Civil War Soldiers’ Monument / Realty Building

The figure atop the Soldiers’ Monument has looked over Youngstown’s Central Square since 1870. Ohio Governor David Tod began campaigning for a monument for Youngstown’s fallen soldiers even before the Civil War ended. The community raised $15,000, and the cornerstone was laid in 1868. The memorial was completed and dedicated on July 4, 1870, with Governor Rutherford B. Hayes and Congressman James A. Garfield, both future U.S. presidents, attending the ceremony. Four cannons procured by Garfield formerly surrounded the monument. In 1951 the figure on the pedestal was accidentally damaged. A new statue of Carrara marble was commissioned, sculpted in Italy, and installed in 1955. The Bertolini Bros., a local marble firm, donated the new figure, which as patterned after the original, as their gift to the city.

[Side B]: The Youngstown architectural firm of Edgar Stanley (1882-1944) and Morris W. Scheibel (1887-1976) designed the Realty Building in 1921 for the Realty Guartentee and Trust Company. The 12-story skyscraper, completed in 1924, uses the tri-part column formula of base, shaft, and capital. Brick piers in the main shaft of the building emphasize the vertical design. Beaux-Arts detailing with decorative terra cotta tile in expressed through octagons, swags, and dentils found on the top stories’ upper bands of ornamentation. The notable lobby features marble walls, stairs, and floors; a granite baseboard; and 3-part hand-painted plaster crown molding. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Stanley and Scheibel also designed the Rodef Sholom Temple. After Stanley’s retirement, Morris Scheibel designed the Central Tower.