The Southworth House is a

Classical Revival Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassic ...

and

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

house in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

that was built in 1879. Named for its first owner, W.P. Southworth, a leading resident of late nineteenth-century Cleveland, the house has been used for a variety of commercial purposes in recent decades. One of many historic sites in its eastside neighborhood, it has been listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

since 1984.

Construction

The house was built in 1879 by William Palmer Southworth, a Cleveland businessman who established W.P. Southworth Co., a leading Cleveland grocery, in the 1850s."Wholesale Grocers"
''Encyclopedia of Cleveland History'',

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case ...

, 1997-07-12. Accessed 2008-12-25. He and his wife Louise were prominent in Cleveland society; while she was a leader of the

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

movement, his store (located in

Public Square A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Relat ...

downtown) was significant enough that its destruction by fire in 1882 prompted a front-page story in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. The house is built on a stone foundation with a basement, with walls of brick; the architect's name is not known.''The City Record''
(Cleveland city council meeting record), 2006-06-21, p. 9. Accessed 2008-12-26. Its three floors were divided into nineteen rooms,Southworth Mansion
, The Chesler Group, 2007. Accessed 2008-12-25."Judson Retirement Community"
''Encyclopedia of Cleveland History'',

, 2006-08-29. Accessed 2008-12-25. and by 1904 Southworth had installed an

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

. The elevator remains today.

After Southworth

In August 1906, a group of Cleveland

Baptists Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

incorporated an organization, the Baptist Home of Northern Ohio, to establish a

retirement home A retirement home – sometimes called an old people's home, old folks' home, or old age home, although ''old people's home'' can also refer to a nursing home – or rest home, is a multi-residence housing facility intended for the elderly. Ty ...

for elderly Baptists. Ten months later, Southworth sold his house to the organization, which was supported financially by industrialist and philanthropist

John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was one of the List of richest Americans in history, wealthiest Americans of all time and one of the richest people in modern hist ...

, who was a Baptist. With the aid of local churches, the home was opened on October 16, 1907. According to the

1910 census The 1910 United States census, conducted by the Census Bureau on April 15, 1910, determined the resident population of the United States to be 92,228,496, an increase of 21 percent over the 76,212,168 persons enumerated during the 1900 census. ...

, the Baptist Home served fourteen residents at the end of 1910, at which time the entire property was worth $15,000. The former Southworth residence was not long a retirement home: the Baptist Home moved to a new location in 1919 and sold the Southworth House in the same year. Since that time, the house has been used for a wide range of purposes. During the 1950s and 1960s, various businesses had offices in the house, which was then called the "Edelmar Building" or the "Accountants Building." In 1973, the Southworth House was purchased by Pi Sigma Tau Alpha, a

fraternity A fraternity (; whence, "wikt:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular ...

based at the nearby

Cleveland State University Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. 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 oper ...

; it later served as the

fraternity house North American fraternity and sorority housing refers largely to the houses or housing areas in which fraternity and sorority members live and work together. In addition to serving as housing, fraternity and sorority housing may also serve to ...

for Cleveland State's chapter of

Delta Sigma Phi Delta Sigma Phi (), commonly known as Delta Sig, is a fraternities and sororities, fraternity established in 1899 at City College of New York, The City College of New York (CCNY). It was the first fraternity to be founded based on religious and e ...

. The house has changed hands several times since its fraternity days.History of the Southworth Mansion
, The Chesler Group, 2007. Accessed 2008-12-25. In 1997, a healthcare company bought it; in 2005, after the company was found to be fraudulent and the owner imprisoned, a historic preservation company bought the property at auction, and it too has since sold the house. Currently, the Southworth House is the location of offices for organizations such as an actual healthcare company and a

local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

of the

Laborers' International Union of North America The Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA, stylized as LiUNA!), often shortened to just the Laborers' Union, is an American and Canadian labor union formed in 1903. As of 2017, they had about 500,000 members, about 80,000 of whom ...

Preservation

The Southworth House is recognized as a landmark both locally and nationally. Along with many other properties along Prospect Avenue, it was added to the

on November 1, 1984, as part of the "Upper Prospect Multiple Resource Area." It was included both for its distinctive combination of

and

Italianate architecture The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century ...

and for its association with Southworth. As the "Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity House," it has been designated a Cleveland Landmark by the city of Cleveland. Since being listed on the Register in 1984, the Southworth House has been the focus of both publicly funded and privately funded

historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK) is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

efforts. In late 1996, as Sunrise Home Health Care prepared to buy the Southworth House,

Cleveland City Council Cleveland City Council is the legislature, legislative branch of Local government in the United States, government for the Cleveland, City of Cleveland, Ohio. Its chambers are located at Cleveland City Hall at 601 Lakeside Avenue, across the str ...

provided over $250,000 to help purchase and renovate the property. Architects Scott and Analia Dimit began a restoration of the house for developer Michael Chesler, and continued to guide its restoration when it was purchased by Laborers Union Local 860 in 2005. The construction workers made it their union hall, completing the work in October 2007. In October 2009, the

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 ...

recognized the restoration with its Honor Award. Today, the house features

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...

work and a distinctive Italianate facade.Pictures a
History of the Southworth Mansion
(The Chesler Group, 2007. Accessed 2008-12-25.) and picture included in article infobox

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Southworth House, Cleveland Central, Cleveland Houses completed in 1879 Former houses in Ohio

Houses in Cleveland Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Italianate architecture in Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Cleveland, Ohio Neoclassical architecture in Ohio Rockefeller Foundation Delta Sigma Phi

Construction

After Southworth

Preservation

See also

References

External links