Barneyboy

How about some what could have beens? (Weideman's, torn down in the 50's)

Here's when the place was known as Tucker's (circa '82).

I often like to quote the elder Wolstein when the subject of infill development and sensitive historic integration comes up. Back in the early 80's, before renovations were made to the warehouse district, and an arena was considered, he was quoted as saying, "It's all junk, frankly they should tear the whole area down". WHAT A GUY!

You're probably right, I think the atrium was created when the building was converted to office space. Here's an artist rendering before construction started.

Walker & Weeks were responsible for those alterations. Consider what might have been had they been able to build what they planned for Taylor's before the Great Depression hit.

A far cry better than it once did!

I'm fairly certain that the atrium is the former Taylor Arcade.[/img] This is the Taylor Arcade (not the Colonial Arcade)

Ari Maron is GOD!

MTS- I read some of these comments too, and while some very valid point were made, there are still some cleveland.bombf*ks who suggest tearing down the abandoned storefronts on Euclid Ave. and building the CC there! WTF? Are these people with their surrealistic sense of scale and proportion the same people who created the Detroit/Cleveland comparison maps in the PD? Hey Gang! Remember that spit of land across the street from Progressive Field @ the foot of the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge (Shell station)? Let's build it there! LOL

Here's a couple more from the 30's-40's.

Keep in mind that few cities built their convention centers as early as Cleveland's, or in such a monumental style, nor within the context of a comprehensive civic center/planned urban district. Convention centers are easily disposed of when they don't age well. With a few obvious exceptions, ours has!

All the Allertons had a family resemblance. Especially the one in Chicago.

Clark Gable's former stomping grounds! He lived in Ravenna when he caught the acting bug after seeing a play in Akron

Tower City is a story unto itself of unfulfilled proposals. Some, such as Neiman-Marcus and the expansion of Stouffer's (Renaissance) were victims of the economic and cultural climate. The original plans from the 80's, compared with what's being considered today are light years apart.

I've seen quite a few abandoned projects over the past 20-30 years, most were ill-concieved though. Aside from the more obvious ones such as Progressive & Ameritrust, here they are:

About 20 years or so ago, that house was on the market ($799,000). These are some pictures that were featured in Smythe-Cramer's 'Fine Ohio Homes' magazine

Actually, the vacant lot between two building is the Hippodrome site. Although you can't see it in the picture, as it's set back from the street was the old Union Club, which was the former Truman P. Handy mansion. Handy was a prominent pioneer banker in the mid-19th century. The two-story commercial structure in the picture was replaced by 668, and before that was the Ursuline Convent (also housed in a former mansion).

I've been to Mariemont many times, it actually compares very much with Cedar-Fairmount in size (maybe a little smaller) but with the tudor motif and an historic hotel in both neighborhoods. Actually, Mariemont may be less dense, as there are more houses than apartments. Shaker Square is definitely bigger.

That postcard features the Hippodrome and Taylor's Dept. Store (668) to the right of it, however, it was elevated to its current height in the early 20's (much the same way as the May Co. added floors.) Walker & Weeks had drawn up an art deco skyscraper for Taylor's which would've replaced the current structure and been about 30 stories, and quite awesome, but obviously it was never built.

The Osborne Bldg. may be difficult to recognize to some because they scraped the blue paint off when it was turned into apartments. The configuration of the west end of Huron Rd. has changed too, with a landscaped plaza, which is a huge improvement over this. This space could potentionally change again if anything of what we saw in the future plans for the Ameritrust site comes to fruition.

That shot was taken shortly after the Cowell & Hubbard jewelry store closed. The frames in the windows were the original jewelry displays. I didn't personally take that shot of the Sohio bldg., but yes, it did eventually appear in Ohio Magazine. I've been a graphic designer for many years and have been given lots of pictures, (a lot them just crap), but I just figured it was of the same vintage of the rest of mine, so I just added it in the post. It was a fairly decent restaurant in the lobby soon after they stopped showing Lazerium shows (lazer light shows set to rock music). I once went to one featuring Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Thinking back, it was a bit of a rip-off, but it helped keep the place going.

Yet more images from the past.

Somebody wants to build something, and you don't like the way it's being built, say something! Then the wrong thing doesn't get built. That was the point of that illustration.

Although I only just read about this newest development just yesterday, you've got a great point! I plan on locating an e-mail address or phone number and do just that. If anybody on UO has Wolstein's e-mail POST IT! Then there'll be no excuses for them such as apathy among the public. Look what happened when the Browns bolted for Baltimore. The NFL offices had to shut down their fax machine!

Back in the 60's a wise man who knew what was best for New York better than anybody else wanted to build the cross-Manhattan expressway. But there was this little old lady named Jane Jacobs, who knew nothing,and a few of her neighbors (who also knew nothing) said NO. Today, the cast iron district and SOHO exist. Here in Cleveland, a county engineer named Albert Porter, wanted to build a feeway through a two-bit duck pond, but some people with contrasting opinions said "think about what you're doing". Today we still have the Shaker Lakes. Don't think for a minute that you have to settle for crap. Neither Wolstein or Eaton want crap either, but enough noise from people with a different opinion CAN make a difference. Remember, nobody objected when we build railroads on our lakefront, and that is OUR legacy! Don't think for a minute that we shouldn't critique, it's a healthy necessary process to getting what we want.