Antioch College

Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio

Antioch College Campus Heritage Plan (PDF) 26.5MB

Opened in 1853 under the leadership of noted education reformer Horace Mann, Antioch College has a remarkable collection of historic resources including the 1000-acre Glen Helen Nature Reserve (declared a National Natural Landmark in 1965), a neolithic burial site, and buildings designed by such eminent architects as Eero Saarinen and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Getty funds will support the inventory and conditions survey of the campus, leading to the development of conservation plans for the landscape and key historic buildings.

Antioch College received a Getty grant in 2004 for $150,000 to support campus heritage planning.

Report Summary

Purpose: Opened in 1853 under the leadership of noted education reformer, Horace Mann, Antioch College has a remarkable collection of historic resources. Among them are the 1000-acre Glen Helen Nature Reserve (declared in 1965 a National Natural Landmark), a Neolithic burial site, and buildings designed by such eminent architects as Eero Saarinen and Skidmore Owings and Merrill.

Funds from the Getty Foundation supported an inventory and conditions survey of the campus, leading to the development of conservation plans for key historic buildings and landscapes. In particular, the College developed a comprehensive plan for the institution’s historic structures and cultural and natural landscapes, integrated historic preservation into the its planning and physical development process, and provided opportunities for students to learn about the rich architectural and cultural history of the campus.

Historic Designation(s): Antioch Hall, North Hall, South Hall (individual sites), and Yellow Springs Historic District (which includes nearly all of the Antioch College campus, National Register of Historic Places); Grinnell Mill Historic District (including some sites in Glen Helen Nature Reserve, which is part of the campus, National Register of Historic Places). Several sites are listed in the Ohio Historic Inventory (OHI).

Planning Process: The nearly two-year project was guided by an advisory committee working with a team of specialists in architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, and historic preservation. The committee also worked closely with college administration, representatives from several departments or administrative entities (facilities, developments, library/archives, the Glen Helen Nature Reserve), alumni, board of trustees, and students.

This team pursued their work systematically thorough historic research of buildings individually, collectively, and in relation to the community. Field study and physical assessment of the entire campus was completed, with special attention given to the exterior envelopes of buildings. Co-op students helped to gather records from a variety of sources on campus. The community was engaged to investigate the character of place at Antioch College, and consider such questions about which sites were, and still are, critical to the college’s future. Final phases of the project involved analysis of these different levels of data, and evaluation of suitability of the sites for current use as well as their adaptability for new use. The group concluded with the development of guiding principles for future heritage work on campus.

Outcomes—Products: As a result of the project, Antioch College was able to complete state historic inventories and national landscape surveys for significant sites that had not been documented before and it developed architectural and cultural landscape files that can serve as a resource in future planning decisions. The College sponsored an “interactive workshop” between the advisory committee and the campus community to address questions concerning the importance of certain campus sites. It also developed the “Historic Preservation Zoning Plan,” which evaluates campus sites in relation to five levels of preservation and management priority. This document makes recommendations about project planning, cyclical maintenance, preservation priorities, and consideration of National Register qualifications. As such, guiding principles were outlined for future work.

Outcomes—Strategies and Goals for the Future: Antioch College developed a strategic plan as a framework for changes anticipated with limited-scale adaptive reuse renovations and identification of the modernization and replacement of certain facilities. The institution wants to create and maintain an environment and appreciation for the rich heritage of its campus plan and an appropriate management plan for their historic resources to ensure their long-term preservation, integrating historic preservation values in the planning and physical development process. The college hopes that the campus heritage grant data can guide future decision-making processes, particularly regarding the conceptual development of facility planning by way of institutional discussions and focus groups.