Fenn Tower is a 22-story

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. It is owned by

Cleveland State University Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school that had been in operation since 1923. ...

. It was built for the National Town and Country Club, but was only used for one event before closing. It was originally known as the National Town and Country Club before being sold. It was purchased by

Fenn College Fenn typically appears as a surname. Occasionally it appears as a middle name, pen name or name of a fictional character. Notable people with the name Fenn As a surname *Courtenay Hughes Fenn (1866–1927), American-Chinese Presbyteria ...

in 1937 for $250,000. It is currently being used as student housing. It is the second tallest structure on the Cleveland State campus, second to Rhodes Tower. The tower was named after

Sereno Peck Fenn Sereno Peck Fenn (April 25, 1844 – January 3, 1927) was an early partner in Sherwin-Williams. He was hired as a bookkeeper in 1870 for the Sherwin-Williams Company, and was made a partner ten years later. Fenn held the title of Vice-President ...

(one of three principal founders of

Sherwin-Williams Sherwin-Williams Company is an American Cleveland, Ohio–based company in the paint and coating manufacturing industry. The company primarily engages in the manufacture, distribution, and sale of paints, coatings, floorcoverings, and related p ...

), whom Fenn College was named after. Fenn Tower is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

as the National Town and Country Club. It was originally furnished by Rorimer-Brooks Studios, Inc. Originally where the Fenn Gym and The Ellwood H. Fisher Swimming Pool were located, they were removed during the 2005 renovation.

History

Fenn started by offering night classes in the 1930s in engineering and its model was to specialize in low cost higher education. Fenn's first president was Dr. Cecil V. Thomas who was a well known academician and Ohio educator. In 1932, Fenn added business classes to the growing roster of student programs. The National Town and Country Club Building was supposed to house the gentleman's club for

Greater Cleveland The Cleveland metropolitan area, or Greater Cleveland as it is more commonly known, is the metropolitan area surrounding the city of Cleveland in Northeast Ohio, United States. According to the 2020 United States Census results, the five-county ...

ers who wanted a central location in which to hold club meetings and events. However, due to the stock market crash in 1929, the club was no longer solvent and the high rise building lay vacant until purchased by Fenn College in 1937 because of Fenn's need for more space. This meant that Fenn was only the third college in the United States to have a skyscraper on its academic campus (the others being the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

and

Thomas Jefferson University Thomas Jefferson University is a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Established in its earliest form in 1824, the university officially combined with Philadelphia University in 2017. To signify its heritage, the univer ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

) and further gave Fenn a much more coveted Euclid Avenue downtown address. In 1940, Fenn became accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.''Cleveland State University Alumni: Today'' Harris Connect:Chesapeake, Virginia. p. 8. It is noteworthy that throughout its history Fenn never operated at a loss until 1963 when increasing financial pressures forced it into a deal to become part of the new public

References

External links

Official Fenn Tower website
* FennCSUCLE

{{National Register of Historic Places Cleveland State University Residential skyscrapers in Cleveland Buildings and structures completed in 1929 Art Deco architecture in Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Cleveland, Ohio

History

See also

References

External links