The Arts & Crafts Movement
Cleveland and Environs

The Society for Savings Building, also known as the Society Corp. Building (Burnham & Root, 1889), was the tallest building in Cleveland until 1896 and often considered to be Cleveland and Ohio’s first modern skyscraper. The building boasts an interior designed by William Prettyman with Walter Crane murals and a leaded-glass skylight.

The 1903 Group Plan. An ambitious city-planning scheme devised by Arnold W. Brunner, John M. Carrère and Daniel Burnham; in it, the Mall—to feature Beaux Arts buildings of uniform height—was to become the city’s functional and symbolic center. To create an official gateway leading from a new railroad depot on the lakefront to Public Square, the City’s main train station was to be built at the north end of the Mall. This plan was quashed in the 1920s by the Van Sweringen brothers’ decision to build their Union Terminal train station on Public Square. Seven buildings (one demolished) were realized as part of the plan of which we will visit the following:

• The original Cleveland Federal Building (Arnold W. Brunner). Now the Howard Metzenbaum Courthouse, it was the first building erected under the 1903 Group Plan.
  
• The Cleveland Public Library (Walker & Weeks, construction begun in 1923; Stokes Wing, 1997 connected by an underground corridor). The Library features a garden designed by landscape architecture firm OLIN with sculptures by Maya Lin and Tom Otterness. We view highlights of the Special Collections with Heather A. Shannon, Fine Arts and Special Collections Manager, Main Branch.
• The Cuyahoga County Courthouse (Lehman & Schmitt, 1906 – 1912). The front entrance is flanked by bronze statues of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton by Karl Bitter. The cornice is surmounted by several stone statues of historical lawgivers, two of which are by Daniel Chester French. The interior contains murals by Frank Brangwyn, Violet Oakley, Charles Yardley Turner, Max Bohm, and Frederick Wilson.

The Arcade (John Eisenmann and George H. Smith, 1890), two nine-story buildings are joined by a five-story arcade with a glass skylight spanning over 300 feet and four balconies. The Skylight was built in 1890 by the Detroit Bridge Co. run by Stephen V. Harkness.

The Cleveland Trust Company (George Browne Post, 1903). The basement now houses a bar and nightclub, the first and second floors are occupied by Heinen’s Fine Foods grocery, and the third floor contains offices. The building features important murals by Francis Millet and sculpture by Karl Bitters in its pediment.

Keynote lecture on the Architecture of Charles Schweinfurth and preservation in Cleveland. Anthony Hiti, principal, Hiti, DiFrancesco + Siebold.

Introduction to contemporary jewelers, Todd Pownell (trained goldsmith and graduate gemologist) and Debra Rosen (whose work is rooted in the European studio atelier practice and the tradition of jewelry as a fine art).

Rose Iron Works, LLC, 1536 E. 43rd St., Cleveland, OH. Founded in 1904 by Martin Rose, a highly skilled ornamental blacksmith trained in Budapest and Vienna, Rose Iron Works remains a family-owned source of architectural, ornamental, and sculptural metalwork. Present owner Bob Rose discussed the firm’s history and work.

Evening viewings and reception at TAP by Todd Pownell, 1667 E. 40th St., #3B, Cleveland, OH. Contemporary jewelers Todd Pownell and Debra Rosen work in the Arts and Crafts tradition with the tools and bench of John Paul Miller. They are joined by Arts and Crafts metalwork Collector Boice Lydell.

The first of nine Usonian homes to be built in Ohio and the only non-Californian Usonian to use redwood, it features brick construction, an L-shaped plan, a flat roof with a cantilevered carport, simple built-in furniture, and tall glass walls and doors that open to the landscape. The house is relatively large in scale and features decorative mill work, including roof dentil ornamentation made from wooden spheres. Hemispherical ornaments in the fascia and curvilinear cutouts in the clerestory panels are also unique to the design of the house. As a result, and in keeping with many of Wright’s projects, the construction budget rose from $15,000 to $50,000. Following Margaret Weltzheimer’s death in 1963, two subsequent owners made significant alterations to the house. In 1968, Ellen H. Johnson, an art historian, purchased the house and oversaw its restoration. Upon her death in 1992, the house was given to Oberlin College to serve as a guesthouse for the Art Department and AMAM.

Notable monuments include the following:

• The James A. Garfield Memorial (George Keller, 1890). Constructed of stone sourced locally from the quarries of the Cleveland Stone Company, the memorial features a distinctive 180-foot tower, stained-glass windows, a golden dome, and exterior reliefs by Caspar Buberl depicting scenes from Garfield’s life.
• Wade Memorial Chapel (Hubbell & Benes, dedicated 1901). Wade Memorial Chapel is one of the few remaining structures that features an interior entirely designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany and his studios. Before being installed in the Chapel at Lake View, The Flight of Souls (which remains an important example of Tiffany’s highly prized ecclesiastical work) was on view at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris where it was awarded a gold medal.

Closing remarks and farewell. Lisa Koenigsberg.