I still say, failure to build the subway loop in the 50s to complete the hot new Red Line Rapid really killed downtown over time, esp Playhouse Sq.  ...........

 

Clvlndr....let it go....let it go man!  LOL

Ahhh…it's so sad to look at old aerials.

 

It seems that aerials show the historic city best while skyline shots leave a better impression of today.

wow they sure tore a lot out of the warehouse district didnt they?

 

i cant even bear to look east of downtown too hard.

I still say, failure to build the subway loop in the 50s to complete the hot new Red Line Rapid really killed downtown over time, esp Playhouse Sq.  ...........

Clvlndr....let it go....let it go man!  LOL

 

Yeah, MTS, I know... glad you're back... sorry for your loss.

 

 

I didn't realize there was another diagonal split in the roads around E. 12th & Superior back then.  Who can tell me about that?

 

The lack of surface parking in that photo is glorious... [sigh]

I was just looking at that too trying to place it. Now I know why I can't.

diagonal split in the roads around E. 12th & Superior is payne ave. It got re-routed a bit when they made the housing project there and the Chesterfield??embassy suites.

That first pic of downtown IS beautiful... the bright side is that Stark will be filling those surface lots in soon.

That aerial photo dates from between 1949 and 1955. Why those dates? The 17-story Central National Bank on Euclid Avenue was demolished in 1949 for Woolthworth's. In your photo, the bank is already gone.

 

And all of the facilities and overhead catenaries are in place for the electrically powered trains coming in and out of Cleveland Union Terminal -- those were deactivated in 1953 and most electric support facilities were removed a year or two thereafter. In your photo, all of the electric facilities are all still in place.

 

Another cue, when looking for information in one of my books, I found an aerial photo of downtown from 1956. You wouldn't believe how many surface parking lots had already popped up along West 3rd in the Warehouse District by 1956 -- possibly in anticipation of the opening of the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co.'s new office tower. Construction for the tower began in 1956 (I can see the hole in the ground for the tower in the picture I have but not in the picture you posted -- the site is cleared in your picture but there's no hole yet). The CEI tower opened in 1958.

 

TMI, I know. But there it is.

 

"TMI, I know" - not in the least...that's exactly the kind of thing that so rocks about this forum - folks who can knock stuff like dating old aerial photos out of the park!

 

"Why those dates? The 17-story Central National Bank on Euclid Avenue was demolished in 1949 for Woolthworth's. In your photo, the bank is already gone."

 

KJP, I'm not sure Central National Bank has been tor down yet in the photo.  Check out the building directly to the right of the first setback on the Terminal Tower, looks like CNB with it's huge signage on top no?

Wouldn't CNB be on PS and not Euclid?

 

http://www.nesys.org/images/Cleveland/sunset.jpg

 

http://www.nesys.org/images/Cleveland/index.html

 

KJP, I'm not sure Central National Bank has been tor down yet in the photo. Check out the building directly to the right of the first setback on the Terminal Tower, looks like CNB with it's huge signage on top no?

 

You're right! I was mistakenly looking on Prospect. So the aerial photo precedes 1949.

 

CNB was on Euclid until it absorbed the Midland Bank and relocated to the Midland Bank Building, one of the interlocked Terminal Group buildings on Prospect. CNB was demolished in 1949 and replaced with the Woolworth's, today's House of Blues.

 

I recall seeing CNB's sign atop the Public Square buildings (Dick Jacobs' parking lot today) in the 1980s. So I don't know if they moved from the Midland in later years or what.

 

BTW, in case you're wondering what happened to this large Cleveland banking institution, Society for Savings Bank absorbed it in 1986 (KeyBank merged with Society in 1994).

Well, despite the many building losses, we did gain the Key Tower, a magnificent skyscraper in any city's skyline.

Anybody know what the building in front of the Hanna Annex is in the original photo?  I've seen other photos of it on Cleveland Memory Project but it had no information on what it was.  Looks like it was around 10 stories.  It's the site of the current surface parking lot across from the old Bottoms Up.

Well, despite the many building losses, we did gain the Key Tower, a magnificent skyscraper in any city's skyline.

 

I like Key Tower fine but I'd happily trade it for all the lost stuff :(

 

That old Central National Bank building looked pretty cool- super skinny.  Would have made an awesome residential conversion...

 

 

"I like Key Tower fine but I'd happily trade it for all the lost stuff"

 

I dunno, I think it filled a parking lot quite nicely:

 

Those buildings - and downtown in general, was so dirty back then.  Mayday has point. 

I think Straphanger meant he/she would trade Key Tower and a taller skyline for a dense, bustling urban center.  I agree.

^Yup.  That's exactly what he meant.

Downtown Cleveland pics are great!

More old Cleveland!!

 

 

 

Love that first photo that Oldmanladyluck posted.  Why, you might ask?  I love how you can see all of those streets leading right toward the square!

Well, here is one great thing with the vast parking lots created during the automobile era. They provide sizable, and highly desireable tracts for developers today to use. Scraping together land in urbanized areas, especially ones that are contiguous for such large, profit-generating projects, is quite difficult.

 

But that in no way praises the value of parking lots. Just that we can at least look forward to seeing some infill on the vast lots that we have created.

Any idea as to when Oldman's first photo was taken?  It's pre-Erieview so it's at least prior to 1964.  Check out the density in the W 3rd and 6th blocks that are now parking lots.  Also, the East 9th area was really dominated by the Huntington Bldg at the time, with lots of low-rise buildings to the north.  Lastly, I didn't know that prior to the Lausche building, you could look down on the tracks entering the Terminal Tower in that triangle.

 

In the first black + white photo of this thread, is Burke Airport missing? That would date that photo to before 1947.

It's about 1957-58 - 55 Public Square is under construction.

Thanks - I thought 55 P.S. was the first of Cleveland's modernist, International style skyscrapers but didn't realize there was such a gap between its construction and the Erieview project in 1964.

 

So we should be celebrating 50 years of modernist architecture in Cleveland either this year or next...

Bump for a good thread and thought these were worth posting...

 

 

 

A Lorain-Carnegie Bridge pillar and their craftsmen

 

Carved in Little Italy!  Random Rd.

Amazing that the photos posted in the first message are still hosted after four years! And I think you have the numbers transposed in the date of the Cuyahoga Building picture. It says 1893, but there's cars parked in it. Probably 1983, the year the building was torn down for the Sohio tower. BTW, the Blizzard of 1913 picture was taken on West 25th Street where I-90 cuts through today. Only one building in that view still stands today.

 

Thanks for the new pictures, especially of "The Bruer" under construction.

 

 

A couple of new ones I liked:

 

 

 

 

that first new one is awesome.

This thread is from before my time here on UO; thanks for the bump.

Okay, not exactly photos but I don't think anyone will be complaining. I bought these old linen postcards on Miami Beach on Lincoln Road's Antique & Flea Market, 100 of them for $5. They have that paper linen smell, the smell of Grandma's Christmas decorations.

 

I cropped the titles and boarders, the original titles are in text above each card. The reverse side of the card is shown where there are some interesting comments about the city during this time period.

 

29 Public Square and Terminal Group, Cleveland, Ohio

 

Reverse side: I just like the stamp on this one; I forgot that there was a gift shop on the observation floor.

 

19 Lorain-Carnegie Bridge and Union Terminal, Cleveland, Ohio

 

C.6 – High Level Bridge Looking East Showing Terminal Tower, Cleveland, Ohio

 

48 West Approach and Underpass, Main Avenue Bridge, Cleveland, Ohio

 

C.31 – Main Avenue Bridge Looking West, Cleveland, Ohio

 

6 Detroit Superior High Level Bridge and Terminal Tower, Cleveland, Ohio

 

Public Square Facing East, Cleveland, Ohio

 

C.2 – Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, Public Square, Cleveland, Ohio

 

63 Union Terminal Tower Showing Solders’ and Sailors’ Monument, Cleveland, Ohio

 

C.28 – Aerial View of Downtown, Cleveland, Ohio

 

C.3 - Aerial View of Downtown, Cleveland, Ohio, Showing Terminal Tower and Terminal Group

 

Reverse side:  I could only imagine what happened on trains back in the day; alright Margie!

 

73 Cleveland Public Auditorium, Showing Terminal Tower, Cleveland, Ohio

 

3 Interior of the Cleveland Public Auditorium, Cleveland, Ohio

 

28 Night Scene, Hotel Cleveland and Terminal Tower, Cleveland, Ohio

 

27 Unique Shot of Terminal Tower, Cleveland, Ohio

 

211: Public Square Showing Terminal Tower at Night, Cleveland, Ohio

 

38 Unique View, Terminal View and Old Stone Church, Cleveland, Ohio

 

C.39 Hotel Cleveland, Terminal Tower and U.S. Post Office, Cleveland, Ohio

 

32 Hotel Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio

 

26 New U.S. Post Office and Terminal Tower, Cleveland, Ohio

 

Reverse side

 

C.7 – Bird’s-Eye View of Cleveland City Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio

 

94 – Bird’s-Eye View of Rockefeller Park, Cleveland, Ohio

 

Reverse side

 

97 Fine Arts Garden and Lake at Art Museum, Cleveland, Ohio

 

16 Lake at Wade Park, Showing Severance Hall and Lakeside Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio

 

34 University Circle, Showing Lakeside Hospital and Severance Hall, Cleveland, Ohio

 

92 James A. Garfield Memorial, Cleveland, Ohio

 

57 Fountain and Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

lovely.  I hope the young'ins can appreciate these.  I wish RTA's shelters on public square looked like the shelters from the 20's

Awesome set!! And you bought all these for $5?? WOW!

 

And I love the comments on the reverse side. Those are just as enjoyable as the fronts.

thanks, these are great! The Cleve. Public Auditorium pic brings back memories of hearing the Metropolitan Opera there on a class trip (they used to come to Cleveland every spring). It was Beethoven's Fidelio and we were something like seventy rows back—not exactly the most user-friendly conditions for opera appreciation—then again neither was Fidelio:sleep:

Thanks for sharing these.

 

Even before Rob's and my time ...

Cool!

I love old postcard collections.  It's interesting to see some from different cities.  Thanks!!

ON pic C28..I don't understand?  How did people come downtown because there didn't seem to be enough surface parking lots! ;)  Also, in some of those other pics...what were those crazy things that carried people around the city on some sort of rails?....

wonderful floridaguy!

 

i used to pick up these postcards at the late, lamented chelsea fleamarket here in ny for some change or a buck or two. we had some postcard threads, but sadly they were lost in the server problems.  :|

 

below a few i had found -- but you certainly did a much better job of scanning and posting about them than i did:

 

 

 

 

Great collection, and a steal at $5.  Really shows how dynamic the city was in the 30s.

Those are quaint. As KJP mentioned it is the comments that make them even better. I thought I finally found an avatar in the one with the flowers in the flats looking toward the high level bridge, but I could not resize it.  :cry: This new softare is killing me.

What a great deal for $5! I prowl flea markets and antique shops and like to pick up linen postcards, but I've never seen 100 for $5. I's far more common to see $5 apiece.

 

Great stuff!

 

I should scan and post my Hamilton collection sometime; I've wasted so much money on ebay...

can anyone assist me in finding detailed ground shots of eastside neighborhoods ? i looked on clevelandmemory but couldnt find much. its important as im lookin to buy property and want to know what stood there.......

 

aerials would work too

 

any more pics are welcome here

Unless it's along a major thoroughfare like Euclid or at an important intersection like Superior/East 105th, it will be difficult to find pictures. And searching on ClevelandMemory is a bit funky. Like most search engines, you have to experiment with search terms to see what combinations (or lack of them -- simplifying helps too) work best.

where is this photo? i am guessing where tower city is today?

 

I believe that's the intersection of West 6th and Superior. The view is probably from the Forest City House Hotel, which is where the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel is today.