History The Cleveland Institute of Art continues to build on an internationally recognized heritage of excellence and innovation that dates back to 1882. That year the school was chartered as the Western Reserve School of Design for Women. The school’s first name reflects the forward-thinking views of founder Sarah Kimball, who opened her home for the first class meetings, attended by just one teacher and one student. Open to male and female students alike, the Cleveland School of Art, as the school soon became known, blossomed under the influence of a dedicated and talented faculty, whose prize-winning art and award-winning commercial designs are known collectively, even today, as the “Cleveland School.”
Over time the school’s success prompted changes in facilities— from Mrs. Kimball’s sitting room to the attic of Old Cleveland City Hall, and then to the late Horace Kelley’s mansion on present-day E. 55th St. In 1905 the Cleveland School of Art built a brick Italianate building in University Circle (razed as part of a 1960s site redevelopment), which boasted a grand exhibition gallery predating the Cleveland Museum of Art by a decade. In 1949 the school became officially known as the Cleveland Institute of Art, and in 1956, classes moved into their new building at 11141 East Boulevard, named for George Gund, who served as CIA Board President for 24 years. Since 1946, the state of Ohio authorized the Cleveland Institute of Art to confer the Bachelor of Fine Art degree.
In 1981 the college purchased a former Ford automobile assembly factory, now listed on the National Register of Historical Places in Ohio, which was renovated for classroom and studio space. The building was named the Joseph McCullough Center (JMC) for the Visual Arts, after CIA’s former president of 33 years. As part of the college’s Campus Unification Project, the JMC went through another renovation, and we will soon break ground on a new building that will be interconnected with the JMC and house classroom and studio space along with a new Cinematheque theater.
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