The Arcade in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Cleveland, Ohio, is a

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

-era structure of two nine-story buildings, joined by a five-story arcade with a glass skylight spanning over 300 feet (91 m), along the four

balconies A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony is ...

.Arcade
''Encyclopedia of Cleveland History'',

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Res ...

, 10 July 1997. Erected in 1890, at a cost of $867,000 ($ in dollars), the Arcade opened on

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

(May 30, 1890), and is identified as one of the earliest indoor

shopping arcade A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...

s in the United States. The Arcade was modified in 1939, remodeling the Euclid Avenue entrance and adding some structural support. It was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1975.

History

The Arcade was built in 1890 by Detroit Bridge Co., run by

Stephen V. Harkness Stephen Vanderburgh Harkness (November 18, 1818 – March 6, 1888) was an American businessman based in Cleveland, Ohio. He invested as a silent partner with John D. Rockefeller, Sr. in the founding of Standard Oil and served as a director of St ...

. Designed by

John Eisenmann John Eisenmann (March 26, 1851 – January 6, 1924), was an architect in Cleveland, Ohio. As part of Eisenmann & Smith he designed the Cleveland Arcade in downtown Cleveland. He also designed the Main building for Case School of Applied Sci ...

and George H. Smith, the Arcade is one of the few remaining arcades of its kind in the United States. Modeled after the

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II () is Italy's oldest active shopping gallery and a major landmark of Milan in Italy. Housed within a four-story double arcade in the centre of town, the ''Galleria'' is named after Victor Emmanuel II, the first ...

located in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

, the Arcade comprises two nine-story towers with a

skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History Ope ...

, 100 feet (30 m) high, made of 1,800 panes of glass spanning over 300 feet (91 m). The construction was financed by

John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was ...

, Marcus Hanna,

Charles F. Brush Charles Francis Brush (March 17, 1849 – June 15, 1929) was an American engineer, inventor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Biography Brush was born in Euclid Township, Ohio to Isaac Elbert Brush and Delia Williams Phillips. Isaac Brush ...

and several other wealthy Clevelanders of the day. The Arcade is a cross between a lighted court and a commercial shopping street. The building is a complex of three structures: two nine-story office buildings facing out to Euclid and Superior Avenues, connected via the five-story iron-and-glass-enclosed arcade. The

Richardsonian Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...

arched entrance of Hummelstown brownstone along Superior Avenue is original, but the Euclid Avenue front was remodeled in 1939 by the firm of

Walker and Weeks Walker and Weeks was an architecture firm based in Cleveland, Ohio, founded by Frank Ray Walker (September 29, 1877 - July 9, 1949) and Harry E. Weeks (October 2, 1871 - December 21, 1935). Background Harry Weeks was born October 2, 1871, in W. ...

. The level of the Superior Avenue entrance is about lower than the Euclid entrance, so that there are two bottom arcade floors, joined by staircases at each end. Since Euclid and Superior avenues are not parallel, a passage leads, at a 23-degree angle, off the Euclid entrance to a rotunda at the southern end of the Arcade. The arcade itself is a -long covered light court, ringed by four levels of balconies, which step back above the Euclid Avenue level. The vertical lines of the columns, rising nearly 100 feet (33 m) to the glass roof, create a spacious domed interior. The Arcade's design inspired a similar shopping arcade in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

called the Peachtree Arcade, which was constructed in the 1910s. In 2001, the

Hyatt Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vaca ...

corporation redeveloped the Arcade into Cleveland's first Hyatt Regency hotel. The Hyatt Regency occupies the two towers and the top three floors of the atrium area. The two lower floors of the atrium area remain open to the public with retail merchants and a

food court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dinner. ...

. In addition, the Hyatt's lobby and offices are located near the Superior Avenue entrance. That same year, the skylight was also replaced.Icons of Cleveland: The Arcade
''

Cleveland Magazine ''Cleveland Magazine'' is a monthly magazine focused on Northeastern Ohio, USA. It was founded in 1972. The inaugural April 1972 issue featured a young Dennis Kucinich, a frequent profile subject of the magazine. Published monthly by the Great La ...

'', August 2009.

Notes

External links

The Arcade
{{authority control Commercial buildings completed in 1890 Shopping malls established in 1890 Buildings and structures in Cleveland Hotels in Cleveland National Historic Landmarks in Ohio Shopping malls in Cuyahoga County, Ohio Shopping arcades in the United States Tourist attractions in Cleveland National Register of Historic Places in Cleveland, Ohio Downtown Cleveland

History

See also

Notes

External links