Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2019 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Executive Documents Annual Reports for 1897 Made to the Seventy-Third General Assembly Of the State of Ohio At The Regular Session, Commencing January 3, 1898 DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILDINGS The building in the frontispiece, nominally one, really consists of eight, suitably connected, and was erected at a cost of $650,000. It is built of brick, and is elaborately trimmed with stone. The roofing is of slate, the cornice of galvanized iron, and the bal- conies, pillars, railing and floor of iron. The number of bricks re- quired was 8,000,000; the roof cornice is 3,800 feet in length; the gas pipe measures two miles; the interior walls and ceilings have a surface of twelve acres, and the floor a surface of four acres. The windows number 800. The front building, 270 feet in length, is sur- mounted by seven towers, the center one being 115 feet high, the two at its sides 105 feet, and the four at the corners ninety-seven feet. The center tower has been finished to the top, and from it, ascending by a spiral staircase, visitors have a magnificent view of the city. This front building is divided by a hall ten feet wide, running its entire length, upon every story above the basement being fifteen feet high. The use of this building is for offices, library, hospitals, parlors, sewing and storerooms and chambers occupied by officers and employees. Attached to the front building are three wings, running north, all invisible in the picture. The center wing, 145 by 40 feet, is occupied by the kitchen and adjacent storerooms, the dining room and the chapel 23 feet in height. The two exterior wings extend north 115 feet affording, a hall the entire length, and adjacent rooms for baggage, clothing, washing, bathing and water closets. Attached to these exterior wings, and extending at right angles to them, 110 feet east and west, are two wings 40 feet wide, called the boys' and girls' wings. These are the parts of the build- ings visible at the sides of the picture. The first story is used as a play room. Three upper stories are sitting and sleeping rooms. The very fine provision made for light and air is obvious to the eye. These side wings return by corridors to the central wing, which con- tinues by the bakery and storerooms in the basement, and by corri- dors in every story to the school building in the rear. This build- ing, 115 by 55 feet, is invisible in the cut. It is three stories high and contains twenty-five school rooms. Still further to the rear is a building 100 feet square, from the corner of which rises the ventilating shaft, 115 feet high, and visible in the cut direct- ly above the girls' wing. The building contains the boilers, engines and pumps used for heating the main building and for supplying every part with water. A few yards west of this is a two story brick building, 55 by 25 feet, containing the machinery and appliances of the laundry. At the extreme right of the picture appears the stable. Between it and the boys' wing is seen the east end of bindery, which is 130 by 35 feet. North of this is the industrial building and ice house, 375 by 22 feet, in size, containing a carpenter shop, shoe shop, tailor shop, printing office and fire department. On the left of the girls' wing is the conservatory, a beautiful structure, filled with flowers and rare plants. In the bindery all the work for the state is done, and in the printing office a weekly paper, the Ohio Chronicle, is published. ===========================================================================