Bohemian National Hall ( cs, Česká národní síň) is an historic building located in the

Broadway–Slavic Village Broadway–Slavic Village is a neighborhood on the Southeast side of Cleveland, Ohio. One of the city's oldest neighborhoods, it originated as the township of Newburgh, first settled in 1799. Much of the area has historically served as home to ...

neighborhood of

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in May 1975. The hall was built to serve the cultural and educational needs of the city's Czech community, and currently serves as host to Sokol Greater Cleveland and the Cleveland Czech Cultural Center and Museum.

Building history

Bohemian National Hall was built in 1896-97 by

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...

in Cleveland, reportedly becoming the "first hall in the city owned by a nationality group." The idea of the hall emerged in the 1880s in the Lodge Bratri v Kruhu of the Czech Slovak Benevolent Association. The fundraising effort was led by Czech American journalist Václav Šnajdr, and the building was designed by Andrew Mitermiler, John Hradek, and the Cleveland architectural firm of Steffens, Searles and Hirsh. On October 22 and 23, 1915, Bohemian National Hall was the site of the signing of the Cleveland Agreement by Czech American and Slovak American representatives. The agreement was a precursor to the

Pittsburgh Agreement The Pittsburgh Agreement was a memorandum of understanding completed on 31 May 1918 between members of Czech and Slovak expatriate communities in the United States of America. It replaced the Cleveland Agreement of October 22, 1915. It is name ...

, calling for the formation of a joint Czech and Slovak state, which was realized with the founding of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

in 1918. Over the years, the building's exterior darkened appreciably due to the pollution from nearby steel mills. Sokol, a local Czech American society which promotes athletics and healthy living, purchased the building for $35,000 ($ in dollars) in 1975. Bohemian National Hall underwent a $400,000 ($ in dollars) renovation in 1997. The basement was deepened by to raise the ceiling to a more customary height. In the first floor lobby, paint was stripped from the

quarter-sawn Quarter sawing or quartersawing is a woodworking process that produces quarter-sawn or quarter-cut boards in the rip cutting of logs into lumber. The resulting lumber can also be called ''radially-sawn'' or simply ''quartered''. There is wides ...

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

molding and

panelling Panelling (or paneling in the U.S.) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials. Panelling was developed in antiquity to make roo ...

and a false wall removed to reveal a

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" ...

screen. The walls of the grand ballroom on the second floor were cleaned of more than a century of grime, and two ornate hand-carved columns were rescued and placed in the third-floor museum. An elevator was also added to the structure, to make the fourth floor gymnasium more accessible. In 1998, Sokol began construction on a $1.5 million ($ in dollars), addition to the Bohemian National Hall. Built by Panzica Construction, the volleyball court (which shared the ballroom) and the gymnastics practice area (on the fourth floor) moved to the addition once it was finished.

References

External links

Sokol Greater Cleveland - Bohemian National Hall
{{authority control Czech-American culture in Cleveland National Register of Historic Places in Cleveland, Ohio Buildings and structures in Cleveland Cultural infrastructure completed in 1896 Slavic Village Sokol in the United States 1896 establishments in Ohio

Building history

See also

References

External links