Considered to be one of the most significant old buildings in Akron, the former site of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 354 E. Market St. in University Park currently sits in ruins — its future remains uncertain.
The 1885 building, which was seriously damaged in a 2018 fire, was recently on the agenda of the Akron Vacant Buildings Board’s June meeting for being tax delinquent and for not having been registered on the city’s vacant building registry. It also appears that little progress has been made to renovate the former church.
The board approved a 90-day reprieve for local developer and owner Tony Troppe to register the building as a vacant building, correct the tax delinquency, secure access points, clear weeds, move forward with design plans for the building and schedule interior and exterior inspections with the city.
Sunday school and parish house building dedicated in 1885
The St. Paul’s congregation formed in 1835, but, according to the building’s National Register of Historic Places application, the Sunday school and parish house building that stands today in the triangle at East Market Street, Fir Hill and South Forge Street was not built until 1884. It was dedicated on Jan. 6, 1885.
Architect Jacob Snyder designed the Victorian Gothic church in the Akron Plan style, which facilitated Sunday school instruction with small instructional rooms around a semicircular main room. The Akron Plan was a popular architectural style from the 1870s to the 1920s as Sunday schools became popular during this time…