There is (was) a 2 story warehouse next to the Salvation Army bldg. on E.18th street that I drive past on my usual commute downtown.  The warehouse was in a sea of surface lots.  I often wondered if some entrepreneurial soul might someday do something with this building or just what could go in there.  When I drove past on Wednesday the place was 80% demolished.  Thursday 100% down with just rubble being picked through by a back hoe.  I assume Monday it will be as if there was never a building there.  Not a spectacular or grand place - just another old place that has bit the dust.

 

I imagine the footprint of this place will become a surface lot.

There is (was) a 2 story warehouse next to the Salvation Army bldg. on E.18th street that I drive past on my usual commute downtown.  The warehouse was in a sea of surface lots.  I often wondered if some entrepreneurial soul might someday do something with this building or just what could go in there.  When I drove past on Wednesday the place was 80% demolished.  Thursday 100% down with just rubble being picked through by a back hoe.  I assume Monday it will be as if there was never a building there.  Not a spectacular or grand place - just another old place that has bit the dust.

 

I imagine the footprint of this place will become a surface lot.

 

You're referring to this:

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,2289.msg719386.html#msg719386

That's the place.  Interesting history of the "Mad Hatter".  Thanks.

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/designreview/drcagenda/2014/12052014/index.php

 

City Planning Commission

Agenda for December 5, 2014

 

NE2014-017 - Proposed Demolition of a 3-Story Mixed-Use Building

Project Address: 6314 St. Clair Avenue

Project Representative: TBD

 

The white structure is slated for demolition....

 

 

 

 

Also, this white house surrounded by commercial structures is proposed to be demo'd....

 

1. NE2014-034 - Proposed Demolition of a Two-Story Residential Structure

Project Address: 15625 St. Clair Avenue

Project Representative: Jim Maher, County Land Bank

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5570066,-81.5707879,3a,75y,301.49h,84.95t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sxqJXh6Kjgz9B2m4kSeyiQQ!2e0

 

 

 

Bummer... just noticed my favorite little townhouse terrace in the area was demo-ed this past summer. Was at Euclid and Elberon in East Cleveland.

 

From July '14 google streeview:

 

 

You can actually see the demo beginning in August '14:

 

 

Not that I had any illusions where this block was heading.  Man East Cleveland is a downer.

^East Cleveland has some amazing architecture and could be one of the premiere urban neighborhoods in the region. It is really a shame that so much has been lost. I hope things change, but I really don't see that happening any time soon. The city really needs to merge with Cleveland. Wouldn't hurt if our population was growing, our economy booming, and we became more receptive to immigrants (but that's a national issue).

^Agreed, but while I hate to say it, don't get attached to anything in East Cleveland.

What disturbs me even more is that many inner city leaders see these older structures as the embodiment of blight and decay. Their motto seems to be: "When in doubt, rip it out. Everything new and modern is good." Phyllis Cleveland is one that comes to mind because she's on Cleveland's Planning Commission. What we end up with our neighborhoods without a soul or identity. Everything is built cheaply and looks the same. It is easily discarded again.

Sad but true.  "Rip it all down" is basically the plan, as explained to me by friends in the public sector.  Preservation has its advocates but they are few, and they have no answers to the cost issue.  Many structures are so far gone that demo is seen as the only reasonable option. 

 

Personally I don't believe it's quite so black and white.  Demo is quicker and cheaper, but the question then becomes how much value is assigned to these buildings, their place in history, the manner of living they represent, and the scope of the permanent loss.  That value isn't a hard number.  You can't call around and get quotes on it like demo vs rehab.  It's an arbitrary matter of policy choice.  That choice has been made and that value has been set at zero.

 

I met Jeff Johnson at a parade last year, walked right up and thanked him for advocating preservation.  He seemed shocked that anyone might agree.  My friends on the other side of this issue are not fans of his.

What disturbs me even more is that many inner city leaders see these older structures as the embodiment of blight and decay. Their motto seems to be: "When in doubt, rip it out. Everything new and modern is good." Phyllis Cleveland is one that comes to mind because she's on Cleveland's Planning Commission. What we end up with our neighborhoods without a soul or identity. Everything is built cheaply and looks the same. It is easily discarded again.

 

This is an excellent point. The other day there was a huge fire in the  beachfront neighborhood just north of me. I saw the smoke and initially started praying it wasn't one of the old school, 50's era motels or bungalow houses. Turns out it was the brand new microbrewery; a nice building, but by no means irreplaceable or anywhere near representative of the soul or identity of the hood. So much of the area just looks homogenized with new stuff. The old buildings have all the history...all the memories.

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/designreview/drcagenda/2015/pdf/East_Review_Agenda_3-24.pdf

 

East Design Review District

Agenda

(9:00a.m., Tuesday, March 24th, 2015)

 

Cornucopia Place, 7201 Kinsman Avenue

9:00am 1. East 2015-002 – 3275 E. 55th Demolition

Location: 3275 E. 55th Street, Ward 5

 

 

Broadway/E. 55th Historic District

Demolition request of a two-story, Italianate structure (modifications over the

years have removed most of the building’s features)

Project Representative: C. Brown, Urban Recycling

That whole area is beautiful with some of the best intact urban fabric in the city.  Hopefully no more destruction.

That whole area is beautiful with some of the best intact urban fabric in the city.  Hopefully no more destruction.

 

If it wasn't for the addresses of the two neighboring buildings, I'd never be able to ID that house. It was described as Italianate. Wow. It's been so badly modified, you'd never know it.

That whole area is beautiful with some of the best intact urban fabric in the city.  Hopefully no more destruction.

 

If it wasn't for the addresses of the two neighboring buildings, I'd never be able to ID that house. It was described as Italianate. Wow. It's been so badly modified, you'd never know it.

 

Yikes.

 

This article is in the April 2015 issue of the Plain Press

 

Detroit Shoreway residents vote to remove landmark status from

historic Watterson Lake School building to make way for demolition

by Chuck Hoven

At a March 18th Community meeting held in Bethany Presbyterian Church, residents voted 22 to 3 to have historic Watterson Lake School Building on W. 74th and Detroit Avenue

removed from its landmark status and demolished. The school, built in 1906 and designed by architect Frank S. Barnum, has been vacant since the 1980s. Students currently

attend a newer Watterson Lake built in 1969 next to the old building. After the vote, Ward 15 Councilman Matt Zone said he would immediately work to get on the agenda of the

Landmarks Commission to pursue removing landmark status of the building so it can be demolished this summer.

In the discussion prior to the vote, Councilman Zone noted the meetings held over the years to attempt to save the building. He recalled attending a meeting in 1995 where restoration of the building was an issue. He said Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization presented the school district an analysis of the building in 1988.

Resident Sharon Dossa, who attended school in the old Watterson Lake building, recalled the schools’ former principal working to save the historic structure. Dossa said something of the school could have been saved years ago when the school was “not as visibly terrible as it is now.” She said what happened to Watterson Lake was “demolition by neglect by the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.”

Residents attending the meeting were given a list of the recent meetings of the West Clinton Block Club where residents sought answers from the school district

about the condition of the building. In response to these efforts the school district produced a number of reports.

An October 2013 Sebesta & Associates airborne asbestos report “showed significant potential for exposure to airborne asbestos fibers and fungal spores in the 1906 building.”

An April 2014 Masonry Prism Testing for Compressive Strength recommended demolition rather than trying to save the 1906 walls.

Councilman Zone said he also asked local developer Marous Brothers Construction for an opinion, and in February of this year they told him the building was unlikely to attract an adaptive use developer. He said other builders and an architect with expertise in historic preservation have given him similar feedback.

Councilman Zone said the Cleveland Metropolitan School District has agreed to cover the cost of demolishing the structure. Zone said the entire cost of the demolition would have to come from district funds – the state will not match the cost because there are currently no students in the building. A November 2013 Barber & Hoffman cost estimate determined the cost of demolition to be between $400,000 and $500,000. An additional $250,000-$300,000 would be added to the cost to brace and preserve the façade. It was also noted some

of the terra cotta work in the design of the façade fell off in 2013. With Watterson Lake’s 1969 building eventually slated to be closed by the school district after a new Waverly-Watterson Lake building is constructed on the current site of Waverly, Councilman Zone said a decision had to be made whether the old building should be torn down this summer during school recess or to wait and tear both buildings down at the same time.

Councilman Zone said the school district had agreed to see if it could separate the parcels and tear down just the old building and prepare the site for potential development.

He said that demolishing the school now would allow the option of keeping some of the artifacts for incorporation into the new school planned for the Waverly site on

W. 57th and allow for a small development site on Detroit Avenue. Councilman Zone assured residents that every precaution would be taken in demolishing the building

to assure air quality safety in the nearby neighborhood.

 

Wow: http://goo.gl/maps/RhdV6

 

School districts are some of the worst offenders of demolition-by-neglect. They generally get a pass because their buildings are often times old and not in the best of condition, and then torn down in haste when a new facility is built. Gutting and renovating an active building is different (and very difficult and expensive) than building a new facility adjacent to it (as what happened here). But 30 years and nothing has come about this? What a shame.

Wow: http://goo.gl/maps/RhdV6

 

School districts are some of the worst offenders of demolition-by-neglect. They generally get a pass because their buildings are often times old and not in the best of condition, and then torn down in haste when a new facility is built. Gutting and renovating an active building is different (and very difficult and expensive) than building a new facility adjacent to it (as what happened here). But 30 years and nothing has come about this? What a shame.

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/garfieldmaplesun/2009/06/maple_heights_west_junior_high.html

 

The best part was the interior was trashed the first winter as no one bothered to drain the pipes....

Just curious, at this stage is it preferable that the facade be saved, or is it better to hope that new construction is built out to the sidewalk?

It's attached to the newer building - and the older building (from the streetview) shows facade deterioration. And holes in the roof. Geez. It almost seems that, at this point, it would be more cost effective and practical to salvage what terra cotta remains and rebuild.

Wasn't sure if this was the best fit for this article, but it's close due to the subject matter and intentions:

 

Cleveland then and now: Heights Arts show pairs images of same places decades apart (photos)

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Founded in 1796, this city is a relative youngster by global standards, but it has changed radically in many respects.

 

The downtown skyline bristles with towers that didn't exist half a century ago. The onetime back door of the Cleveland Museum of Art is now enclosed under a vast atrium. And concourses at Cleveland Union Terminal have become shopping promenades of The Avenue at Tower City.

 

Those are some of the changes recorded by Cleveland photographers in "Impermanence," an exhibition at Heights Arts Gallery, 2175 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2015/04/cleveland_then_and_now_heights.html#incart_gallery

 

 

^ Vintage photo thread?

 

Neat article though. I think it's time for a new edition of the 'Cleveland: Then and Now' book.

Cleveland: Then (2010) and Now (2015)

^ Vintage photo thread?

 

Neat article though. I think it's time for a new edition of the 'Cleveland: Then and Now' book.

 

I'm under contract to author one with Font Hill Media - hopefully in publication by the holidays this year.

Edwins plans to demo the larger building at corner of East 130th and Buckeye for a pocket park and parking. And renovate a much smaller building for a handful of apartments. Seems completely backwards. We should work to salvage buildings like these with apartments over retail. Shameful if the planning commission approves this. None of the pictures or agenda items discuss structural issues. It's just typical neglect that would be a great renovation project.

 

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/landmark/agenda/2015/04232015/index.php

 

 

8.Shaker Square Historic District: Case 15-033

Edwins Next Student Housing

Shaker Square Plaza 13000 Buckeye Road

Demolition

Ward 4 K. Johnson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow that is a nice building being leveled...

Lakewood wins $200,000 grant for Hilliard Square Theater demolition

 

By  Bruce Geiselman, Northeast Ohio Media Group 

Email the author | Follow on Twitter

on April 23, 2015 at 2:42 PM, updated April 23, 2015 at 3:26 PM

 

LAKEWOOD, Ohio – The city will receive a $200,000 grant for demolition of the former Hilliard Square Theater, and officials hope to hire a company this summer to remove asbestos from the building to prepare for its eventual demolition.

 

Hilliard Square Theater, built in the mid-1920s, closed in the 1960s. It reopened later as Westwood Arts Theatre until it closed in 1988.

 

Robert Dobush bought the theater and attached apartments and storefronts 17 years ago for approximately $275,000 to prevent the building from being razed. He tried unsuccessfully to find someone willing to renovate the building. Dobush, who at one time lived in apartments attached to the theater, said he has done his best to maintain the property.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/lakewood/index.ssf/2015/04/lakewood_receives_200000_grant.html#incart_river

That would be a huge blow to Buckeye architecturally and should not be allowed.  Cleveland cannot afford to replace historic mixed-use structures with surface parking and "pocket parks" along major commercial streets.

That would be a huge blow to Buckeye architecturally and should not be allowed.  Cleveland cannot afford to replace historic mixed-use structures with surface parking and "pocket parks" along major commercial streets.

 

Agreed.  These are exactly what makes Cleveland unique to mid-sized newer cities. 

For what it's worth I sent an email to the landmark commission person representing Buckeye-Shaker and another to the city Council person for this ward. I got an email back from the planning commission saying the demolition was tabled.

It's hard to tell but some of those images of the building appear to have fire damage. 

Yeah, I'm seeing char on many of the beams, and these windows in the streetview are missing: https://goo.gl/maps/rDGKb

here's what budapest nightlife has gotten rather famous for -- ruin pubs -- it could be a great way to use certain unused older buildings in cle as well:

 

http://ruinpubs.com/

 

around 10yrs ago simzela kert (sp?) was the first and most well known budapest ruin pub and then it really became a thing.

 

i know berlin and istanbul do or have done similar things and no doubt other places as well.

 

anyway, its an idea for doing something fun with a little investmentwise.

 

Original facade of Lakewood High School visible. And ready for the big axe.

I didn't know the historic facade was coming down, too! WTF!!!!!!!  :whip: :whip: :whip:

It appears these two houses which are part of the footprint of Brickhaus Partners Ohio City development are slated for demo per a building and housing permit. The owner is listed as Brickhaus and are scheduled to come down this week.  Also Brickhaus was asked on their FB page when construction will begin and they indicated this summer. So let's hope.

http://www.brickhauspartners.com/ohio-city/index.html

 

I'll take that trade.

freethink, You should post that in the Duck Island development thread. BTW, that's actually in the Tremont service area, not Ohio City. The dividing line is either Columbus Road or the Red Line.

Cleveland Landmarks Commission votes to allow demolition of Wirth House in Brooklyn Centre

 

By Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer

on July 10, 2015 at 8:15 AM, updated July 10, 2015 at 8:33 AM

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Wirth House, a decaying 19th-century landmark owned by the nonprofit Art House Inc. in Brooklyn Centre, finally appears headed for demolition after 14 years of debate over whether to keep or toss it.

 

In split votes on Thursday, the Cleveland Landmarks Commission approved demolition of the house, located at 3119 Denison Ave., and a neighboring vintage house next door at 3201 Denison.

 

The demolition of Wirth House requires a review carried out by the city for the federal government because federal community block grant dollars given to Art House would be used for the demolition. Such "Section 106" reviews can take up to a year.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/architecture/index.ssf/2015/07/cleveland_landmarks_commission.html

DOWNTOWN INVESTMENT GROUP LLC purchased this building and a neighboring parcel on 6/30/2015 for $1,500,000.  (Looks like a Geis Company)

 

New York Spaghetti House: Case 15-048

2173 East 9th Street

Demolition

 

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/landmark/agenda/2015/07232015/index.php

Are they proposing a parking lot? I know that was proposed previously but with the change in ownership I thought maybe they would either repurpose or build something. Very disappointing if that's what the plan is. It's in the slide entitled "proposed site context"

I always thought you needed to have a redevelopment plan to demo a building within a landmarks district.  Hopefully there is more that isn't public at this point.

Looks like most of these are owned by the state following the disposition of a forfeiture case of some kind. In 2009, these structures in streetviews look like very solid. They declined very quickly....

 

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/designreview/drcagenda/2015/08072015/index.php

 

City Planning Commission

Agenda for August 7, 2015

 

EC2015 – 023 – Proposed Demolition of Thirteen Row Houses

Project Address: 7001 – 7007 Cedar Avenue

Project Representative: Ayonna Donald, City of Cleveland

 

 

 

 

 

It's ashame Cleveland can't seem to hold on to it's turn of the century density even today...especially all brick structures.  Thirteen row homes is pretty substantial.  Every time we lose one, another day of looking more and more generic as a city.

Sounds like tearing down the Center Mayfield strip is being seriously considered. Such a shame. Part of my childhood

These are a long-troubled, neglected property. Sad that it came to this point because lost density can hurt the neighborhood's purchasing power...

 

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/landmark/agenda/2015/09242015/index.php

 

Shaker Square Historic District: Case 15-059

13020 Drexmore Road

Demolition

 

Shaker Square Historic District: Case 15-060

2790 East 130th Street

Demolition

 

 

 

 

This will hopefully avoid a repeat of the above neglect....

 

Shaker Square-area community policing grant includes some building code enforcement

By Thomas Jewell, special to Northeast Ohio Media Group

on September 22, 2015

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Part of a $1.8 million Community Policing grant awarded through the U.S. Department of Justice will provide overtime for officers working on the streets and in the neighborhoods around Shaker Square.

 

And some of those funds will go toward building code enforcement in Buckeye-Shaker, where years of neglect have gone unchecked after the City of Cleveland phased out its multi-unit inspection division a decade ago.

 

At the Sept. 17 meeting of the Shaker Square Alliance, Harriet Wadsworth of Cleveland Heights asked if police were authorized to issue criminal complaints on multi-family buildings that have violations like the ones already condemned across the parking lot from Shaker Square Cinemas and Dave's Market.

 

MORE:

http://www.cleveland.com/shaker-heights/index.ssf/2015/09/shaker_square-area_community_p.html

While I'm glad the second-floor residents got out OK (thank-you family dog for waking them!), these historic buildings on Detroit Avenue at West 76th appear to be a total loss....

 

News article:

http://fox8.com/2015/09/23/fire-crews-on-scene-of-building-fire-portion-of-detroit-avenue-closed/

 

Nick Foley ‏@nfoley1418  49m49 minutes ago

We have now learned 2 people were inside of historic Delahunty bldg at time of fire. Got out safe @WEWS

 

 

 

Sarah Phinney ‏@sarahephinney  51m51 minutes ago

NEW: Just spoke with a couple who say they lived on the upper floor of this building. Dog woke them up. @WEWS

 

^ Very sad. The western buildings on that block are no real loss, but the Delahunty Building had some real character and would have been a great spot for some future retail. In fact, I think I recall that some people were looking to open a hipster-type barber shop in this building. I live a couple blocks away from these buildings and the smell of smoke woke me up in the middle of the night, so it must have been a huge fire. I wonder why they didn't just tear down that vacant building after it caught fire a couple months ago. That could have saved this block.

Truly sad.  Let's hope if they get torn down they are replaced with something worthy--mixed use apartments and retail would be great.  Please no Happy's Pizza, CVS or Walgreens.

 

If the delahunt bldg is lost it will be an unfortunate turn of events

this is what happens without "gentrification."

sometimes even with it, but definitly without it.