Finally stopped in at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland since they reopened the historic lobby to the public. The hours are somewhat limited (Mon-Thurs., 10am-2pm) but it's worth a visit. You'll have to go through metal detectors and make sure you don't have any weapons on you. They allow still cameras AND tripods, but NO video cameras. Moving on ...

 

Built in 1924, standing 12 stories high - the main lobby is one of the most beautiful interiors in Cleveland. The architects of this building also did the Main Library, the Superior Building, and dozens of other Cleveland-area landmarks.

 

The outside:

 

The inside - the main features of the lobby are the gold-veined Siena marble and the Swedish wrought iron gates:

 

 

Above each teller window is a massive arched window, each bearing an insignia from each of the banks in the Federal Reserve system:

 

 

The central dome in the lobby:

 

 

 

 

Close-up of the top of one of the gates:

 

 

 

 

There are two statues at the East Sixth Street entrance. As the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland was built during the "roaring 20s", these statues used to house small artillery cannons. If needed, the statues would break away and the guards would use the cannons to take out any potential intruders:

 

And see those two slots under the third step? Those used to be slots for guns to use for sharpshooting. No one has ever even attempted to rob the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland - wonder why!

 

One last  exterior shot:

Wow, those are gorgeous. Thanks! :clap:

Very nice!  Those hidden fortifications are interesting.

 

Did you get a little bag of shredded bills? :-)

i always wondered what it was like in there -- nice job.

 

ps -- IM me about the plates, micky knuckles and fat sal are getting antsy  :-D  :shoot:

 

 

If you ever get the opportunity to take an actual tour of the operations & the building DO SO.

 

It is a must see!!!  I wanted to roll naked in "out of circulation" bills    to be so close to so much money.......sigh

 

 

Great photos of an opulent building.  It would be wild to see one of those statues break away and the cannons come out!

Such grandeur! I got chills just looking at the photos.

Wow, absolutely gorgeous building!!

It somewhat reminds me of Terminal Tower's entrance "arcade."

Stunning building.  Great pics MayDay, thanks.  I was wondering if the top floor was a later addition.  Kinda looks like one of those.

Ex - that's original to the building. If I remember correctly, that's where the security team has their firing range. I've seen armed guards walking the perimeter of that floor with assault rifles  :-o

^ Yikes.

That's a fantastic lobby!

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland is the headquarters of the Fourth District of the Federal Reserve System created in 1913 with a mandate to manage the nation's money supply and assure the stability of its financial system. The severe financial panic of 1907 the worst of similar crises in 1893, 1896, 1901 and then again in 1910-11.

 

The Cleveland Fed moved into its new, purpose built permanent home at E 6th Street and Superior Avenue in 1923. The architects were Walker & Weeks, Cleveland's pre-eminent firm of the period. Walker & Weeks was founded in 1911 and quickly established a notable expertise in the design of banks as well as a reputation for high quality of their work.

 

 

The Cleveland headquarters, like the renowned New York headquarters building by York & Sawyer, was modeled on the defensible Florentine and Roman Palazzi of the Renaissance. Beaux-Arts trained architects like Walker & Weeks and York & Sawyer consulted historical precedent appropriate to each commission and the Italian Renaissance Palazzo was an ideal model for the quasi-governmental authority of the Federal Reserve. The New York and Cleveland banks are arguably the finest buildings in the Federal Reserve System and it is hard to imagine a more satisfying application of historical precedent in the Beaux-Arts architectural tradition.

 

While the New York bank would be heavily rusticated and crenulated, borrowing many elements directly from the Palazzo Medici in Florence, Frank Walker conceived the Cleveland bank with elegant, refined gravitas. Walker was fascinated by color in architecture and by the beauty of natural stone and developed a level of expertise with stone selection that allowed him

 

For the entire exterior sheathing of the Cleveland building he chose Pink Etowah marble from the quarries at Tate, Georgia. The result of this bold selection has been a edifice of ravishing beauty for a city that is rarely described in those terms. The building is memorable, to say the least, and it must have stood out even more strongly in the grey industrial city that was Cleveland in the 1920's.

 

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I love when old threads like this that I never knew existed resurface. And like many others here, have always wanted to go inside. Thanks for sharing the pics.

I think I recall hearing the main vault door is one of, if not THE largest vault door in the country... world... universe???? Anybody know?