SCOFIELD, LEVI T. (9 Nov. 1842-25 Feb. 1917) was an architect specializing in institutional structures and public monuments. Born in Cleveland, son of William and Mary (Coon) Scofield, he served in the CIVIL WAR from 1861-65, and was chief engineer on the staff of Gen. Jacob Cox. After the war he designed several large state institutions, including the asylums for the insane at Athens (1868) and Columbus (1869), North Carolina State Penitentiary at Raleigh (1870), and the reformatory at Mansfield (1884).
Because of his war service, he was a chief proponent of the Cuyahoga County SOLDIERS' & SAILORS' MONUMENT, which he designed and supervised between 1886-94. Scofield designed many private residences, of which the R. K. Winslow house (1878) on EUCLID AVE. was representative, and Cleveland public schools, such as CENTRAL HIGH (1878) and Broadway (1881). In 1893 he received the commission for the Ohio Monument at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, a standing figure symbolic of the state surrounded by bronze sculptures of her most distinguished sons. In 1901 he designed the Schofield Bldg., a 14-story office building on the southwest corner of Euclid and E. 9th St. Most of Scofield's architectural designs were in the massive, picturesque, Late Victorian manner, with Gothic or Romanesque details.
Scofield married Elizabeth Clark Wright, president of the YWCA, and first president of the board of the PHILLIS WHEATLEY ASSOC., in 1867. They had two children: William M. and Sherman W. Scofield died in Cleveland and was buried in the LAKE VIEW CEMETERY. The Scofield residence (1898) stands at 2438 Mapleside, Cleveland.
Finding aid for the Levi Scofield Family Photographs, WRHS.
Gleason, William J. History of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument (1894).
Pacini, Lauren R. Honoring Their Memory: Levi T. Schofield, Cleveland's Monumental
Architect and Sculptor. Cleveland: Artography Press, 2019.