MayDay

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=76115 Here are a few pics - just mention "copyright, clevelandskyscrapers.com - not for distribution" and it's all good :-)

^^ Great photo, mrclifton! I saw the broadcast; as a Market regular, my favorite part was when one of the vendors was doing their routine. This guy was pushing his cart of goods and the TV crew was right in the path. Sure enough, instead of going around, the guy matter-of-factly finaggles his way through and kept on going - and of the anchors said "Yep, folks this is a *working* market - not just a place for tourists!" :-D

^It's an open and affirming congregation, so not as much as other places where the statues eyes usually glow red.

Since the skies and weather today make me think either "another gruesome day in our beautiful city" or "another beautiful day in our gruesome city" (take your pick), I'm posting some shots I took during the Sparx City Hop from Saturday, Sept. 15th. Since they were running trolleys from the Tremont Arts and Culture Festival to other areas (Ohio City, Asiatown, Downtown, etc.), we walked up to Lincoln Park. Looks like the Arts and Culture Festival is hopping: We had read that the Mather Mansion at CSU was open for tours so we hopped on that loop. Here's our trusty steed, Lolly the Trolley - the landmark Lemko Hall is in the background: This route wound its way through Ohio City, passing by the gatehouse at Monroe Street Cemetery; it's in need of repair but efforts are underway to fix it up: The Carnegie West branch of Cleveland Public Library; St. Patrick's church is being fixed up in the background: Over at Detroit and West 25th, the Forest City Savings and Trust building; yes, that sign on the left marks the former entrance to the subway station: Stonebridge Towers condo building; from some angles it looks 'interesting' but others, meh: Jackknife bridge in the foreground, Ernst and Young tower under construction in the background: More love for the jackknife: Almost there! Burnham and bike lane in use! Hodgepodge: So would a condo in this building be called a "House of Payne" This is a great angle to show the contrast, but I'd rather it be filled with some housing :-) And what's a photo thread without Key Tower? Rather than take the trolley to CSU, we decided to hoof it and got some shots along the way: At some point, we realized we needed to grab some lunch - what to do, what to do... WOOHOO! It's the Fired Up! Taco Truck! Their empanadas are to. die. for. :-D We snarfed down the yummy pockets of heaven, err... empanadas and enjoyed the sights around Star Plaza and music provided by Zack and the Bright Lights: While we had a nice time on the City Hop, there were a few hiccups - on the website, they said that the Mather Mansion was open for tours; we found out that wasn't the case. Making the best of it, we stopped by Trinity Cathedral; I had been in there before but this time there was someone giving informal tours - I had NO clue just how much history there is to this place. It's one of the finest examples of English Gothic styled churches, ever. This is the detailing on the commemorative plaque - this alone has more aesthetic appeal to it than any megachurch I've ever seen. Darned if I can remember - some of the stained glass windows were given to Trinity; a few date back to the 1400s! The reredos is about 18' tall: The pulpit - I believe they said this was carved from one solid block of marble; now these things are made from particleboard :roll: The finials in the choir area were carved individually; no two are alike: This is a closeup of the altar - the altar itself is cut from *one* block of Pavonosso marble; on top of that is Sienna marble and the block that's embedded here is from the Jerusalem Stone near the site of the Crucifixion: Back outside into CSUville: Hated to see the Corlett Building demolished, but at least the kids are making use of the greenspace (the guy on the ground made a dramatic dive for a frisbee) - and hey, Zipcars are here! Back along Euclid, passing by the Keith, Hanna and Cleveland Athletic Club buildings: PHB building (Previously Huntington Bank) No naming rights, but Huntington moved west and up in the world: Oh fine, I'll put in a shot of the Terminal Tower: Back over the Detroit-Superior Bridge: Hope you enjoyed!

"... rush hour in Lakewood ... " Sorry, the little bit of traffic that occasionally clumps up on Detroit hardly qualifies as "rush hour" and I'm amazed how people huff and puff about a tempest in a teacup.

^I was just going to say - great photos, but I'm hoping those lights are yanked down and replaced with something more appropriate (and more conducive to photography).

Love this thread, and it brings back some very vivid memories. I was five years old and in 1977 (pre-Black Monday) I was in the Stambaugh building, accompanying my folks while they dropped off paperwork to settle a relative's estate. The law office was on an upper floor and while my folks took care of business, I spent my time at the windows which had great views of downtown Youngstown as well as the surrounding neighborhoods that hugged the rolling hills adjacent - to this day, I remember my jaw dropping at the Metropolitan Tower (First National) because it was the first time I'd ever seen anything remotely approaching a skyscraper (it's only 224 ft. tall, but it has gorgeous Art Deco lines and proportions - my fascination with architecture started with this building and look where that got me). :-) Anyway, we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant a few blocks over, stopped by the busy Strouss department store, and then left a bustling downtown Youngstown to check out Mill Creek Park. And not long after that, Black Monday hit along with the mass layoffs and decline - and then the drug and gang crime of the 80s and 90s... I know downtown Youngstown has cleaned up a lot recently, so to see that these buildings might have more than a glimmer of hope is refreshing.

From the Detroit-Superior Bridge:

Very nice - such a difference from the former exhibit hall with the huge and obtrusive support columns.

I have to agree with KJP - what "three" bridges are you refrerencing? There are about a dozen or so that cross the Cuyahoga near downtown, so it depends on what bridges you want to photograph. Also, for the Superior Viaduct, take whatever route to the intersection of West 25th and Detroit to just north of the intersection and proceed east on Superior Viaduct, where there's street parking (don't go past the marked arch which is for residents of the Stonebridge complex).

I know of a few that have gone to the Cleveland Clinic's Cole Eye Institute and had good results; that said, I hope you're not just soliciting input from this forum.

Dios mio, take it to mensaje privado!

Hi everyone, just a friendly reminder that we have a thread for restaurant *reviews* http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,27741.0.html This thread is for new construction/new restaurant discussion. Thanks!

^Agreed; to those who want to discuss the likes of Roldo, etc., please post in http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,13110.msg639406.html#new

^Not as large-scale, but the group that owns the Lake County News Herald and the Lorain Morning Journal filed (again) for Chapter 11: http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/09/journal_register_co_files_for.html

Be careful what you wish for: ^Not saying Bank of America is in the best place for acquisitions, but KeyCorp set a precedent for the logo/naming rights for whoever might move in :|

Great shots of some great projects - thanks for posting them!

Go after people in those really small towns that want that big city living and Cleveland is just big enough and has the amenities of a big city to get that unique experience but isn't so big and/or expensive that it's overwhelming/unattainable. Fixed that for you, and that's my life's story (small-towner who saw Cleveland as a viable place to live/work) and I didn't need an ad campaign or billboard to convince me but it's great to see those are working to get students from outside the region :-) Back on topic, I love what I'm seeing at CSU as far as building their residential base.

^I have that same brochure - but when I say documentation, I mean either confirmation from the Louis Comfort Tiffany foundation or renderings/plans that clearly prove the provenance. I've seen the vaults and taken photos, but not during this visit - wish I had the time though.

^I don't know the "full story" but the original plans called for the Breuer design "cupping" the rotunda building - it wouldn't have been a perfectly symmetrical building, more like a "J" footprint, if that makes sense. Oh, and descriptions have been added :-)

You'll want to check your private messages - some things have changed during your sabbatical.

Not too long ago, I got to take a tour of the Cleveland Trust complex, including the beautiful rotunda building, the Swetland building (aka 1010 Euclid) and finally after all these years - one of the upper floors of the tower, designed by Marcel Breuer. It was early in the day, so the lighting was pretty harsh from the east and the filth-a-riffic windows didn't help, but I managed to get a few decent shots. The rotunda building and tower at the right - construction of the rotunda building began in 1905 and officially opened in 1908. The Breuer-designed tower was built in 1971 - the original plans called for a twin tower fronting Euclid (on the 1010 Euclid site) I know it's a little dated, but I love the Cleveland Trust logo in this shot: Of course, once I was inside, the first place I made a bee-line to was the rotunda building and the gorgeous stained glass dome. I've heard arguments that it *is* and *isn't* a Tiffany glass piece - I would love to see documentation one way or the other. Directly below the dome is this brass plaque embedded in the floor - I wish there was a way to know the story behind every footstep that wore down the detailing: Along with the stained glass dome are the murals that ring the uppermost area below the dome - these were painted by a prominent artist, Francis Millet. Regrettably, these were some of his last works - he passed away on April 15, 1912 along with about 1,500 other people who entered immortality when they went down with the Titanic: I've been in this space before, but not with a DSLR - I finally managed to get a decent detail shot of the light fixtures: But yeah, the dome and murals :-) Even the steps down to the vault are impeccably detailed (oh and I believe they are bronze as well) The details don't stop there - the brackets under the first mezzanine level: And the patterns on the main floor: Unfortunately this complex has been the subject of so much controversy and not treated with the respect that's due. On the left side of the photo you can see the "Mondrian-esque" window pattern - that used to be true for all of this street level facade but some boneheads decided it was the best place to put temporary vehicle doors for the asbestos remediation: Not wanting to see that travesty anymore we headed over to the Swetland Building/1010 Euclid. We could only view the first floor but as with so many historical properties - the results of abandonment were painfully obvious but so was the potential of restoration: That's about it for the Swetland/1010 Euclid shots - next up, and a real treat for me, was a visit to the 25th floor of the Marcel Breuer-designed Cleveland Trust Tower. While it's not my favorite Cleveland skyscraper, I never disliked this building, but I know so many who just see it as some "ugly/brutalist/etc." Being able to see it from the inside gave me a new appreciation - it has a certain appeal to it (dare I say "Mad Men"?) and if given enough TLC, I think more would see its potential. Even so, a lot of the views *from* it are just amazing: As I said, early sun + filthy windows = less than decent shots, but I tried: I apologize for the reflections in this shot, but I loved this view of the AT&T Huron Road building: Ah well, can't stay 25 forever, down to 4 we go ;-) This is Barn Court, looking west at the beautiful Rose Building - the view from street level looking east - yeah, that's a little more foreboding: This cracked me up - this is the former operations center located in the low-rise building at the corner of East 9th and Prospect. The machinery you see was used for paperwork transfer, etc. - I saw the wallpaper and thought the last time I saw that color was in the movie '9 to 5' when they "updated" their surroundings to be "current" ;-) The low-rise building (and decor) aren't the most appealing but they do have great views of the Rose Building: And the Caxton Building, which has a special place in my heart - it's where I landed my first job in Cleveland, and I started clevelandskyscrapers.com during that time. That and it was just a kick@ss cool building to work in: Views from the skywalk from the low-rise buildings to the parking garage: And back down to the sidewalk - I did a mockup back in the day and I'll try to find it, but it's funny that some have suggested this become a "W" hotel; in the mockup I did, the W logo went right into the 'cutout' of the tower's crown: Remember when I said the front facade on East 9th had a great "Mondrian-esque" facade? This is the exterior shot: After the tour, we were allowed to check out the rotunda again - so we went to the upper levels :-) As many times as I've been in the rotunda, I never saw the gorgeous stencil work on the underside of the arches below the dome - my partner pointed these out :-) Hope you enjoyed!

I know a pet peeve of the Admins/Mods - when someone digs up an old thread and posts just so they can have the last word, or stir up sh!t or make inane comments. Just sayin' :-)

Thanks everyone! Looks like I forgot a handful of shots, so here you go: The sign reads something along the lines of "Coming Soon - Native Grasses/Plants" - looks like the effort to 'naturalize' this stretch worked! And it wouldn't be a trip to Wendy Park without checking out the action at the volleyball courts: "did you take a break at cropicana? hows that place doing this summer?" No, but I know it's no longer Cropicana - but whatever incarnation it is, it was hopping.

^Au contraire :-)