the opportunity that arose.

I assume all that damage is from a leaky roof and then the fires w all the water it took to put them out, and whatever the firemen deemed necessary to tear out to ensure they stayed out? Wow! The house in the background of pic 4 looks interesting. Was it also on school grounds?

Wow that thing's in rough shape in an awesome way. That's a great location. Was structural integrity a big issue/safety concern?

It definitely was an issue. The floors that hadn't yet collapsed were very rotten and unstable. At one point, I put my foot partway through a floor entering one of the second-story classrooms. In a couple of places, we used strategically-placed pieces of wood to move around because we didn't trust the floors at all.

It's crazy that the inside is in such miserable state. From the Outside the building looks perfectly stable and in descent shape. But guess you can't judge a building by its cover. Lol! Nice work taking advantage of the opportunity that arose.

Yeah, I never would have guess the interior was so rough if I hadn't seen a few pictures beforehand. Otherwise I would not have been expecting that.

I assume all that damage is from a leaky roof and then the fires w all the water it took to put them out, and whatever the firemen deemed necessary to tear out to ensure they stayed out? Wow! The house in the background of pic 4 looks interesting. Was it also on school grounds?

It's definitely possible but I don't know for sure. There may have also been a period of time where the building was open to the elements before it was shuttered. The house you mentioned is across the street from the school and is occupied. A young couple lives there; I saw them on my initial visit.

Loving the lighting, or lack thereof. Such an excellently creepy location. As others have said, you'd never guess looking at it from outside.

Posted by DescentOnARope Loving the lighting, or lack thereof. Such an excellently creepy location. As others have said, you'd never guess looking at it from outside.

It's definitely one of the creepier locations I've found. The pictures don't do justice to how imposing the building actually is. It's very close to the street and when you're approaching, the school is blocked from view by houses. Then you turn a corner and it's right there in front of you.