Posted February 16, 201015 yr This is the area of East Cleveland that is generally bordered by University Circle, Lakeview Cemetery, and a section of Cleveland Hts. Euclid Ave runs through it, including the BRT-Healthline and the Windermere Redline Trains. Here's hoping Mayor Gary Norton is successful in starting a makeover of East Cleveland. The green and yellow structure in the distance is the University Hospitals Cancer Hospital under construction on Euclid Ave. Just past the bridge (seen before the Hospital) going west are new places like Circle 118 and new dorms at CWRU. This pic is about where East Cleveland's "Circle East" redevelopment project would begin. Great proximity. Abandoned house and old rowhouses. Luckily in the path of redevelopment Apt. building on Euclid Ave Homes on Euclid Ave Abandoned, but in the target area for rehab on Euclid East Cleveland Library, original part is a Carnegie--I believe Windermere Rapid Station Some commercial on Euclid Ave Many of these homes sit on streets that straddle Euclid Ave (in this western side of East Cleve) The grander ones are generally on the south side of Euclid Entrance to Rosalind Ave., one of the streets south of Euclid. That is the Rapid Transit station across the street... immediate train access to CWRU, downtown, West Side Mkt/Ohio City and Hopkins Airport,etc. Hints of renovation Last one left? An original Standard Oil Co. service station on Euclid Ave More signs of renovation The more north of Euclid Ave you go, the more prevalent this is Apts on Superior Rd. Hill just before going into Cleveland Hts. A stand of Cleveland doubles. There are a few streets like this off Superior Rd Hill. Back down to the streets off Euclid
February 16, 201015 yr It's been a while since I've been over that way - good to see some of the homes/buidings being restored but equally sad to see some deteriorating even further. I see quite a few of the rehabs have "wackadoodle" paint jobs but I'll take that over board-ups anyday. clevelandskyscrapers.com Cleveland Skyscrapers on Instagram
February 16, 201015 yr Still some great stuff left in East Cleveland. What an amazing city architecturally. Actually there are still some Standard Oil Buildings remaining. Lakewood has a couple. One on Lake Avenue and the other on Detroit and West BLVD. Its been converted into a Donatos.
February 16, 201015 yr These homes and buildings are stunning architecturally. Nice job Clueless! I wonder if any of these are part of a historic district. It might be a nice in order to preserve some of these beauties, and to prevent anything more inappropriate done to them (or torn down for that matter) but it can also be an extra burden on the home owner.
February 16, 201015 yr Thanks! "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
February 16, 201015 yr That is one sexy bus...and the homes are OK too. ;) . And a Caribbean grocery store? Go now!!! Give the BRT about a year and report back. I'm suspecting positive results.
February 16, 201015 yr I keep trying to tell people that EC has some of the best potential in the region. I'm expecting to see some major steps forward with the election of the city's new mayor. Great pics!
February 16, 201015 yr Wow, fantastic! This is a thread I've been longing for for a long time- the architectural variety of EC is amazing- for both sf homes and apartments. I've wasted countless hours streetviewing my way through all those streets. Thank you thank you thank you. Great to see some signs of renovation, but I fear the pace of demolition is about to accelerate. The level of vacancy in EC is just astounding. And despite its prime location and transit connections, it's hard for me to imagine EC attracting middle class residents when there are so many affordable options so nearby in much better shape. I really hope I'm wrong though.
February 16, 201015 yr Detroit and West BLVD. Its been converted into a Donatos. Its actually Detroit and West Clifton.
February 16, 201015 yr Defining a target area of EC for gentrification is tough. Forrest Hills is about the only good neighborhood. Anything north of Superior is too far gone IMO to even contemplate. But I like the idea of seeing if UC will spread naturally into the "triangle" (or whatever it is called) south of Superior.
February 16, 201015 yr Seriously, thank you again for this awesome thread. The row houses in the second photo are some of my favorite in the whole county. Just too cute for words. Here's the googlemaps streetview closeup: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&q=East+Cleveland,+OH&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=East+Cleveland,+Cuyahoga,+Ohio&gl=us&ei=4Mp6S8X7E8mV8AaWuJn0CQ&ved=0CAwQ8gEwAA&ll=41.5197,-81.59364&spn=0.002169,0.006539&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=41.519642,-81.593552&panoid=B5z2CMjRYvQOH8B9Owr0Gg&cbp=12,238.46,,0,-3.79
February 16, 201015 yr East Cleveland has always intriqued me. It had so much going for it in the early 60's (location, great housing, a number of solid institutions, Cleveland's major artery) and it fell into a devastating decay so quickly...almost a complete turnaround in a decade. What is so interesting is that this did not happen right next door in its mirror image neighbor Cleveland Hts. My only guess is different leadership at the time and since then.
February 16, 201015 yr ^It took a while, but decay has crept into Cleveland Heights along the EC boarder. Some of the residential streets east of Taylor Rd. and south of Monticello blvd have seen decay. This same section of Cleveland Heights is within the East Cleveland school district... with an accompanying drop in city services to this section of CH.
February 16, 201015 yr ^^You should check out Dennis Keating's "The Suburban Racial Dilmma" which discusses the racial turnover of East Cleveland in the 1950s and 1960s as well as the integration of Cleveland Hts. and Shaker Hts. Some very interesting history in there. Some of the residential streets east of Taylor Rd. and south of Monticello blvd have seen decay. Do you mean north of Monticello? Or is the area south of Monticello also in the EC school district?
February 16, 201015 yr I am certainly not suggesting that there are not areas of CH that cannot use work, but it is nothing on the scale of East Cleveland (width and extent). Moreover, the problematic areas of Cleveland Hts. are pretty limited. Almost the entire city of East Cleveland has issues (except some small areas bordering Cleveland Hts like Forest Park).
February 16, 201015 yr ^^You should check out Dennis Keating's "The Suburban Racial Dilmma" which discusses the racial turnover of East Cleveland in the 1950s and 1960s as well as the integration of Cleveland Hts. and Shaker Hts. Some very interesting history in there. Some of the residential streets east of Taylor Rd. and south of Monticello blvd have seen decay. Do you mean north of Monticello? Or is the area south of Monticello also in the EC school district? Ah yes, NORTH! My mistake!
February 16, 201015 yr Incredible. Homes like these would go for $500K to $850K here in Seattle. I just don't know what to say. Some of this just can't be reproduced at almost any price. If only the Cleveland economy was strong and the political culture was business oriented insted of poverty oriented everything would turn around (in time).
February 16, 201015 yr it think it was posted on another thread, but here's a timely article on Cleveland.com a few days ago about East Cleveland and Gary Norton, its new mayor. The comments are really fascinating- the include some long posts from former mayor Eric Brewer. Brewer's posts are quite lucid and if they're true, I feel bad for the guy. I really don't care if he cross-dressed. By most accounts he was a big step up from past mayors and he shouldn't be lumped into EC's political corruption. http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/02/new_mayor_gary_norton_hopes_to.html
February 16, 201015 yr These homes and buildings are stunning architecturally. Nice job Clueless! I wonder if any of these are part of a historic district. It might be a nice in order to preserve some of these beauties, and to prevent anything more inappropriate done to them (or torn down for that matter) but it can also be an extra burden on the home owner. The area that is in most of these photographs would probably be the best candidate for a historic district (although I'm pretty sure that East Cleveland has a historic district in Forest Hills, is that correct?). I specifically focused away from Forest Hills and concentrated on this area that was just highlighted in the PD article. It's this neighborhood that is closest to UC and just down the street from the beginnning of the hoped-for "Circle East" development, which has the backing of the new mayor. http://media.cleveland.com/metro/photo/14egeastjpg-c6256ee5ffdfc627.jpg I personally refer to this area as the "Rosalind District" (but I don't believe it has any specific name) because Rosalind is the street with the entry columns and is one of the streets south of Euclid Ave. The streets that make up this area can be seen on the jpg above and are streets like Rosalind, of course, and Idlewood, Farmington, Alvason, Roxbury and Forest Hill Avenue (not Forest Hills Blvd.) and end over at Superior Rd. Hill. The "Rosalind" homes, which make up a lot of this thread, seem to be all original. And I don't recall any empty lots. Yes, while some are deteriorating, they almost all seem to be, at the very least, salvageable. At the most, some just need a new paint job or minor maintenance. I could see the positive energy of UC making its way down here. The question is, how quickly? The first streets south of Euclid Ave. inside East Cleveland just before the Rosalind streets -- Wadena, Brightwood, Penrose-- have homes that are not so grand. They are smaller (anything is smaller than some of these behemoths I photographed :-) ) and closer together and closer to the street. They are, for the most part, clapboard Victorians and duplexes/apts. They have really not been taken care of over the years...and are in shambles. I think some of those will probably be removed if this "Circle East" project takes off. I just hope that any infill is done to scale of the existing neighborhood and that better planning is taken with any infill than, say, was done in Hough (IMHO). In Hough, some of the newer stuff seems really out of place, hopefully that doesn't happen here. I would still include these streets in this "Rosalind" district though. As well as Euclid Ave. itself --with those great albeit abandoned early 1900s rowhouses/townhouses. I just hope that those grand places on this initial part of Euclid are salvaged. They also seem to be relatively solid and, renovated, they would be beautiful. Some streets north of Euclid like Elberon and Delmont have some nice treasures until about the railroad tracks.
February 16, 201015 yr Defining a target area of EC for gentrification is tough. Forrest Hills is about the only good neighborhood. Anything north of Superior is too far gone IMO to even contemplate. But I like the idea of seeing if UC will spread naturally into the "triangle" (or whatever it is called) south of Superior. My feeling is that anything north of Euclid is far too gone. I know there are some stable neighborhoods east of Forest Hill and North of NorthVale Ave. (unless this is still Cleveland hts)
February 16, 201015 yr Almost forgot... Still some great stuff left in East Cleveland. What an amazing city architecturally. Actually there are still some Standard Oil Buildings remaining. Lakewood has a couple. One on Lake Avenue and the other on Detroit and West BLVD. Its been converted into a Donatos. Yes, urbanforever, you're right. I do know about the 2 on the west side. But I was thinking this was the last one with the original signage... "Standard Oil Co." Is it one of the last, if not the last, with the signage? Maybe somebody knows?
February 17, 201015 yr ^ Good question. I have never seen those before. What street is that? Knowles? Beersford?
February 17, 201015 yr Those are entry columns/pillars to Rosalind Ave. in the thread, Rosalind Ave. is the street pictured (pic # 15) just after the picture of the columns (pic #14). From Googling: Ed Parker who taught art at Tri-C and runs the Parkers Guest House (first Victorian on the right side) and the Parker Lofts (next door to the Guest House) had them installed years ago to mark the street's entrance. Because of this, I kinda refer to this area as "Rosalind". EDIT: I took the picture facing out to Euclid Ave because the sun was too bright to snap a pic the other way. It's really a great entry to a historic street/area.
February 17, 201015 yr My mother raised my two older brothers in East Cleveland in the 1950s (I was born in 1967). In one of my brother's elementary school class pictures one year, there were one or two black kids in the photo. In the class photo the following year, there were only one or two white kids. That's how fast the change was in some parts of the city. Thanks goes to blockbusting and city officials who either were clueless or paid to look the other way. It's amazing how quickly one can destroy a city and how long it takes to revive one. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
February 17, 201015 yr Wow, there are some greats photos on this thread. As for a turnaround in EC, I really think its a long shot. It just seems that EC has a unique stigma. For whatever reason people view it as being far worse than other struggling neighborhoods.
March 7, 201015 yr Love this set. I was born in EC and lived there until I was 5. Remember it well though. I am going to have to check out those pillars. very cool.
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