Allencroft

Date

1861-1899 (private); 1899-present (college)

Location

134 South Professor Street

Architects/Collaborators

Builder unknown

Style

Italianate

History

Built in 1861 by Ralph Plumb, a hero of the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue, Allencroft was occupied beginning in 1865 by Dr. Dudley Allen. In 1899 the property was given to the College by Allen’s son, Dudley Peter Allen and his sister Emily Allen Severance. After becoming College property, Allencroft served as a dormitory for Academy (Oberlin's preparatory school) students. Beginning in 1914 it provided room and board for women in the Conservatory. Starting in 1928 it was used as a residence hall for Conservatory and College women. Currently, the building serves as Russian House, one of the College’s language-based Program Houses.

To quote Geoffrey Blodgett from Oberlin Architecture, College and Town: "The house underwent several changes over the years. Dr. Allen added bay windows and more space to the rear in 1872. The college enlarged the rear again in 1913, periodically remodelled the interior, and narrowed the front porch in 1952. Stripped of the flourishing trumpet vines which once climbed over its porches, balconies and cornice, Allencroft in its dark, flat-roofed containment seems reminiscent of the urban brownstone mood of American cities in the Civil War era."

Allencroft was listed as an Oberlin City Landmark in 1975. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Oberlin College thematic nomination in 1978.

Sources

Geoffrey Blodgett, Oberlin Architecture, College and Town: A Guide to Its Social History (Oberlin, OH: Oberlin College, 1985), 85-86.

Oberlin College Archives, Office of the Secretary Records.

Ohio History Inventory for Allencroft (Russia House) by M. Fedelchak Harley and L. Previll, Ohio State HIstoric Preservation Office, August 10, 2000, accessed from the Oberlin Heritage Center website, May 26, 2015.