Shurtleff Cottage

Date

1892-1912 (private); 1912-1990 (college); ca. 1990-present (private)

Location

159 South Professor Street; main access now from 46 Morgan Street

Architects/Collaborators

Weary & Kramer, Akron (architects)

Style

Shingle Style

History

Shurtleff Cottage (actually a large house) was built on a large parcel of land along the back of Plum Creek by Giles W. Shurtleff in 1892 for his home with his wife Mary Burton and their children. He hired the architects Weary and Kramer of Akron to design this handsome Shingle Style house. Shurtleff, who died in 1904, was an important figure as a Brigadier General of the 5th U.S. Colored Troops in the Civil War, and as a professor, secretary and treasurer, and member of the Board of Trustees of the College. The life-size bronze statue of Shurtleff by Emily Ewing Peck, completed in 1911, stands on the lawn on this property. The house was purchased by the College in the summer of 1912 and remodelled for use as a dormitory for women, accommodating thirty. By 1990 Shurtleff Cottage had fallen into poor condition and was offered for sale. By 2002 and into the present the house was operated as a bed and breakfast, using the Morgan Street side as the main entrance with the address 46 Morgan Street.

Sources

Oberlin College Archives, Office of the Secretary Records.

Ohio HIstoric Inventory for Shurtleff Cottage by H. Petersen, M. Franck, D. Musson, and O.H.I.O. Interns, December 16, 2002, accessed from the Oberlin Heritage Center website, May 27, 2015.