The demolition of the Cleveland Cadillac Company building

The recently demolished Corlett Building on the campus of Cleveland State University (1935 Euclid Avenue) was originally home to a vehicle showroom constructed by The Cleveland Cadillac Company in 1914, a local distributor for the Detroit automaker. There were several other tenants in the building at the time that the location was used as a car dealership, including R.G. Miller Coal Co. and City Ice and Fuel Co.

It later became known as the Corlett Building due to the land originally having been the site of the home and office space of Dr. William T. Corlett. Dr. Corlett was a dermatologist and physician in the early 1900’s, in the time of Millionaire’s Row.



The building for the Cleveland Cadillac Company was designed by well known Cleveland architects, Knox and Elliott. It had an art deco feel to it, complete with gargoyles and sleek geometric lines and shapes. According to the former Cadillac Museum manager, Greg Wallace, the Cadillac branch offices were fairly similar in their basic design. It is unknown if Knox & Elliott served as the architect for all of the branch locations.




As noted here, Downtown Chevrolet (or Luby Chevrolet) occupied the site after the Cleveland Cadillac Company from 1925 to 1965. In the 1970's, the Cleveland Recording Company moved into the building and even received an award from the Plain Dealer for their renovation of the space. In 1977 Cleveland State University purchased the property.

Unfortunately now, the building remains no longer.



In past issues of The Cleveland Stater, there were several different ideas of how to utilize the building, but at the same time it was noted that the building could eventually meet its demise. In 2000, CSU's newspaper reported that the Corlett building could be demolished at some point. This seems confusing because in the same article it was also noted that the structure was part of CSU's master plan of development.

In 2001 the structure was being looked at as a potential site for the partnership between CSU and WVIZ for the Advanced Digital Technology Center as well as the site for the bookstore.

In 2003 the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Unfortunately, this does not protect against demolition.

One year later in 2004, the future of Corlett was addressed in the Cleveland Stater again. The Cleveland Municipal School district had a lease on the building through the end of 2005, and cost estimates for renovations for use by CSU were estimated at around $10 million.

Nothing else appears to be noted by the campus newspaper about the building until the July 8, 2009 issue when the demolition announcement is made. The article indicates some of the architectural features were salvaged for use on the property in the future. For now, parking and a green space are slated for the site, followed by a farmer’s market, with eventual plans for a visual arts center.

In the first three pieces I’ve contributed to this blog, coincidentally two of them are about buildings designed by Knox & Elliott. One of them has been demolished and the other is on the brink of disintegration. Taking into account the Northeast Ohio buildings credited to Knox & Elliott on the Landmarks Commission website, right now only 43% of the structures are still standing. This leads me to pose the following question; how many buildings do we demolish before we allow an architect’s imprint on our region to disappear?

National Town and Country Club (Fenn Tower)

Fenn Tower, at 2401 Euclid Avenue, in Cleveland, Ohio, is an art deco building that shows up in just about every architectural history of the city of Cleveland. While the building felt familiar, I couldn't place it on a map. On a drive by the other day, I realized that this was due to the way the area has been built up but also partially due to the orientation of the building.



Seen here looking south, the tower presents a less distinguished face. From this angle, the tower looks like any other brick box. Fenn Tower faces East 24th Street, rather than Euclid Avenue, which affects its visibility.



This piece of Cleveland history was built in 1930 by the National Town and Country Club as a clubhouse. It was designed by New York architects George Post & Sons. The building, 22 stories high, featured a gym, pool, dining room, as well as 120 bedrooms for the club's members. It was purchased by Fenn College, a predecessor to Cleveland State University, in 1937. The housed all of the operations of the college until it was eventually converted to the present function, as a dormitory housing 438 students.



The first floor lobby featured impressive wood and stone work. Here the elevators and stairs to the second floor can be seen



The second floor lobby features similarly impressive detail. Note the quality of work in the railing.



The panel hall, on the third floor, features walls finished with dark wood, probably walnut, with intricate inlays.



The entire third floor is not dark, however, as seen in this lounge.



The swimming pool had a massive skylight to provide better illumination.



I'm including these last two photographs because they illustrate the two rooms that we tend to spend the most money on, yet at the same time, are the least often documented and most likely to be altered as tastes change - kitchens and bathrooms. The kitchen clearly has the means to produce the number of meals required of a club of this size.



This bathroom has some interesting details. Notice the lack of handles or faucets on the sinks. The handles are on the wall above the sinks. A supply line carrying the water into the sink exits through an integral faucet. I'm not sure why there appear to be four handles for each sink.

All images are provided courtesy of the Cleveland State University Archives Photograph Collection in the Cleveland State University Library, which includes a couple hundred more images of Fenn Tower. The collection is online as part of the Cleveland Memory Project.