Tucked into a quiet corner of Columbus, the building at 72 Woodland Avenue doesn’t immediately betray its past. Its red brick exterior is grand but not boastful, elegant but not ostentatious. But this is no ordinary schoolhouse.
Long before it became home to Mansion Day School, the 24-room estate was a testament to ambition and industry. Built in 1904 for William A. Miller, then president of the H.C. Godman Shoe Company, the mansion was a symbol of the city’s rising prosperity. Designed by David Riebel, a prominent Columbus architect, the house featured 15 fireplaces, hand-laid Italian tile, and mahogany finishes that still whisper of another era.
Miller’s company was one of the largest shoe manufacturers in Ohio, employing thousands across eight factories. When he died in 1921, Columbus lost one of its most influential industrialists.
But the mansion lived on and quietly transformed.
After Miller’s death, his wife Anna opened the third floor of the home to care for homeless children, setting a tone of service and shelter that would echo through the decades. In 1934, the mansion changed hands again and became the Glenmont Home for Christian Scientists, a nursing home that continued the building’s legacy of care and community.
By the early 2000s, the house had taken on yet another life. Now operating as Mansion Day School, the building serves students from neighborhoods across central Ohio. The structure remains largely intact, retaining its historic character while hosting classrooms instead of parlors and study halls instead of salons.
Though the original owners are long gone, their presence lingers. The fireplaces, the woodwork, the details built to last—they are reminders of the lives once lived here and the generations that have since passed through its doors.
There is something compelling about a building that has shifted so fully in purpose without losing its sense of place. In a city constantly changing, it’s wonderful to see a historic building find a new life, instead of being torn down.
