🏨 Seneca Hotel

The Seneca, formerly known as the Seneca Hotel, is a 10-story apartment complex and former hotel in the Discovery District of downtown Columbus, Ohio. The brick building was designed by architects Frank Packard and David Riebel & Sons and built in 1917, in a prominent location near Franklin County Memorial Hall, where conventions were held. A four-story wing was built on the hotel's east side in 1924. The hotel closed in the mid-20th century, and it held the Nationwide Beauty Academy from 1960 to 1974. Dormitories held female students for Nationwide and about six other public and private schools downtown. The Seneca became home to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency from 1976 to 1987. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 and the Columbus Register of Historic Properties in 1991. In 1988, the building became vacant, and remained that way until 2005.