Wednesday, September 2, 2009

The Superior Viaduct

I love playing amateur archeologist in the Big City. For example, for years while walking on the north side of Euclid Avenue near the Statler Apartments I noticed a part of a stage or lobby embedded into the Statler Parking Garage. Turns out it actually was part of the old Stillman Theater on Euclid. It really is a shame that the theater is now lost, part of parking garage. But it is cool to see this random vestige from the old Stillman Theater. Perhaps, the greatest archeological “ruin” in Cleveland has to be the remnants of the Superior Viaduct. For those of you who now live in StoneBridge  Apartments or Condos you live on top one of the most historic bridges in Cleveland.

The bridge was originally conceived as a northern connector between then competing cities Cleveland and Ohio City. Ne’er did these two cities see eye to eye on the development and, in fact, the two cities had a “bridge war” where eight individuals were slightly wounded and few other rioters taken to jail. Cleveland then annexed Ohio City in 1854 making it possible to now control both sides of the Cuyahoga River and thus build the Viaduct.

Construction of the viaduct began in 1875 and was completed for a tidy sum of $2.2 million on December 28th, 1878. It was a graceful structure. The photo below was taken from the west side of the viaduct where the Stonebridge Apartments would be today.

Photo provided courtesy of the Cleveland Memory Project.

Photo provided courtesy of the Cleveland Memory Project.

According to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, “Because of the center drawspan, traffic still had to halt approximately 300 times each month for an average of 5 minutes to permit river vessels with tall superstructures to pass. These delays became increasingly annoying, and the procedure itself began to take a toll on the bridge structure. Voices were raised once again for a new bridge that would be completely high-level.” Essentially, the center bridge span rotated to allow the ships using the Cuyahoga to pass. Simply put the bridge wasn’t high enough for river traffic and people had to wait to get across.

Photo courtesy of Cleveland Memory Project.

Photo courtesy of Cleveland Memory Project.

The photo above offers a great view of the west side of the viaduct and of the Flats. The second smokestack you see in this picture is still standing and part of the Powerstation Development on the West Bank of the Flats. However, due to the growth of the City and the importance of moving traffic across the bustling hubs of Cleveland and Ohio City a second bridge was constructed nearby in 1918 - that being the Veterans Memorial Bridge or the Detroit-Superior Bridge. It is a bit odd to see the two bridges together and still in use.

Photo courtesy of Cleveland Memory Project.

Photo courtesy of Cleveland Memory Project.

If you have ever sat at the light on West Ninth and Superior you were probably curious of why there is such a funky look to the north side of the Veterans Memorial Bridge - truth is both bridges at one time were connected!

Photo courtesy of Cleveland Memory Project.

Photo courtesy of Cleveland Memory Project.

The Superior Viaduct was closed in 1920. Most of the bridge was demolished in 1922 with some additional arches on the west side of the viaduct demolished in 1939 as the City had to expand the river for boat traffic. The viaduct still remains a fascinating reminder of the industrial might of this cool city.

Posted by Tech Czar at 02:12:53 | Permalink | No Comments »

Sunday, June 14, 2009

The Great Lakes Exposition - Part I

Perhaps the greatest “Golden Age” event of Cleveland was the Great Lakes Exposition of 1936 & 1937. The concept behind the Exposition was to celebrate the strong industrial trade of the eight-state region along the Great Lakes as well as to celebrate Cleveland’s centennial. A civic committee was formed in early 1936 and quickly raised over $1.5 million for the event. Ground was broke for the event in early April and doors were opened 80-days later in June!

And let me say, the Exposition looked spectacular!

The entrance to the Exposition was the Mall area north of St. Clair Avenue. The lakefront exhibition area was reached by a 350 foot bridge over the railroad tracks and the Exposition itself stretched from the old Municipal Stadium to East 9th Street, with additional development including a Midway amusement area, an international village called the “Streets of the World” and a “Goodyear” blimp landing strip that stretched down to East 20th Street. The development was massive. Not to mention multiple docks for luxury “lake liners” that were bringing attendees from all over the Great Lakes. The picture below gives an outstanding aerial view of the development including the bridge between City Hall and the County Courthouse. (You can actually see two Goodyear blimp’s in this photo - one in the center hovering over a “lake liner” and the second a bit above the first but moving to the right!) 

Additional showcase space was offered in a large underground exhibition space where the current Convention Center is located and in parts of public hall. While there were numerous buildings and exhibits - there were five main building showcased during the Exposition. The five were the Horticulture Building, the Hall of Progress, the Automotive Building, the Sherwin Williams amphitheatre and the Billy Rose’s Aquacade. 

The Horticulture Building, simply put, was an Art Deco classic as seen in this photo shot from Lake Erie looking south into the Exposition. Notice the old Municipal Stadium off to the right and in the distance the Terminal Tower. 

Rising in three tiers, its stepped terraces facing the lake were rounded, intended to look like the forward decks on an ocean liner. It’s entrance was extraordinary!

The Building was a marvelous piece of design and sat on 3.5 acres of land with various horticultural gardens and pools. One of the sculptured gardens can be seen below.

A very stunning building and a shame it is not around anymore.

In part two we will be detailing the Hall of Progress and the Automotive Building. Stay tuned. 

Posted by Tech Czar at 04:23:48 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Never to Be Seen Buildings - Part II (Audience Participation)

I receive great joy in writing about the City of Cleveland and its awesome history. A few months past, I actually deviated a bit from history and wrote about what could have been “The Never Before Seen Skyline of Cleveland, OH”(http://coolhistoryofcleveland.blog.com/2009/1/). The post detailed all the great buildings that were planned in Cleveland but never built. Great pictures!

I am thrilled to say that one of the readers of Cool History of Cleveland sent us an interesting email about other buildings that were planned but never built. (Working on getting photos and the like.) So thank you Paul Koszkalda for the following email:

I have three projects to add. Both were proposed around 1980 give or take a couple years. One was a 22 story (approx.) building for Cardinal Federal Savings. The location was the NW corner of E. 9th and Superior where the Hampton Inn is now.  Another was a similar size building for Sherwin-Williams. This was to be built on the west side of Ontario between Prospect and Huron over the rapid tracks. It was to fill the gap were the giant Lebron James banner hangs now. I never heard anything else after the announcements. As I recall both were to be long narrow structures, flat on top and with alternating horizontal bands of windows, possibly a silver exterior, similar to One Cleveland Center, but rectangular in shape. This is how I remember them after 30 years. I remember them as similar designs. The third was a hotel on the west side of E 9th between Bolivar and Eagle at the east end of the gateway parking structure. It was announced in the late 90’s.  There was some follow up news about it, but if never happened.

In the 90’s Richard Bowen Architects were going to build a project called Crittenden Courts on West 9th. I think that is the one you asked about. They were going to relocate their office to that site. I think the parking deck to the north of the Western Reserve Building was all that was built.

I saw the blueprints for the Progressive project on Mall C back in the early 90’s. I worked for an engineering firm that was doing work on the new Willard Park Garage. We had to design the garage to allow for the Progressive Project. At the same time we were doing site work for Peter Lewis’ new house and art gallery. It was designed by Gehry and it was his normal wacky kind of design. None of the structures contained any right angles it was really wild. It was to be built either just north or on the site where Legacy Village is now. I don’t remember exactly. For some reason Lewis never built the house.

Plus, I seem to remember North Point at E 9th and Lakeside had a much different design when announced. Oh. I remember some motel/hotel to be built on the former Shell gas station “triangle” at Ontario and Carnegie. They had a sign on the site for a couple years, late 90’s maybe later.”

Kudos to you, Paul. And hey - if anyone out there in Cleveland has any fascinating tidbits about Cleveland History send them to me at mdealoia@mac.com.

Posted by Tech Czar at 16:01:33 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Monday, December 15, 2008

Cleveland City Hall

As many of you know, I had the privilege of working at Cleveland’s City Hall for the past two Mayors of this grand city. City Hall is a gorgeous building.  Of course, the Mayor’s Office and Council Chambers are stunning as well. But to work in this facility, well, was an honor for such a history buff like myself. In these chambers some of Cleveland’s great Mayors worked diligently on behalf of the citizens of this cool city. Men like William Hopkins (actually a City Manager during a short period when Cleveland changed its government structure), Thomas Burke, Anthony J. Celebrezze, Carl B. Stokes, George Voinovich and Michael White. Cleveland’s City Hall was developed as part of the 1903 Group Plan of governmental buildings built along the various Malls tucked in between East Sixth and Ontario Avenue. City Hall was placed in perfect symmetry with the county courthouse at the north end of the Mall. Designed by J. Milton Dyer, the city hall has an arcaded ground story, a 2-story Tuscan colonnade, and a central entrance bay characteristic of the Beaux-Arts style.

The Great Hall gave that imposing entrance to a public building that is so lacking anymore. (But certainly gave me a great thrill to walk through every morning.)

What I find amazing is that the “progressive mayors” of Cleveland and perhaps one of the most famous Mayor’s in the U.S. - Tom Johnson never worked in the current City Hall. Prior to the this facility, the City of Cleveland in 1875 started leasing the Case Block Building, then located on the north corner of East Third and Superior until the new City Hall was dedicated on July 4th, 1916. However, the Case Block was an impressive building in its own right.

But the most amazing City Hall was the one never built. In 1895 the voters of Cleveland approved a Beaux Arts designed building to be built on the northern quadrants of Public Square. The most eloquent component of its design was the enormous arch spanning over Ontario Avenue for street cars to pass through safely. It was a most amazing and jaw-dropping design.

Unfortunately, after one week of the official ground-breaking the protests from numerous Clevelanders (after voting approval on the project), it was decided not to continue and Cleveland had to wait another twenty years before it received a new City Hall.

Posted by Tech Czar at 02:13:41 | Permalink | Comments (6)