This study looks at the architectural transformation of Cleveland during its “golden age”—roughly the period between post–Civil War reconstruction and World War I. By the early twentieth century, Cleveland, which would evolve into the fifth largest city in America, hoped to shed the gritty industrial image of its rapid-growth period and evolve into a city to match the political clout of its statesmen like John Hay and wealth of its business elites such as John D. Rockefeller. Encouraged by the spectacle and public response to the Beaux-Arts buildings of the Chicago World’s Exposition of 1893, the city embarked upon a grand scheme to construct new governmental and civic structures known as the Cleveland Plan of Grouping Public Buildings, one of the earliest and most complete City Beautiful planning schemes in the country. The success of this plan led to a spillover effect that prompted architects to design all manner of new public buildings with similar Beaux-Arts stylistic characteristics during the next three decades. With the group plan realized, civic leaders— with the goal of expanding the city’s cultural institutions to match the distinction of its civic center—established its counterpart in University Circle, creating a secondary group plan, the first cultural center in the country.
ContentsIntroductionPart 1. Cleveland’s Architectural Journey from Outpost to MetropolisEarly Cleveland and Its Western Reserve LegacyEconomics and Politics in Cleveland at the Turn of the Twentieth CenturyThe École des Beaux-Arts and Its Influence on the Academic Tradition in AmericaThe Rise of the International Exposition and the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893The City Beautiful Movement and Emergence of City PlanningCleveland’s 1903 Group Plan and the University Circle Cultural Center PlanConclusionPart 2. Catalog of BuildingsCommemorative BuildingsCommercial BuildingsCivic and Governmental BuildingsCultural BuildingsAcknowledgmentsSource AbbreviationsNotesBibliographyIndex