In a previous thread we were discussing where the Central National Bank Building was located and that got me to do some research. I came across this book on ebay titled “On the Grow With Cleveland” by Rose Jollie.

 

The book was published by the bank to commemorate its 75th anniversary in 1965. It is full of history, artwork, and photos of Cleveland dating from 1890-1965.

 

Here are just a few, I will add more in the future. Enjoy…

 

When it was completed on the corner of West 6th St. and Superior, the 17-story Rockefeller Building was the largest office building in Cleveland. The ground floor, widely publicized for its elegance, served as the bank’s main office from 1905 until 1927.

 

 

This beautiful spire on the Old Stone Church was damaged by fire in 1884, and was removed a few years later. It was never rebuilt. Today ornaments stand on the four corners of the stone foundation formerly supporting the steeple.

 

Update: The spire was replaced in 1999.

 

 

Overlooking the north section of Public Square and the Oliver Hazard Perry Monument in the center of Superior and Ontario Street intersection, about 1877. In 1878 the monument was moved to the SE section of the Square.

 

 

Superior Street, looking east from the Superior Viaduct, soon after Central National Bank opened in the Perry Payne Building (left). The five-story white building (left center) on the corner of West 6th  St. is the Weddel House Hotel, the future site of the Rockefeller Building.

 

 

In 1895 the brand new Soldiers and Sailors Monument towered over an almost treeless Public Square. At the far right is the Forest City House that was torn down for the Terminal Tower project. In the foreground one of Brush’s four carbon vapor arc lights can be seen on the corner of Ontario St.

 

 

The West Side Banking Company built in 1925 occupied a full city block on the corner of W. 25th and Lorain before merging with Central National Bank in 1929.

 

 

The 308 Building on Euclid Avenue (pictured in 1926) was Central National Bank’s headquarters from 1927 until 1949.

 

 

Downtown Cleveland the day after the Terminal Tower was dedicated on June 28, 1930.

 

 

Cleveland’s Main Avenue Bridge under construction in 1939. It replaced the Main Avenue swing-bridge pictured in the foreground.

 

 

The Euclid Avenue office of the bank opened at 509 Euclid Avenue on November 1, 1948.

 

 

In 1949, the headquarters moved to the Midland Building. An underground network of tunnels provided access to the adjacent buildings.

 

 

A planners’ conception of Erieview.

 

 

 

 

"Here are just a few, I will add more in the future."

 

Yes, you will! :whip:

 

Thanks - these pics are great! :-)

 

 

Great stuff!

 

I'm having a hard time placing the 308 Euclid pic.

"This beautiful spire on the Old Stone Church was damaged by fire in 1884, and was removed a few years later. It was never rebuilt. Today ornaments stand on the four corners of the stone foundation formerly supporting the steeple."

 

It was replaced in 1999.

 

Great stuff!

 

I'm having a hard time placing the 308 Euclid pic.

 

I think that was the building KJP said was torn down for the former Woolworths.

Great stuff!

 

I'm having a hard time placing the 308 Euclid pic.

 

The two tall white buildings (and the shorter one in between) are now the House of Blues (as Florida Guy said, HOB is in the former Woolworth Building).

What is in the upper right hand corner with the bridge going over it?

 

 

Funny, I actually own this same book (though don't have it with me) and have always wondered about that mysterious spot.  I think it's mostly a blemish on the photo...maybe a premonition that I-71 would plow through years later...

It's either a smudge, or the empty field that might have been there - but that's where I-490 goes through. I've labeled some of the landmarks:

 

A blemish was my first thought but what about the bridge?

 

*EDIT* I see its Clark Ave.

I think i got turned around.  Now that I look closer (and at a map), I think Mayday is right about it being a field- the site of all the playing fields just south of I490 today.

 

It's interesting how much better Tremont was connected to the rest of the city back then, with both the Central Viaduct and the Clark-Pershing bridge tying it to Downtown and Slavic Village.  I guess the highway bridges do similar things today, but not quite the same way.

It's also interesting to see a pic of Scranton Peninsula when it actually had something on it.

I love seeing pictures pre terminal tower complex

Erieview? Wow.

 

 

I loved buildings from this era. That is some massive lettering!

Awesome!

The area near the Clark Avenue bridge is not a smudge. It was kept open for future steel mill expansion. The land was owned either by Republic Steel or Jones & Laughlin Steel. I'm thinking it was the latter, because J&L expanded its Cleveland works in that area about 1950.

 

Erieview? Wow.

 

I loved buildings from this era. That is some massive lettering!

 

That's not Erieview. The picture was taken on Euclid.

great compliatoin work mang.

KJP, I meant that as two distinct statements. I'm just impressed by the scale of Erieview. Almost glad it never came to life.

Cool.

"I loved buildings from this era. That is some massive lettering!"

 

Loved being the appropriate term:

Wow. Look at how shiny that stainless steel is after all these years! And those sleek modern windows! I would not have whined as much if it was a modern facade installed on an old building, but ... *sigh*

That is a nice building...Anyone have any other pictures of it??

 

I love old picture threads...

I love old bank buildings :)

Yikes!  Thank goodness this didn't happen.

 

^^

Agreed.

He agreed with himself. :lol:

It's pretty hideous, especially if combined with the original plan for CSU, which looked very similar.

I guess I'm the only one that likes the Soviet Union Pentagon Labyrinth!  :evil:

"The area near the Clark Avenue bridge is not a smudge. It was kept open for future steel mill expansion. The land was owned either by Republic Steel or Jones & Laughlin Steel. I'm thinking it was the latter, because J&L expanded its Cleveland works in that area about 1950."

 

 

Maybe they were leaving the land for future Steelyard Commons expansion.

 

Now that's vision!!

It's pretty hideous, especially if combined with the original plan for CSU, which looked very similar.

 

Yeah, the original CSU schemes were even worse than what was built- and that's hard to do.  But I think the Erieview plan is a more interesting story.  The wasteland of parking lots that has covered so much of the site for a couple decades is certainly worse than Pei's plan, IMHO, though I guess they left room for things like Avenue District to be built in the future.  Some buildings contemplated by plan were in fact built, but the execution was crap (like the Chesterfield and Reserve Court)*.  Erieview Tower too was inspired by the plan, but the city was too wimpy to get it built in the 12th Street ROW as proposed by Pei, so it went up where located today. 

 

*I actually don't mind Pei's own residential tower designs, like those by the Boston waterfront, in Greenwich Village and I think there others real similar.

 

One thing I totally think Pei got right was the federal building- I think I'd prefer something a little lower and chunkier instead of the tower and useless plazas we ended up with. 

Since I'm a total dork, the red is what was built or at least fit in the original scheme, the green is what was built but not exactly how it was originally rendered and the blue didn't get built to the best of my knowledge:

 

^Wow, very cool!

Part II:

 

The caption from 1965; Cloverleaf approaches give east-west throughfares access to the downtown innerbelt. Bisecting Cleveland's Near East Side from the Memorial Shoreway to the Near West Side of the city, the Innerbelt makes the crosstown trip possible in a fraction of the time previously required. Dominating the center of the picture is Fenn College.

 

 

The War Memorial / Hanna Fountains completed in 1963 cover an entire section of the mall.

 

 

Artwork:

 

A great architectural achievement when it was completed in 1878, the Superior Street Viaduct measured 3,211 feet in length and 64 feet in with and included a swing bridge. About 600 street cars, 3,400 wagons and 20,000 pedestrians crossed the bridge daily.

 

 

The famed "Millionaire's Row" along Euclid Avenue in 1884 looking east from E. 12th St. Millionaire's Row was home to the industrial giants such as John D. Rockefeller, Sylvester T. Everett, Charles F. Brush, and Marcus Hanna.

 

 

The Detroit-Superior Bridge.

 

Since I'm a total dork, the red is what was built or at least fit in the original scheme, the green is what was built but not exactly how it was originally rendered and the blue didn't get built to the best of my knowledge:

 

 

Nice job! With the exception of the smaller towers to the east, I'm glad that the "maze" didn't get built.

yeah it looks soviet union inspired or like something govermental in dc. beyond awful!

 

mayday did you take that pic of the bank building getting knocked down? whats the story with that?

Yes, I took that pic (and many others) - that's where the 515 Euclid Tower will (hopefully soon) be built.