Creating Art – Preserving History
Forest City Brewing Company, located at 6920-22 Union Avenue, opened in 1904. Under the direction of brewmeister John Silhavy, the brewery featured a Select Pilsner. After the brewery closed, the building became home to Distributors Furniture Warehouse, and it was demolished in February, 2012.
Opened on February 15, 1912, the home of the West Tech Warriors is now home to the Brick Lofts. The school was closed in 1995, and found new life in 2003. My memory of West Tech goes back to 1960 when I participated in the West Tech Relays as a member of the (Cleveland) Heights High track team. What an incredible meet it was!
The auditorium was heavily damaged by arson shortly after the school was closed.
The massive gymnasium now contains a three-story structure housing apartments.
Familiar sights such as long corridors lined with lockers remind the residents and visitors of the rich history of West Tech High School.
Centennial Article on Cleveland.com
Alumni Website
Alumni Facebook Page
Yearbook Reprints on Amazon
This series of photographs as made in the spring of 2011. I hope some day to return to photograph the buildings after renovation for some new use. Hough Bakery was a part of my life as a child between 1950 and 1966, and that of my children from 1970 until its closing.
In order to deconstruct the arch above the doors, carpenters from WR Restoration constructed wooden support that will also serve as a template for the reconstruction of the façade in the future.
Documentation will continue as the deconstruction progresses. Check back for updates, or register your email address to receive email notification of new posts.
Click here for Church of the Transfiguration – Part 1
Click here for Church of the Transfiguration – Part 2
Click here for Church of the Transfiguration – Deconstruction Part 1
I love to photograph Cleveland’s Cultural Gardens in every season, but winter is a special time for me in the Gardens. Located in the 245 acre Rockefeller Park, Cleveland’s Cultural Gardens are a tribute to some of the many nationalities that settled in Cleveland, and contributed with their sweat and their skills to make Cleveland one of this country’s leading industrial cities. The land was deeded to the City of Cleveland in 1897, by John D. and Laura Spelman Rockefeller, and joins Gordon Park, to the north, and Wade Park, to the south. The gardens are situated along Doan Brook and Martin Luther Kink Jr. Boulevard, formerly, Liberty Boulevard (1919 – 1981) and before that, Lower East Boulevard.
The Shakespeare Garden was dedicated in 1916, as a part of a world-wide celebration marking the 300th anniversary of the poet’s death. The garden extended east from Lower East Boulevard, across East Boulevard, and included the bust of William Shakespeare and trees planted for the occasion.
Leo Weidenthal, editor of the Cleveland Jewish News, founded Civic Progress League in 1925. The following year the name was changed to the Cultural Garden League. That year the Hebrew Garden was founded, followed by the German Garden in 1929 and the Italian Garden in 1930. Between 1930 and 1940, fifteen nationalities honored their poets, philosophers, physicians, scientists, composers and musicians with gardens.
The gardens celebrate the cultural icons of the nations that the they represent, but not what the people from those nations brought with them to their new home — with the exception of the two newest gardens. Dedicated in 2012, the Croatian Garden celebrates the immigrants themselves. The statue celebrates the immigrant mother, with an infant in one arm, and sheltering a young child with the other. Dedicated the same year, the statue in the Albanian Garden celebrates the life of Mother Teresa, who For her unwavering commitment to aiding those most in need, Mother Teresa stands out as one of the greatest humanitarians of the 20th century.
Opened in 1911, the Stockbridge Hotel was the brain-child of oilman George Canfield, near the end of the hey-days of Cleveland’s Millionaire’s Row. The immense wealth accumulated by the city’s wealthiest residents was now subject to substantial income tax, and their palatial estates with their 40-100,000 square-foot mansions, and staffs of as many as 100, were becoming expensive to maintain – even for Cleveland’s extraordinarily wealthy industrialists, financiers and philanthropists.
Located in the heart of Millionaire’s Row, the Stockbridge’s ten 4,000 square-foot, 16-room apartments offered an affordable alternative during the cold winter months. Henry Sherwin (co-founder to the Sherwin-Williams paint company), banker Harry Wick, and James Garfield (son of the President), were among the first residents of the Stockbridge Hotel, as they closed their mansions for the winter. The amenities included a restaurant on the lower floor (the suites did not include kitchens), and a ballroom on the top floor. Although the suites were spacious enough for several servants, maid and housekeeping services were available.
As the city’s wealthiest residents left their Euclid Avenue mansions for more modest homes in University Circle and the eastern suburbs, the Stockbridge’s clientele became entertainers such as Bob Hope and Jack Benny, and performers with the Metropolitan Opera stayed at the hotel when they were performing at the Hippodrome Theater and the Public Auditorium, while their entourage had accommodations in the Annex that was built in 1923. Later, the spacious suites were divided to accommodate more guests, and those headliners gave way to circus performers and others who appeared at the Cleveland Arena.
When the Stockbridge underwent renovation in the ’70s there were 40 units. Today the Stockbridge Apartments offers studio, 1- and 2-bedroom units.
The image was made inside the clock tower of Saint Luke’s Hospital, renovated after more than a decade of abandonment and vandalism. The long-silent clock once again chimes on the quarter-hour.
Vandals and scrappers found ingenious ways to get to copper and brass. Note the fire hose looped around the sanitary stack. Note also the brass hands missing from the clock and the brackets that once held the copper urns. Throughout the entire building, anything of scrap value was taken.
The iconic Clock Tower, fully restored to its original beauty, with the city skyline in the distance.
The Shaker Boulevard campus of Saint Luke’s Hospital, opened in 1929, was the gift of Elisabeth Severance Allen Prentice, in memory of her first husband, Dr. Dudley Peter Allen. Mrs. Prentiss’ second husband, Francis Fleury Prentiss, and three friends, including Dr. Allen, saved the failing Cleveland General Hospital in 1906, renaming it for Saint Luke, the patron saint of the physician and surgeon. Mr. Prentiss served as President of the Hospital until his death in 1937, and was succeeded as President for two years by his widow.
After closing, in 1999, renovation of the historic property began in 2011. The main pavilion and west wing were transformed into affordable senior living. The east wing is home to the Intergeneration School, and a Boys and Girls Club. Soon, another school and offices for two non-profit organizations will join them.
A gallery of selected photographs, made over the entire span of the renovation project can be seen at http://artographyonline.com/galleries/saintLukes/