City of Oberlin Historic Landmarks


Carpenter Block begun 1886 S.W. corner College and Main Built gradually over several years following a downtown fire; three tones of brick along College Street façade show building stages; second-story double bay looks toward Tappan Square. Architect: Frank Weary of Akron.	Kinney House 1911 265 West College Home of Carl W. Kinney, editor of Tribune newspaper (later merged into News‑Tribune). Architect: Joseph Lyman Silsbee (Silsbee was Frank Lloyd Wright’s first professional mentor; hip roof, broad eaves, and open floor plan suggest influence of Prairie School).

Rice-Moore House 1871 155 Elm Home of Fenelon B. Rice, early director of Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. Later the home of David R. Moore, history professor. Frame Italianate style.	Wright-Carter House 1880 171 Elm Home of J.N. Wright, prosperous timber merchant from Upper Michigan, whose daughter married H.H. Carter, Oberlin College Conservatory of Music piano professor. Handsome brickwork and Swiss chalet-style details in broad eaves and bold timberwork about the porch.

William Evans House 1877 172 Elm Home of William Evans, a Welsh mason who emigrated with his bride to the United States in 1865 and made money designing railroad bridges. Brick house with gently arched stone caps over the windows and decorative porthole in the gable. Vernacular style.	Doolittle House 1897 291 Elm Home of Charles P. Doolittle, teacher of violoncello and harmony at the Oberlin Conservatory from 1885 to 1911 and college superintendent of buildings and grounds for 18 years. He developed bicycle paths around Tappan Square and north out of Oberlin during the summer of 1895. Professor of History Robert S. Fletcher, who wrote a definitive history of early Oberlin, bought the house in 1931. The Colonial Revival house displays symmetry of line and fenestration, a well-defined cornice, and a broad-hipped roof.

A.G. Comings House c. 1879 249 Elm The Comings family lived in this house for 40 years, Andrew and Emilie Comings from 1897-1927 and their son Charles and his wife Elizabeth until 1938. The A.G. Comings & Son bookstore was at 37 West College Street until 1959. Both Andrew and Charles served as school board and town council members and as mayor. Later owners included Oberlin College professors and administrators, among them Professor of Music History Richard Murphy, whose family owned the house for 37 years. Queen Anne style.	Edward Johnson House 1876 111 Forest Home of clothing merchant Edward P. Johnson, brother of Albert H. Johnson who later built the house at 216 South Professor. Italianate style with bracketed tower rising to a flat octagonal crown, tall French windows, and front door of intricate symmetrical design.

A.A. Wright House 1880 123 Forest Home of two prominent Oberlin academic families: A.A. Wright, professor of botany and geology, built the front of the house on property formerly part of the 1840s college farm that his father managed. In the 1920s Lloyd W. Taylor, professor of physics, and his wife Esther B. Taylor bought the house; she lived in it until 1975. Vernacular style with angular flaring roofline, decorative chimney, and interior chestnut and walnut woodwork.	Oberlin College President's House 1920 154 Forest Built for Oberlin College physics professor Samuel R. Williams, bought by Oberlin College in 1927 for president’s home. Symmetrical 18th-century New England Georgian style; warm red brick, hip roof, central pavilion with broad white pilasters. Architect: Clarence Ward, Oberlin College art professor.

Arnold House 1880 181 Forest Home of George Arnold, a grain merchant, who, in 1881, helped build Oberlin’s first intercity telephone exchange. Red brick Italianate style with brackets under the cornice and brick decorative arches over the windows.