File:Old Central School, Church Street, Amherst, OH - 52305304600.jpg

English: Built in 1907, this Tudor Revival-style Amherst sandstone building was designed by Hirsh & Gavin Searles to serve as the public school for Amherst. The building was expanded to the rear in 1922 under the direction of architect R. S. Silsbee, adding a U-shaped bank of classrooms wrapping a large gymnasium/auditorium space, and adding two staircases with exterior entrances on the sides of the building. The three-story building features a central tower on the principal facade with a decorative set of louvers at the top bay, decorative crenellated parapets, three front arched entry doors with two entrances into stairwells flanking the central entrance at the tower, dedication stones flanking the central doorway, decorative cartouches displaying the build date of the building flanking the central bay, four-over-four and four-over-six windows on the upper floors and smaller two-over-two basement windows, decorative framed stone panels on the sides of the front wing, and large window openings at the rear bay of the front wing. The rear wing features more intricate exterior details, including decorative spandrel panels above the side entrances, decorative smooth stone panels, many of which feature Gothic arches, a buttress with a gothic revival-style cap, large window bays, and a parapet with recessed and decorative stone panels. The building was utilized as the public school for Amherst until the mid-20th Century, when the local high school, and eventually the local elementary and middle school grades moved out of the building into more modern facilities elsewhere in town, and the building eventually became vacant. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987, and has since been adaptively reused as a senior living community, with a rear enclosed breezeway connecting the building to an adjacent new apartment building.