AIA Cleveland 125 Year History

The Cleveland Chapter of The American Institute of Architects

125th Anniversary Celebration

November 18, 2015

Pre-1890

1810

1820

1830

1850

1840

1860

1870

1880

Before the formation of the Cleveland Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, an elite group of Cleveland architects were part of the Cleveland Architectural Club. Levi Scofield was the only Cleveland architect who was part of the national AIA prior to 1890.

Late 19th century Cleveland lakefront

Bousfield Residence 3804-06 Franklin Boulevard, designed by Coburn & Barnum Frank S. Barnum Coburn & Barnum On June 7, 1888, Mr. W.J. Gleason, Chairman of the Monument Commission for the Soldiers’ Memorial, asked the Architectural Club in the public press, “for advice and criticism upon the “Captain Scofield disputed the criticism on Soldiers’& Sailors’ Monument to be architectural styles because there were erected on the Public Square.” The Club none, and as to the designs, none had been members resolved, “Whereas...desiring adopted. So far only preliminary work has not to go on record as failing to answer been done. It was said that the criticism this request, we hereby respectfully Levi Scofield seemed to be principally on the location. suggest that the advice and criticism you The communication was received and will wish can be obtained from disinterested be considered.” persons by sending a copy of the present - the Architectural Club minutes of 1888. design and appealing to the better architectural journals and also to the leading architects of some of our large Father of Lemuel Porter cities as New York or Boston.”

On June 12, 1888, in an extra meeting, the resolution was reconsidered and another passed in its place written by Mr. Schweinfurth.

Jonathan Goldsmith “...Concerning this monument as drawn, 1811-1837 we feel it our duty to protest against its adoption for the following reasons: First: The general design being a mixture of architectural styles, this combination being extremely incongruous. Second: The size and proportion of this design is not appropriate to the site location.

Third: That the amount to be expended is sufficient to obtain the best results...we suggest that the design and author’s description be forwarded to...

Professor W.R. Ware and Mr. Augustus St. Gaudens.”

The Plain Dealer printed the Architectural Club’s criticism and suggestions.

Father-in-law of

Charles Heard 1837-1849

1876-1878

1878-1896

Charles Schweinfurth 1883-1919

Levi Scofield & Sons

Smith & Heard

George H. Smith 1881-1918

John Eisenman 1882-1924

Simeon Porter & Charles Heard

1849-1859

Gilbert Black 1858-

Jonathan Goldsmith, the master builder, designed and built the Truman Handy House with its colossal Ionic portico. It was originally located on Euclid Avenue near East 6th Street and later became the first clubhouse of the Union Club.

Grandfather of

Gilbert Schafer

Smith & Eisenman’s Arcade

First Presbyterian, or Old Stone Church, built 1853 by Charles Heard and Simeon Porter, with Gilbert Black Offices of Cudell and Richardson - Architects

Franklin Circle Christian Church designed by Cudell and Richardson

1890

1891

POPULATION: 261,353 Tenth city

AIA PRESIDENTS: FRANK S. BARNUM AIA SECRETARIES: CLARENCE O. AREY

1892

JOHN N. RICHARDSON JOHN EISENMAN

1893

1894

GEORGE H. SMITH

FORREST A. COBURN

EDWARD E. SCHWABE AREY / RICHARDSON WILLIAM W. SABIN

1895

1896

1897

WILLIAM W. SABIN

JOHN N. RICHARDSON

1898

1899

W. STILLMAN DUTTON

“September 11, 1890 - The Club met at the Hollenden.

There were present, Messrs. Barnum, Eisenman, Smith, Cudell, Coburn, Richardson, and Arey. The minutes of previous meetings were approved.

Mr. Eisenman moved that the Club apply for a charter as a Chapter of the A.I.A. and that the Secretary be instructed to forward the necessary application to the proper officers of the Institute. Seconded by Mr. Smith and passed.”

Cleveland Lakefront Railroad Depot and Railyard

The Hollenden

Coburn, Barnum, Benes & Hubbell 1896-1898

1898

John Edward Miller worked as a draftsman with Schweinfurth from 1918-19, Bohnhard and Parssons from 1919-22, Watson Engineering in 1923, as a designer for Charles F. Schneider in 1924-26, Waddy B. Wood 1927-28, Mills, and chief designer for Rhines, Bellman and Nordhoff from 1928-29, a designer for Walker & Weeks 1929-32, Maier & Walsh 1932-33, Graham, Anderson Probst and White 1942-44, later joined Carl Guenther and George Voinovich.

1897-1939

The old Western Reserve Historical Society Building designed by Coburn, Barnum, Benes, & Hubbell

Intersection of Prospect, Huron, and Erie Streets (East 9th Avenue) Schweinfurth’s short-lived YMCA at right, and recent temporary AIA Chapter office at center

Frank B. Meade 1895-

Meade & Granger 1896-1897

Sketch for the Euclid Club by Charles Schneider, designed by Meade & Garfield,

1898-1905

Henry Wick Residence designed by C. O. Arey, first secretary of the Chapter

Clevelanders’ favorite, Lake View Park

Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition 1893

Second Annual Exhibition of Cleveland Architectural Club, held November 15-27, 1897, in the New England Building. The cover of the catalog mistakenly dates the event in 1817.

CLEVELAND MAYORS: GEORGE W. GARDNER WILLIAM G. ROSE ROBERT BLEE ROBERT E. MCKISSON JOHN H. FARLEY OHIO GOVERNORS: JAMES E. CAMPBELL WILLIAM MCKINLEY ASA S. BUSHNELL UNITED STATES PRESIDENTS: BENJAMIN HARRIS GROVER CLEVELAND WILLIAM MCKINLEY

1900 POPULATION: 381,768 Seventh city

1901

1902

1903

AIA PRESIDENTS: BENJAMIN H. HUBBELL W. DOMINICK BENES

AIA SECRETARIES: CHAS W. HOPKINSON ALBERT E. SKEEL

WILLIAM WATTERSON

The Senate Park Commission, including D. H. Burnham, F. L. Olmsted Jr., Charles McKim, Augustus St. Gaudens, and Charles Moore, prepared what is known as the McMillan Plan in 1902. The Plan restored Pierre L’Enfant’s city plan for Washington D.C., removed Victorian landscaping, and repositioned the railroad station.

The Group Plan of 1903: In the chapter records, the last mention of the original color renderings indicates they may have been lent to a town planning conference in England and never returned. These colorized versions of the Cleveland renderings are a suggestion of what the originals would have looked like.

John Carrere and Arnold Brunner, Members of the Group Plan Commission and the Cleveland Chapter Suburban Residence designed by Albert Skeel

R. Germain Hubby

Arthur N. Oviatt

Edward Anson Richardson

J. Milton Dyer 1900-1940

Charles Uthe

John C. Spencer

The new mall would clear a large section of Cleveland’s “tenderloin” district. Among the buildings to be removed would be the Leonard Case House shown at the corner of Public Square.

Banquet Room of the Hollenden Hotel Franz Warner

The Pan American Exposition at Buffalo in 1901 was coordinated by Carrere and Hastings and was the site of the assassination of William McKinley.

The Hollenden Hotel, located at the corner of E. 6th Street and Superior Avenue, diagonally opposite the proposed new park at the southeast corner of the Group Plan, was the preferred meeting place of both the Architectural Club and the Cleveland Chapter of the AIA. It also served as headquarters of the National Convention of the AIA in 1903.

CLEVELAND MAYORS: JOHN H. FARLEY TOM L. JOHNSON OHIO GOVERNORS: GEORGE K. NASH UNITED STATES PRESIDENTS: WILLIAM MCKINLEY THEODORE ROOSEVELT

1904 WILLIAM WATTERSON ALBERT E. SKEEL

1905

1906

FRANK S. BARNUM

CHARLES E. TOUSLEY ALBERT E. SKEEL

HARRY S. NELSON

1907

1908

1909

ABRAM GARFIELD

Laying the corner stone of Arnold Brunner’s new Federal Building on Public Square, May 20, 1905 The Cleveland Federal Building, the New York City Customs House designed by Cass Gilbert, and the Immigration Facilities at Ellis Island, were all the result of open architectural competitions among private architects for federal buildings which were made possible by the Tarsney Act. The Act was a direct result of AIA lobbying. The Act was repealed in 1913 and is frequently mis-named the Tarnsley Act. To verify scale and detail of the new Federal Building prior to its construction, a wood and staff model of one bay of its colonnade was built on Superior Avenue.

William Bohnard

1905-1932

Garfield, Stanley-Brown, Harris & Robinson

Morris Gleichman

a draftsman, Ray Parsson, and William Bohnard in their office

Charles Colman worked for Frank Meade in 1909-1917 and for Abram Garfield in 1919

Garfield, Harris, Robinson 1905 - 1936

William Hodges

Alexander Robinson III “Cleveland’s Building Code has a history all its own... It gradually dawned on those endowed with the police powers...that these powers should also be applied to meet the emergencies and exigencies of the times so as to properly protect one neighbor from another’s cupidity...

Today the ignorance, mistakes and weaknesses of the past demands of the present that more stringent protective regulations should be enacted for the betterment of the future along all walks of life.”

HOW CLEVELAND OBTAINED ITS CODE Read before the joint meeting of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the AIA and the Structural Section of the Engineers Society of Pennsylvania and Builders' Exchange League of Pittsburgh on May 25th, 1906 by John Eisenman, Building Code Commissioner of Cleveland and founding member of the Cleveland Chapter of the AIA.

William Lougee

The Collinwood School, designed by John Eisenman, tragically burned in 1908. 175 people died, of whom 172 were children, two were teachers, and one was a rescuer.

The disaster provoked the renovation of Cleveland schools and aroused school building safety concerns around the world.

CLEVELAND MAYORS TOM L. JOHNSON OHIO GOVERNORS GEORGE K. NASH MYRON T. HERRICK JOHN M. PATTISON/ANDREW L. HARRIS JUDSON HARMON UNITED STATES PRESIDENTS

THEODORE ROOSEVELT WILLIAM H. TAFT

1910 POPULATION: 560,663

1911

1912

1913

AIA PRESIDENTS:

AIA SECRETARIES:

1914

1915

HERBERT BRIGGS

GUSTAVE BOHM

1916

The Cuyahoga County Courthouse viewed from Lake View Park was built between 1906-1911. Architect Lehman and Schmitt recruited Charles Morris from the Carrere and Hastings office to be the chief designer. Charles Schweinfurth was engaged to help with subcontracting and quality control.

The contract for the interior marble work was given to the Colorado Yule Marble Company.

Parts of the sculpted frieze and a stair newel are shown here in the mill bearing a striking resemblance to details in Carrere and Hastings’ masterwork, the New York Public Library.

from J. Milton Dyer

Harry A. Fulton 1912-1946+? worked for J. Milton Dyer 1910-1912 Walker & Weeks

1917

1918

1919

CHARLES SCHNEIDER JAMES W. THOMAS

In what were just months before beginning construction of a new train station at the north end of the Mall, the Van Sweringen brothers convinced Clevelanders in a narrowly-won ballot initiative to relocate the station to Public Square. Their new station would link to their suburban development in Shaker Heights and promote commercial property development around the new station. The Lakefront station would have been publicly funded and would not have provided the potential real estate development benefits. The Great Depression made the same true for the Public Square Station.

Joseph Weinberg worked for Walker & Weeks in 1913 and J. Milton Dyer in 1914-15

Schneider worked in the office of Meade and Hamilton and others

1911-1953

Meade & Hamilton 1911-1943

AIA Cleveland Chapter President, Herbert B. Briggs, presented the plan for a City Planning Commission to the public at the Statler Hotel in March of 1914.

Rendering of the West Side Market exhibited at the 1909 Architectural Club Exhibition

Cleveland Museum of Art, Hubbell and Benes, 1916

May Day Riots of 1919 in Cleveland protesting Eugene Debs’ incarceration

Charles Schneider was working in the office of George B. Post for the Statler Hotel project. The Hotel immediately became a popular venue for Chapter events.

Program cover for the FIRST ANNUAL REAL DINNER OF THE CLEVELAND CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS HELD BEHIND CLOSED DOORS AT THE STATLER HOTEL OCTOBER SECOND NINETEEN FOURTEEN a scripted roast of the Chapter’s members

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA CONDUCTORS: NIKOLAI SOKOLOFF CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART DIRECTORS: FREDERIC ALLLEN WHITING CLEVELAND MAYORS: HERMAN C. BAEHR NEWTON D. BAKER HARRY L. DAVIS OHIO GOVERNORS: JUDSON HARMON JAMES M. COX FRANK B. WILLIS JAMES M. COX UNITED STATES PRESIDENTS: WILLIAM H. TAFT WOODROW WILSON

1

1920 POPULATION: 796,841 Fifth city

AIA PRESIDENTS: ABRAM GARFIELD AIA SECRETARIES:

1921

1922

1924

1923

F. R. WALKER BENJAMIN S. HUBBELL, SR. ALBERT SKEEL

1925

ABRAM GARFIELD PHILIP SMALL

1926

1927

CHARLES MORRIS

1928

1929

The Country Club, designed by Philip L. Small, moved from its Bratenahl location to Pepper Pike in 1929.

This signalled a second stage of suburban development by the Van Sweringen brothers. Its colonial revival style was inspired by the Sesquicentennial Exposition of 1926 in Philadelphia and initiated the homogeneous suburban style for the mid-century.

Cleveland Public Library, Walker and Weeks, 1925 Chester Norris Lowe 1920-1946+?

Daniel Farnam (Farnam & Lawrence) 1924-1954 worked for Hubbell & Benes 1910-1920

Wilbur J. Watson 1907-1939

Small and Rowley’s Cleveland Playhouse - attributed to Francis Draz of Small and Rowley

17400 South Park Boulevard, as Meade designed.

Philip L. Small Small and Rowley 1921- 1928

“A Fine residence by Philip Small.”

After leaving Meade and Hamilton, Small became the personal architect of the Van Sweringen brothers, remodeling the house originally designed by Frank Meade on South Park.

Shaker Square & Moreland Courts as redesigned by Philip L. Small

Samuel K. Popkins 1925-1963 worked for Walker & Weeks and Philip L. Small and was associated with Chester Lowe

17400 South Park Boulevard, after Small’s renovations.

1928-1936

Dunn & Copper 1924-1932

“A modern school by Walter McCornack” McCornack succeeded Frank Barnum as the architect for the Cleveland Board of Education from 1914-1925 and established a “comprehensive research laboratory” to assist the Board in school planning and design. He later designed the Cedar-Central Apartments and became the Dean of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning.

Walter McCornack

“Country

“Probably

by Antonio Di Nardo” - and possibly a premonition of the Terminal Tower. The site of this proposed jail-in heaven was that of the old county courthouse. The county had been threatening to build the new jail on Huntington Park.

Club by Bohnard & Parssons.”

William Bohnard was a founder of the Cleveland School of Architecture, later The WRU School. This sketch may be commentary on their Canterbury Golf Clubhouse on South Woodland Ave.

“A Church by Striebinger” Frederic Striebinger studied painting in the studio of Wm. Merrit Chase and is said to be the first Cleveland architect to have studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts from 1891-1896.

Extremely competent in historical styles, the cartoon suggests that his work also tended to be expensive.

Hubbell and Benes’ Masonic Temple was noted for the low ceilings at its main entrance

The Chapter sponsored legislation in the state legislature that provided for the registration of architects.

OHIO HOUSE BILL NO. 282 AN ACT

To define the qualifications for the practice of architecture in the State of Ohio, by providing for the examination and registration of architects by a state board of examiners; defining the powers and duties of said board of examiners; and providing penalties for the violation of this act.

Passed April 10, 1931 Striebinger’s Second Church of Christ Scientist at 7710 Euclid Avenue

The Hermit Club Building was designed by Frank B. Meade

The City Beautiful Movement in general, the Group Plan Commission and subsequent urban planners envisioned the various districts of the city connected by landscaped parkways. These parkways continuously appear as goals of the Chapter when advocating for the growth of greater Cleveland.

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA CONDUCTORS: CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART DIRECTORS: FREDERIC ALLEN WHITING CLEVELAND MAYORS: WILLIAM S. FITZGERALD OHIO GOVERNORS: JAMES M. COX HARRY L. DAVIS A. VICTOR DONAHEY MYERS Y. COOPER UNITED STATES PRESIDENTS: WOODROW WILSON CALVIN COOLIDGE HERBERT HOOVER

1930 POPULATION: 900,429 Fifth city

1931

1932

1933

1934

AIA PRESIDENTS:

JAMES H. DUTHIE AIA SECRETARIES:

“Ninety percent of all buildings in Cleveland should either be razed or renovized, and such renovization should be thorough and complete.” -Bloodgood Tuttle, AIA

1935

1936

ALEXANDER C. ROBINSON

The Horticultural Gardens of the Great Lakes Exposition, designed and later named for Donald Gray, finally fulfilled the promise to the people of Cleveland for a park on the lakefront made by the Group Plan Commissioners in 1903.

1937

1938

1939

JOSEPH L. WEINBERG TRAVIS G. WALSH, SR. EDWARD G. CONRAD

The Bridge of Presidents at Night The Great Lakes Exposition of 1936-7 gave Cleveland architects a chance to work and fulfill the dreams of an architectural spectacle from 35 years earlier.

The city government, financial institutions and the construction industry, including the AIA Chapter, were involved in promoting new house construction during the Great Depression, as evidenced by the small house exhibit at the Exposition.

In 1937, over 20,000 Clevelanders lined up to inspect the new CedarCentral public housing, one of the three Cleveland slum elimination projects of the PWA.

Copper and Conrad 1934 - 1940

Small, Smith & Reeb 1936 - 1956

Gilbert P. Schafer

Miller & Guenther 1939-1941

The new Post Office in the Terminal Complex provided Cleveland architects Walker and Weeks and Philip L. Small with some of the only paying work available in the early Depression. The other buildings of the Terminal project had all been completed by out-of-town architects. The consolation prize for Cleveland architects was the development of Shaker Heights with its requirement for architect-designed homes and architectural quality standards and review.

Photograph taken at the Testimonial Luncheon in honor of Capt. F. Perkins, Hon. W.G. Mather, E.H. Hopkins, Hon. H.C. Baehr, and the Officers of the Horticultural Garden Committee of the Great Lakes Exposition.

Jesse Owens, Berlin, 1936 Aside from the PWA slum elimination and public housing projects at CedarCentral, Outhwaite and Lakeview Terrace, a focused effort was made to invigorate the private sector in funding and purchasing small houses in the new suburbs. For the architects of the Chapter, this meant low commissions and the creation of house plans en-masse by building designers and developers without the use of architects. The Chapter would eventually work with local banks and department stores to provide better designs, form a speakers’ bureau, and create literature promoting the use of architects in planning the fulfillment of the American Dream of home ownership.

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA CONDUCTORS: NIKOLAI SOKOLOFF CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART DIRECTORS: WILLIAM MATHEWSON MILIKEN 1930-1958 CLEVELAND MAYORS: DANIEL E. MORGAN (MGR) RAYMOND T. MILLER HARRY L. DAVIS HAROLD H. BURTON OHIO GOVERNORS: MYERS Y. COOPER GEORGE WHITE MARTIN L. DAVEY JOHN W. BRICKER UNITED STATES PRESIDENTS: HERBERT HOOVER FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

1940 POPULATION: 878,366 Sixth city

1941

1942

AIA PRESIDENTS: WALTER H. SMITH EDWARD MCMILLAN FRANCIS DRAZ AIA SECRETARIES: MAXWELL NORCROSS

50th Anniversary Commemorative Booklet prepared by

1944

1943 J. BYERS HAYES

1945 GEORGE B. MAYER

1946

1947

1948

1949

FRANKLIN G. SCOTT

JOHN J. CARR

WALLACE G. TEARE

PAUL C. RUTH

February 20, 1942, about 10 weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, this group photograph shows about half of the new corporate members admitted to the AIA chapter that year. Standing L-R, David Ward, Austin Damon, Alonzo Bailey, George Voinovich, Ferd McFadden, Milton MacMillin, Nicholas Zajack, Sterling Neale, Eric Wojahn, Phelps Cunningham, James Willard, Morton Leavitt, Raymond Devney, Edwin Stitt, Norman Jeavons, Samuel Popkins, Franklin Outcalt, William Conrad, John Carr, Milo Holstein, John Devendorf, Rory Weit, Arthur Wiatt, Stephen Bochor, Theo Nichols, Charles Masterson. Seated L-R, George Mayer, Charles Ingham, AIA Secretary, Julian Oberwarth, AIA Director, Russell Peck, Wilbur Riddle, James Collins, Front Row, Walter Smith, Chapter President.

“Dedicated to the memory of those fine men who founded the Cleveland Chapter and whose high ideals and unselfish devotion to the profession guided it through the early years and set the pattern for growth in the years to come.”

Frank Draz’s Barn on Falls Rd.

Frank, Dorothy and Dick Draz at their home in Chagrin Falls The War Service Center was constructed on the northwest quadrant of Public Square in 1943. It was constructed with donated materials and labor and sheltered recruiting offices, war bond and stamp sellers, the USO, Red Cross and War Housing Service.

Copper, Wade & Peck 1945 -

Munroe Copper, Jr. Architects 1940? - 1942?

Garfield office Tony Cirisi, Gilbert Schafer and Alfred Harris

Miller & Voinivich 1945 - 1951

George Voinovich R. Franklin Outcalt

I. T. Frary Honorary Chapter Member designer, author A severe housing shortage had developed during the long years of the Great Depression and WWII, and a massive housing boom followed, much of it supported through the G.I. Bill.

The Chapter responded with a Public Relations Committee that promoted the profession with marketing strategies including placing articles in the press, printed literature, a speakers’ bureau and the first of five exhibits held at the Cleveland Musum of Art.

The 1947 Exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art promoted Cleveland AIA member architects as planners for “Better Living” - a theme that would continue through the 1950s.

This blueprint for the 1947 CMA exhibit calls for generous use of plywood and perfectly straight and clear, old-growth 2 x 4’s, evident in the other photographs of this exhibit in the Chapter archives.

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA CONDUCTORS: ARTUR ROBZINSKI (1933-1943) ERICH LEINSDORF 1943-1946 GEORGE SZELL 1946-1970 CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART DIRECTORS: WILLIAM MATHEWSON MILIKEN CLEVELAND MAYORS: HAROLD H. BURTON EDWARD J. BLYTHIN FRANK J. LAUSCHE THOMAS A. BURKE OHIO GOVERNORS: JOHN W. BRICKER FRANK J. LAUSCHE THOMAS J. HERBERT UNITED STATES PRESIDENTS: FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT HARRY S TRUMAN

FRAN J. LAUSCHE

1950 POPULATION: 914,808 Seventh city

AIA PRESIDENTS: CARL F. GUENTHER AIA SECRETARIES:

1951

1952

1953

PHELPS CUNNINGHAM JOSEPH CERUTI

1954

1955

1956

RONALD A. SPAHN

EARL MELLENBROOK ANTHONY S. CIRESI

1957

1958

LEON W. WORLEY

R. FRANKLIN OUTCALT

Cleveland Hopkins Airport, designed by Outcalt and Guenther, met with high praise for its functionality.

Carl Guenther and Mrs. Draz at one of the famous Draz picnics Joseph Ceruti accepted the appointment of Chairman of the convention on the condition that the Chapter rent office space and hire a staffperson.

Victor Schreckengost’s ‘Signs of the Zodiac, ‘made by Rose Ironworks, were mounted above the front doors of the airport.

J. Byers Hays, Joseph Ceruti, Philip L. Small, R. Franklin Outcalt, Gilbert P. Schafer

John Bonebrake, Co-chair

Robert P. Madison

Ronald Spahn

Small, Smith, Reeb & Draz 1956 Small retires Dec.1960

Architect Lottie Helwick served as Chapter Secretary for nearly 10 years before the chapter finally hired a staffperson. She worked in 14 different offices in the course of her career including Spahn & Barnes, Outcalt Guenther and Hays and Ruth.

“I’d just walk in and say, ‘I’m interested in what you’re doing and I need a job...They would hire me because they knew that I could do the detail. My reputation got around -- that I could carry a gang of six or seven fellows and correct what they did and coordinate the stuff between all the engineering and the architectural... some guys get out of my sight every time they get a chance because they know I’m going to make some crack about the latest job they’ve done. That the brick coursing doesn’t line up from one section of the building to another and stuff like that.”

Robert Gaede

Ray Febo

Leon Worley

William Wiechelman Robert Yoder “In truth, there is no beauty without ornament, from a molding to a representation of the human form. The variety of it alone delights us and is endlessly rewarding. It is a fact that a bare structure can be taken in at a glance, but an ornamented one invites reflection and beckons to the observer to return and consider it afresh. For that reason a classical building, like a symphony by Beethoven, is a series of discoveries.” -- Henry Hope Reed, The Golden City

Interstate Highway System authorized 1956

The Chapter’s first guide to Cleveland architecture was prepared by Robert Gaede in 1953.

“She said yes. She came.

This is a morning session and she gave a hell of a speech. She was stoned.

We had to give her coffee before she came on. You’d never have known it because she made a terrific speech... I’ll never forget.

It was the highlight of the convention.”

Joseph Ceruti interview on Margaret Meade’s speech to the AIA-Cleveland in 1958.

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA CONDUCTORS: GEORGE SZELL CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART DIRECTORS: WILLIAM MATHEWSON MILIKEN CLEVELAND MAYORS: THOMAS A. BURKE ANTHONY J. CELEBREZZE OHIO GOVERNORS: FRANK J. LAUSCHE JOHN WILLIAM BROWN/C. WILLIAM O’NEILL UNITED STATES PRESIDENTS: HARRY S TRUMAN DWIGHT D. EISNHOWER

1959

Charlotte Hays Twylah Blumensadt first Executive Secretary Marjory Robinson of the Chapter

Part of the Women’s Committee in the Hospitality Lounge at the Convention L-R, Bea Guenther, unk., unk., Mrs. Draz, unk., Virginia Outcalt.

“John [Bonebrake] and I were given the job and we spent two years planning that damned convention. And the only reason it worked, we said the first thing we need is a women’s committee. We had no women’s committee, our Chapter. So we said we need a Women’s Auxillary Committee because they’re going to do the job because we’re busy working.” -Joseph Ceruti, Chrmn.

The 1958 Exhibition at the Cleveland Museum was juried by a group from out-of-town.

From 149 entries, 38 were selected for inclusion. Twenty-four of those were the work of only three firms. This upset the whole Chapter and the Museum.

The 1958 exhibition also included the AIA National Honor Awards and a special exhibit of Victor Shreckengost’s work, who had been awarded the AIA’s Fine Arts Medal at the convention.

The Chapter’s Civic Design Committee responded to the “Downtown Cleveland 1975” draft plan with enthusiam and commended the city for retaining expert professional talent.

Soon after, I.M. Pei was hired, and the “Downtown Cleveland 1975” plan was abandoned in favor of the Erieview Plan...

J. Byers Hays

Hays’ sketch showing entrants exactly how to prepare their boards

Cities need old buildings so badly it is probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them. By old buildings I mean not museum-piece old buildings, not old buildings in an excellent and expensive state of rehabilitation–although these make fine ingredients–but also a good lot of plain, ordinary, low-value old buildings, including some rundown old buildings...Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings.

Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA CONDUCTORS: GEORGE SZELL

OHIO GOVERNORS: C. WILLIAM O’NEILL

MICHAEL DISALLE

1960 POPULATION: 876,050 Eighth city

AIA PRESIDENTS: ROBERT N. YODER AIA SECRETARIES:

1961

1962

JOHN C. BONEBRAKE

1963

1964

1965

EDWARD A. FLYNN

OTTO A. SPIETH

P. KENNETH BARNES ROBERT A. LITTLE

The 1963 museum exhibit attempted to make up for the problems of the 1958 exhibit by being more inclusive of Chapter members.

1966

1967

1968

HOWARD BRUCE CAIN EDWARD S. CRIDER

Carl Stokes oversaw the construction of Thomas T.K. Zung’s Public Utilities Bldg., the first public building built downtown since WWII and a component of the Erieview Plan.

1969

Cleveland Museum of Art exhibits “Design and the City” December, 1968, with a $50,000 grant from the Gund Foundation (the project went over budget).

Rapid extended to the airport

“No office building in any other U.S. city will attrract attention so immediately and so unequivocally. It stands at the hub of an entire downtown redevelopment project designed to complement it, service it and heighten its importance--a setting unequalled by any office building in the U.S.” -- I.M. Pei

Robert Little

James Herman

New Memorial Shoreway

Schafer, Flynn, van Dijk’s Blossom Music Center

George Dalton

Cleveland Race Riots American Society of Metals

CSU Master Plan, Outcalt, Guenther, Rode, Toguchi & Bonebrake, early 1960s

John Terrance Kelly

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA CONDUCTORS: GEORGE SZE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART DIRECTORS: SHERMAN EMERY LEE CLEVELAND MAYORS: THOMAS A. BURKE RALPH S. LOCHER CARL B. STOKES OHIO GOVERNORS: FRANK J. LAUSCHE UNITED STATES PRESIDENTS: DWIGHT EISENHOWER JOHN F. KENNEDY LYNDON B. JOHNSON RICHARD M. NIXON

1970 POPULATION: 750,879 Twelfth city

AIA PRESIDENTS: ROBERT C. GAEDE AIA SECRETARIES:

1971

1972

RICHARD FLEISCHMAN ALYN NEISWANDER

1973

1974

1975

1976

ROBERT P. MADISON

PETER VAN DIJK

JAMES G. HERMAN

NORMAN PERTTULA

1977 CHARLES KICKSON

1978

1979

WILLIAM KOSTER

WILLIAM H. COLLINS

On December 7, 1971, the Cleveland Landmarks Commission held its first meeting. The landmark ordinance granted the Western Reserve Historical Society, the Cleveland Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and the Early Settlers Association the responsibility to nominate seven of its eleven members.

The Hermit Club

“As a member of City Council, I hoped to find tools to help save neighborhoods, as well as the historic and architecturally significant buildings that represent Cleveland’s history.” John D. Cimperman, first Director of the Commission, 1973-1989 Bob Gaede served as first Vice Chairman of the new Landmarks Commission.

Chapter founder, John Richardson’s Power Station

The Old Arcade decorated for the bicentennial

Kent State University, May 4, 1970

The wrecked remains of Shondor Birns’ car, bombed near West 25th Street and Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, March 29, 1975.

“Is it not cruel to let our city die by degrees, stripped of all her proud monuments, until there will be nothing left of all her history and beauty to inspire our children? If they are not inspired by the past of our city, where will they find the strength to fight for her future? Americans care about their past, but for short term gain they ignore it and tear down everything that matters. Maybe, with our Bicentennial approaching, this is the moment to take a stand, to reverse the tide, so that we won’t all end up in a uniform world of steel and glass boxes.” --Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA CONDUCTORS: PIERRE BOULEZ (MUSICAL ADVISOR) 1970-72 LORIN MAAZEL 1972-1982 CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART DIRECTORS SHERMAN EMERY LEE 1958-1983 CLEVELAND MAYORS: CARL B. STOKES RALPH J. PERK DENNIS J. KUCINICH OHIO GOVERNORS: JIM RHODES JOHN G. GILLIGAN JIM RHODES UNITED STATES PRESIDENTS: RICHARD M. NIXON GERALD FORD JIMMY CARTER

1980 POPULATION: 573,822 Ninteenth city

AIA PRESIDENTS: NICHOLAS LESKO AIA SECRETARIES:

1981

1982

THOMAS OVINGTON ROBERT GEARY

1983

1984

WILLIAM A. GOULD

DAVID HOLZHEIMER RICHARD BAUSCHARD ANN M. DUNNING

1985

1986

1987

1988

THOMAS E. TOMSICK FRED HOLMAN

1989 TODD W. SCHMIDT

Bonne Bell Headquarters Munroe Copper, 1980

Eastman branch of the Cleveland Public Libary by Joseph Ceruti and Associates. In 1980, the architects stated that tax-supported institutions and especially the Library, “should lead the way in exposing the taxpayer to quality works of art.” Their aim was to “make a bold statement.”

The implosion of two of Cleveland’s early skyscrapers in 1982 made way for the SOHIO Building. It created a lot of dust and was a real shame.

William Ayars (1982-1984)

revision of the guidebook took place between 1984-1989

Mark Zettl’s gazebo, Anthony Paskevich’s Riverbend Condominiums and Van Duzer’s studio viewed from the west bank of the Flats.

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA CONDUCTORS: CHRISTOPH VON DOHNANYI 1984-2002 CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART DIRECTORS: EVAN HOPKINS TURNER 1983-93 CLEVELAND MAYORS: GEORGE VOINIVICH OHIO GOVERNORS: DICK CELESTE UNITED STATES PRESIDENTS: JIMMY CARTER RONALD REAGAN GEORGE BUSH

1990 POPULATION: 505,616

AIA PRESIDENTS: KEITH E. WHITE AIA SECRETARIES:

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

JAMES D. GIBANS

ROBERT C. AHRENS

ROBERT A. FIALA

HENRY I. REDER

E. DEAN COX

THEODORE E. KURZ RICHARD VAN PETTEN ROBERT A. BENNETT PHILMORE J. HART

1997

1998

1999

Guides to Cleveland Architecture, 1st and 2nd editions, 1997

The Historic Resources Committee produced the “A Century of Talents” video for the Chapter’s 100th Anniversary.

In November of 1991, Mayor Michael White and Steve Litt, the Plain Dealer’s new architectural critic, addressed the Cleveland Chapter of the AIA. Mr. Litt encouraged architects to write to him when they disagreed with him or had informative comments.

“I would understand better this type of high-tech approach if you de-

molished the whole... and started again with a single architect responsible for the entire layout, but what is proposed is like a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend.” --Charles Prince Charles at the 150th Anniversary of the Royal Institute of British Architects at Severance Hall, 1977 (RIBA), May 29, 1984.

For a very short time, Clevelanders had their lakefront park, close to where it had been promised in 1903... then I.M. Pei’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame took its place.

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA CONDUCTORS:

CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART DIRECTORS: EVEN HOPKINS TURNER ROBERT P. BERGMAN 1993-99 KATE SELLARS 1999CLEVELAND MAYORS: MICHAEL R. WHITE OHIO GOVERNORS: DICK CELESTE GEORGE VOINIVICH NANCY HOLLISTER BOB TAFT UNITED STATES PRESIDENTS: GEORGE BUSH BILL CLINTON

2000 POPULATION: 478,403 Thirty-third city

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

AIA PRESIDENTS: KEVINROBINETTE/ MICHAEL BENJAMIN DOMINIC CARBONE JUDSON A. KLINE JOHN C. WADDELL KEVIN C. ROBINETTE RANDY VON RYAN JOHN C. WADDELL AIA SECRETARIES: DIANNE HART HELEN MILES MARY HELEN HAMMER

2007

2008

2009

BETH ANN KALAPOS

DONALD RERKO

ROBERT L. BOSTWICK

While not a project of the Chapter, Nina and James Gibans’ book on Cleveland’s modernist architects documented an important phase of Chapter members’ work.

The Breuer-designed Cleveland Trust Co. Building had stood vacant since 1994. Threatened with demolition, the Chapter’s Historic Resources Committee inspired a strategy to preserve it based on governmental fiscal responsibility, rather than the building’s grim brutalist aesthetics.

The Chapter co-sponsored a series of events, Bauhaus at the Brink, during the “Breuer Building” crisis.

The last of these provided the impetus for the publication of Carl Stein’s book, Greening Modernism.

The newly renovated Cleveland Public Theater is the venue for the “State of the Arts” in Cleveland, moderator AIA Ruth Durack, Kathleeen Cerveny, Cleveland Foundation Arts and Culture, Thomas Schorgi, Community Partnership Arts and Culture, and Melanie Fioritto, Cleveland Public Art. February 18, 2004

Marie-Rose Andriadi (2008-)

The Chapter hosted Dutch designers Aaron Betsky, Fritz van Dongen, Fer Felder, and US Congresswoman, Marcy Kaptur, the only urban planner in Congress for: “A New Perspective for Northeast Ohio / Learning from the Dutch Experience,” on September 26-27, 2005.

Steve Litt slammed this AIA Chapter-sponsored event as an attempt to ‘Dutchify’ Cleveland.

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA CONDUCTORS: CHRISTIAN VON DOHNANYI FRANZ WELSER-MOST 2002-PRESENT CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART DIRECTORS: KATHARINE LEE REID

TIMOTHY RUB

DEBORAH GRIBBON CLEVELAND MAYORS: MICHAEL R. WHITE JANE L. CAMPBELL FRANK G. JACKSON OHIO GOVERNORS: BOB TAFT TED STRICKLAND UNITED STATES PRESIDENTS: BILL CLINTON GEORGE W. BUSH BARACK OBAMA

2010 POPULATION: 396,815 Forty-fifth city

2011

AIA PRESIDENTS: BRUCE JACKSON ROBERT MASCHKE AIA SECRETARIES: MARY HELEN HAMMER

2012 KURT WEAVER

2013

2014

CHARLES BELSON

DAVID ROBAR AARON HILL

2015 JACK BIALOSKY

This history of the Cleveland Chapter of the American Institute of Architects is a work in progress, as is the story of the Chapter itself.

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA CONDUCTORS: FRANZ WELSER-MOST CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART DIRECTORS: DAVID FRANKLIN

CLEVELAND MAYORS: FRANK G. JACKSON OHIO GOVERNORS: TED STRICKLAND JOHN KASICH UNITED STATES PRESIDENTS: BARACK OBAMA

Central Axis of the Group Plan’s Mall, looking south, 2015

Exhibit Panels Printed Courtesy of SE Blueprint.

AIA Cleveland thanks...

Marie Rose Andriadi Craig Bobby Peter Buettner Councilman Brian Cummins Carter Ellison David Ellison John Grabowski Mary Helen Hammer Aaron Hill Mayor Frank Jackson Robert Keiser R. T. Lyman Valerie McCall Malorie Nowak Jonathan Outcalt Andrew Samtoy Gilbert P. Schafer, III Leslie Scott Ann Sindelar Beth Zietlow-DeJesus ...and all the members of the Cleveland Chapter that gave generously to this 125th anniversary celebration, and the past and present members who thought to save our records and record our history. additional credit belongs to: Cleveland Public Library Cleveland State University Library The Western Reserve Historical Society Library The Cleveland Landmark Commission’s Architects Database The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History The AIA Guidebook to Cleveland Architecture

FRED BIDWELL

WILLIAM GRISWOLD