HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY COLUMBIA BUILDING. HABS No. OH-2485

Transcription

1 HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY COLUMBIA BUILDING Location: 112 Prospect Avenue (bounded by Prospect Avenue on the north, East 2 nd Street on the east, East 1 st Street on the west, and Coleman Court on the south), Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio UTM , obtained from U.S.G.S. Cleveland South Quadrangle Map, +/-12 meters, August 29, 2011 Significance: The eight-story Columbia Building, built in , was the first reinforcedconcrete building to be erected in Cleveland after the city building code was amended to allow construction to this height. (Previously, such construction had been limited to six stories.) With its rectangular plan, flat roof, recessed spandrels, grid pattern of the principal elevations, and terminating cornice (since removed), it is a good example of a commercial building in the Chicago School style. It is also notable as the work of the Reaugh Construction Company, which erected many important industrial and commercial buildings in Cleveland during the early twentieth century. Description: Located in the heart of downtown Cleveland, one block from Public Square, the Columbia Building is eight stories tall, with a flat, built-up roof and a full basement. Rectangular in plan, it measures 114 feet wide by 82 feet deep. It is six bays wide by five bays deep. The façade and east elevation (the principal street elevations) are composed of a one-story base, a six-story shaft, and a terminating story topped by a plain, slightly flared cornice (since removed). The walls are of light brown pressed brick laid in common bond and feature piers with recessed spandrels. There are stone stringcourses above the first and seventh stories, the latter featuring a band of dentils. The windows are double-hung, with 1/1 lights and plain lug sills. Those in the façade and south elevation are grouped in threes; those in the east and west elevations, in twos. In the principal elevations, the windows in floors two through five are distinguished by brick lintels flush with the walls, while those in the seventh floor feature projecting lintels with oversize, projecting stone keys. The east and south elevations, which face narrow alleys, are of common brown brick laid in common bond. They have the same fenestration patterns without the piers, spandrels, and stringcourses of the principal elevations. The entrance, Neoclassical in style, occupies the third bay from the corner of Prospect and East 2 nd. It is distinguished by an elliptical stone arch with oversize keystone in which COLUMBIA BUILDING is incised. Above the arch a band of dentils, flanked by two pairs of scroll brackets, spans the full width of the bay. The recessed entry, which contains four single-light doors, has a high ceiling rimmed by a decorative plaster cornice, a feature repeated in the foyer and again in the elevator lobby. Art nouveau in design, the cornices consist of a band of eggand-dart molding at the ceiling, below which is a band of pointed arches formed by stylized trees, each arch containing a stylized flower. Together with a large pendant lantern in the

2 (Page 2) foyer and another, identical lantern in the lobby, the cornices are the only embellishments in the otherwise utilitarian building. The Prospect and East 2 nd elevations contain storefronts at ground level, each separated by banded (rusticated) brick pilasters. As built, generous display windows supported on shallow bulkheads spanned each bay (save for the entrance bay); access was from inside the building. The top third of each window was divided by mullions into three square lights. At Prospect and East 2 nd, the two corner storefronts were chamfered i.e., recessed behind a square bandedbrick column, thereby forming a pedestrian pass-through. Projecting from the corner of the building and spanning the second and third floors was a narrow vertical sign reading COLUMBIA. Inside, the building is organized around a central core containing a bank of elevators (not original) and a single open well, three-run, closed-string stairway of steel that appears to be original. The strings have egg-and-dart trim, but the stairway is otherwise plain, with square balusters, square newels with ball finials, and wooden handrails. The stair landings and baseboards are of marble. Few other original interior features remain. Among these are scattered remnants of hardwood floors and, on the seventh floor, a two-room office suite. The office suite features a single-light door with opaque glass and an operable transom, at the bottom of which is a mail slot. The door connecting the offices features two plain vertical panels. Both doors have simple architrave trim. Walls are smooth plaster; there is a simple baseboard and a picture molding; the building s concrete framing is undisguised. The building has been considerably altered. Permit records show that as early as 1931 the storefronts were remodeled to accommodate various tenants. Such alterations invariably included the addition of doors opening to the street. At an unknown date the storefronts were reconfigured to eliminate the pedestrian pass-through at the Prospect-East 2 nd corner. In 1956 the brick cornice was removed. Photographic evidence shows that by 1981 the sash in the west elevation had been replaced by four-light louver windows. In the 1980s the former office building was remodeled for college use. This work included new electrical and HVAC systems, the addition of a broad open stairway connecting the first and basement levels, the partitioning of the lobby with steel-and-glass panels, and the remodeling of numerous offices for classroom use. In 1984 a 10-by-24-foot stucco-clad staircase rising nine stories was added on the south side of the building. About 1996 all of the windows were replaced with steel double-hung sash, the storefronts were replaced with glass-and-steel display windows, and a Plexiglas canopy was added to the intrados of the building s arched entrance. History: The Columbia Building was built by Morris A. Bradley to the design of Cleveland architect Marion E. Wells. Bradley ( ) was the son of Captain Alva Bradley ( ), a sailor, shipmaster, ship owner, and shipbuilder who built and floated one of the largest fleets of wooden vessels on the Great Lakes. Morris Bradley joined his father in the business in Among other enterprises, in 1885 he founded and served as president of the Cleveland & Buffalo Transit Company, providing passenger and freight service between Cleveland and Buffalo. Upon his death the elder Bradley left his son a fortune, much of it invested in real

3 (Page 3) estate. In later years Morris Bradley turned his attention primarily to real estate development, and by the time of his death, in 1926, he was one of the largest holders of downtown real estate. In the early 1900s, complete reinforced-concrete buildings (with concrete frames as well as concrete floors) began to go up on a commercial scale in the United States. Owners paid a premium to build in concrete because they wanted fire-resistant buildings. In Cleveland such construction was then limited by code to six stories. Early in 1908, with the architect Marion Wells, Morris Bradley developed plans for a large commercial building on the southwest corner of Prospect Avenue and East 2 nd Street. At the same time, he initiated a movement to amend the city s building code to permit the erection of concrete buildings to a height of eight stories. Marion E. Wells ( ) was born in Coolville, Ohio, and came to Cleveland in In addition to the Columbia Building, other works attributed to him include the Tabor Evangelical Church (1907), Holy Ghost Byzantine Church (1909), the Marion Building (1913), and several private residences, all in Cleveland. Between 1923 and 1930 he served as president of the Griffin Construction Company. On August 2, 1908, the Cleveland Plain Dealer announced that contingent upon the amendment of the building code the general contract for the Columbia Building had been awarded to the Reaugh Construction Company. Bradley s building, the article declared, will be probably the largest concrete building in the city. On November 18, 1908, this item appeared in the Plain Dealer: Following adoption by the council of the amendment to the building code permitting concrete buildings to be carried to a height of eight stories, the building inspection department yesterday granted a permit to M. A. Bradley for the erection of his new building on Prospect [Avenue]. The structure will be eight stories high and will cost $80,000. It is well under way. The Reaugh Construction Company began work on the reinforced-concrete frame of the building on October 9, By January 9, 1909, the building was bricked in and under roof. An undated promotional booklet published by the Reaugh Construction Company touted the rapidity of construction of which the firm was capable. With its own mill, dry kilns, and lumber yards covering over three acres on the Nickel Plate Railroad at East 55 th Street, Reaugh boasted of its ability to execute mason work, concrete work, concrete or tile fireproofing, mill work and carpenter work with our own mechanics Our unusual large equipment of hoisting engines, concrete mixers, tower, stationary and traveling derricks, etc., enable us to handle work in an economical and expeditious manner. The booklet included a photograph of the Columbia Building taken as the building neared completion, with the caption: First eight story concrete building built in city of Cleveland. Concrete and brick work complete in three months. The Reaugh Company figured prominently in the building of Cleveland as it rose to become, by 1910, one of the nation s largest cities. Among the buildings to its credit were the Cleveland Athletic Club, Chamber of Commerce, Garfield, Schofield, and Caxton buildings; the White Motor Car Company and White Sewing Machine Company plants; the Hippodrome Theatre and Office Building, the Cleveland Jewish Hospital, and the Pelton Apartments. Reaugh also built schools, private residences, and a large number of tunnels and sewers.

4 (Page 4) The interior of the Columbia was judged complete by the city building inspector on June 22, 1909, and by July 1909 the Standard Gas Light Company was advertising a grand opening sale at its new store at 102 Prospect Avenue. In the Cleveland Plain Dealer of September 26, 1909, Bradley Bros. Realty Company advertised stores and offices for rent in the handsome new eight-story Columbia building The building is absolutely fireproof and strictly modern The offices are bright, cheerful and airy, every room having outside lighting The stores are large and well lighted The location, one block from Euclid Avenue and Public Square and convenient to every car line is ideal. Left unmentioned were the building s facilities for personal hygiene: there were none. Bradley thought he was real smart when he decided not to install toilets in the building, Malcolm Vilas, Bradley s grandson, told Barbara Stiner of Dyke College in Instead, Bradley connected the building to the adjacent Marine Building Bradley had built the Marine, at 2124 East 2 nd, in 1894 by means of a multistory corridor beginning at the second floor above the alley separating the two buildings. (Construction permits show the addition of lavatories to the Columbia Building beginning in the 1930s.) The Columbia Building became home to an array of small tenants. Over the years its storefronts hosted a men s furnishings store, drugstore, cigar store, laundry and cleaning service, and a variety of restaurants. From 1912 until the advent of Prohibition, Gruber s Restaurant a popular fixture in Greater Cleveland for almost sixty years occupied the storefront at 102 Prospect. According to the Cleveland City Directory of 1931, the building s upper floors were then occupied by real estate and manufacturers agents, floor coverings and desk salesmen, construction engineers, a print shop, a tailor, watch repair, and a drug company. The Flawless Hosiery Repair Co., McBee Binder Co. ( loose leaf system ), Ohio Traveling Bag Mfg. Company, the Independent Ribbon & Carbon Co., and the White Fox School of Beauty Culture also had offices there. Eighteen vacancies indicate the city s economic malaise as the Great Depression took hold. Ownership of the Columbia Building passed from Morris Bradley to his daughter, Helen Vilas. In 1982 Dyke College, which traced its roots to Folsom s Mercantile College (1848), the first college founded in Cleveland, purchased the building and launched an $8 million campaign to renovate it. The building, designated a Cleveland Landmark in 1982, was twice renovated, in the 1980s under the direction of the Cleveland architect Thomas T. K. Zung and again in 1996 under the direction of van Dijk, Pace, Westlake and Partners of Cleveland. Dyke College, which was renamed David N. Myers College in 2001 and, soon thereafter, Myers University, occupied the Columbia Building from 1985 until 2004, when it relocated to the former University Club at 3813 Euclid Avenue. Following the college s departure, the building was briefly home to a charter school. In late July and early August 2011, the Columbia Building was demolished to make way for the construction of a parking garage designed to serve a new casino slated to open in the former Higbee s department store nearby. A month earlier, despite the pleas of local preservationists and a group hastily organized under the name Save Lower Prospect Avenue, the Cleveland Landmarks Commission, by a 4-3 vote, gave permission to the casino operator Rock Ohio Caesars to raze the building.

5 (Page 5) Sources: Architectural drawings: No original drawings extant. Historic views: A photograph taken as the building neared completion appears in a promotional booklet titled The Reaugh Construction Company, cited below. The Cleveland Landmarks Commission, located in City Hall, has an extensive file on the Columbia Building that includes several early views of unknown provenance, including two made during construction and another made shortly after completion, as well as several views from the early 1980s. The Photograph Department of the Cleveland Public Library has several photographs of the building taken shortly after completion. A photograph of the building as it neared completion appears on page 29 of the Ohio Architect, Engineer and Builder of October 1911, cited below. An excellent view of the building in its 1909 context appeared in the Cleveland Plain Dealer of October 3 that year, in an advertisement, Mr. Business Man, Get Our Proposition on Space in This Modern Fireproof Office Building. Bibliography: Avery, Elroy McKendree. A History of Cleveland and Its Environs: The Heart of New Connecticut. 3 vols. Chicago and New York: Lewis Publishing Co., The Book of Clevelanders: A Biographical Dictionary of Living Men of the City of Cleveland Cleveland: Burros Bros., Cleveland, Ohio. Department of Building and Housing. Permit No , November 17, Cleveland, Ohio. City Planning Commission. Cleveland Landmarks Commission. Columbia Building file and Cleveland Architects Database ( Dyke College Buys Columbia, Marine Buildings, Properties, January 1982, Group Protests Demolition of Prospect Ave. Building, Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 9, 2011, B1. M. A. Bradley, 66, Capitalist, Dies, Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 27, 1926, 1,10. Marion E. Wells Dies, Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 5, 1935, 4. Mind s Triumph over Matter. Ohio Architect, Engineer and Builder 25 (June 1915): No Problem Too Difficult. Ohio Architect, Engineer and Builder 18 (October 1911): Orth, Samuel P. A History of Cleveland, Ohio. 3 vols. Chicago and Cleveland: S. J. Clarke, 1910.

6 (Page 6) The Reaugh Construction Company. Cleveland: privately printed, n.d. To Let Concrete Be Skyscraping, Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 28, 1908, 12. Van Tassel, David D. and John J. Grabowski, eds. The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. 2 nd ed. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, Project Information: The Columbia Building, a designated Cleveland Landmark, will be replaced by a casino welcome center and parking garage. Demolition and redevelopment are being financed privately, and no federal money will be used. However, in approving the permit for demolition, the Cleveland Landmarks Commission stipulated that this documentation be prepared. Historian: Carol Poh, August 2011 The author wishes to thank Donald J. Petit, city planner, Cleveland Landmarks Commission, for his assistance with historical research.

7 (Page 7)