lafont

Yes, the Cedar Road station has so many flowers I was figuring they're mainly just for opening day ceremonies. The old station, which mainly kept going down, down, down over the years (in both appearance and amenities) had like no landscaping in recent years worth talking about. Really nothing at all to make it appealing or attractive. Shame on them! Many of us had to spend a good part of our lives there - particularly when service from the Heights to and from Downtown went down the tubes.

It will be so wonderful when everyone can walk down both sides of East Ninth Street without obstructions! Both sides of Euclid Avenue east of Ford Drive, too....

I'm one very much against demolition of Edward Durrell Stone's Jewish Community Federation building, but I notice demolition hasn't appeared, when articles had implied it would take place in the late winter or spring. Does anyone know if that apartment project is still on or anything else going on with it? I really want to see an apartment house but not on THAT site....

Nothing can bring back the Hippodrome or Richman's menswear, but it sure is a dumb location for a surface lot.

It's also time to change those non-working light fixtures along Huron to uniform lighting - the type around the tringle is okay even if cliched.

What's this about an "Autograph Hotel?" I thought it's to be a Metropolitan Hotel.... :?

Thanks. I haven't seen the new enclosed area at track level and wonder if it's even up yet.

The new Cedar Rapid station is looking good but I was hoping for something a little more substantial. I don't think this one will offer some of the amenities I was hoping for. Actually, hardly any of them do - compared to what's seen in other cities. But I was sort of hoping a University Circle station, with all the new development in the vicinity and all the hope for future importance of this district, would be something more substantial. Incidentally, why on earth was the building demolished on the other side of Cedar before the new station started being used??? What was the rush? Is there already an office functioning in the new building? As many of us know, the old station kept getting more and more neglected. Originally it had public restrooms (I'd assume) and a take-out and news counter. I'm really looking forward to the Mayfield-Little Italy station's being completed and truly hope it will greatly tie together the Uptown and Little Italy neighborhoods such that people will really walk between the two - including in the evenings.

Great article about UC projects in latest Cleveland Museum of Art bulletin!

I'm so glad to see construction began a few weeks ago for the new apartments/townhouses, on East 115th Street, and, as I was assured, that wonderful Arts and Crafts stucco house at the corner of Wade Park Avenue, as well as the house-turned-church next to it has been spared. With the enormous amount of demolition of great houses and other buildings in UC over the decades at least Wade Park Avenue has been mostly spared.

Yes, I would say there were few wealthy in Hough by the time Chester was built. But it was wholly intact, with many wonderful, large houses on parts of E. 75, E. 79th, 87th, 89th, and 93rd, and elsewhere. Chester was planned as a modern parkway, something like the Opportunity Corridor. Of course the Euclid/E. 105th St. district was booming in the '40s for restaurants, nightclubs, hotels, theaters, and shopping.

Here's a case where, imho, the new apartment/commercial/townhouse project is very positive, and I want it to be considered near University Circle but specifically a highpoint of Hough. I want people to start thinking of Hough as a district with a great deal of potential and as one even with luxury apartments. It already has luxury houses - mostly new - as well as the Schweinfurth House, Dunham Tavern, and several Cleveland Historical Districts. Yes, a substantial part of the Cleveland Clinic as well. I want the whole image of Hough to go up up up, and this mixed use development can get the ball rolling. From about 1890 to 1930 Hough actually had a prestigious name in Cleveland, with several grand streets.

So with all the damaged brickwork that has been removed, and all the concrete placed to fill in the gaps, has any decorative brickwork actually been installed yet? I haven't noticed any, unless the match is so perfect one couldn't tell.

As I'm sure many of you know, Chester was cut through at a much later time than the streets around it - around the 1940s. This eliminated many fine houses and probably apartment houses. East 89th, for example, certainly lost some very good Victorians. In fact, I personally believe cutting Chester through all those streets made them go downhill faster. In many cases the houses right by Chester were the first to go, and some streets were cut off altogether, unfortunately. I'm just saying that Hough, which is an old name for the neighborhood, was always considered to have Euclid Avenue as its southern border. Fairfax, in contrast, is a relatively new district name, and it would make little sense for its being considered to cross Euclid. If that organization was involved in the planning for those townhouses, I could only assume it was because of their proximity to it. It should have been considered a very positive Hough development, with the late Fanny Lewis very involved as Councilwoman.

I wish the "Hingetown" monitor would be dropped and it would all be called Ohio City. That section could always be called "Northern Ohio City." Does anyone else out there feel this should be considered and linked completely with Ohio City in people's minds? As far as I know there's just "Georgetown," "German Village," etc. - at least as far as most people are concerned. In other words, I want people to think of "Ohio City" as including and getting credit and recognition for this enclave north as Franklin, if that's what some consider a border.

Speaking of Hough, it's always annoyed me when properties between Euclid and Chester Avenues are labeled as "Fairfax." Fairfax is south of Euclid - period. I've brought this up to people with the City and they agree. There's some confusion due to the City Council district borders but definitely Fairfax should only be south of Euclid. I'd like to see Hough get the credit for those blocks of townhouses, etc.

The building never looks of the highest quality when one looks down an alley and sees most of the wall is not cleaned when the street facades are. I believe what's currently the Fifth Street Arcades, and the Old Arcade/Hyatt Regency, had their alley wall bricks cleaned in their respective grand restorations/renovations. I realize the brick on the Schofield's alley is a different (and obviously was cheaper) type, if that means anything. Oh well....

Now the new hotel/apartment building should get back the stunning Vaserelely lithograph that used to grace the bank entrance lobby and could be seen when entering from the sidewalk....

Magnolia was originally a graceful, winding street lined with houses all the way, with the exception of the Flemish-style Cleveland School of Art building. In prestige it was second in Wade Park only to East Boulevard, which had several huge houses that are now gone. First the street was cut in two when the dorms were constructed, in the '60s, and in then in the '70s it was decided it would be less confusing if the piece that comes down from the dorms toward East Boulevard would be considered part of the short Juniper Drive. There are planning maps, however, showing what was Magnolia rebuilt such that the two pieces are joined once more - even with the dorms still there. I sure wish that would take place, and the section around Glidden House, the cafe, and the new Veale would be Magnolia once more. :yap:

It was all planned in conjunction with continued construction of The Avenues. It's a shame it hasn't materialized.

Okay - I just found this article: http://slavicvillage.org/fleet-avenue-funded Does anyone know if these plans are actually materializing and if construction will indeed begin this fall?

Fleet Avenue in Slavic Village looks dreary. It looks like there's hasn't been any significant revitalization plan in over 20 years. Curbs, walks, street pavement, empty tree planters and plots look very bad. So do many buildings, and many are vacant or stores are hardly ever open, but that's a different matter. I'm particularly asking if there are streetscape or general rejuvenation plans in the works? I haven't seen anything about it. Yes, parts of the Broadway area have been undergoing renewal, and there's some new residential on East 65th, but I'm asking about Fleet itself and its immediate vicinity.

There are a few tenants, besides the three-business food court plus the Greek place, and that's it. Not sure if the coffee place is open very early but it's closed by noon. Of course the place isn't dead because it's really a full-service Hyatt Regency, which has been undergoing renovation, but still....

Funny having a Keller-Williams office so close to a Howard Hanna which, incidentally, didn't have any house images in their show windows the other day. Did they stop showing houses in their street windows? I remember when they stopped including the asking prices.

The apartments+ are sure going up faster than the CWRU medical school complex. Has construction officially begun? All I see is the cleared space where the hotel was, with the fencing around it. And only on the Euclid edge, not going near Chester.