Looming over Rockefeller Park

If you’re like me, it’s tough to stay inside the driving lanes while driving through Rockefeller Park since I am usually craning my neck trying to look at the homes in the historic district of East Blvd. in Cleveland, Ohio. There’s one in particular that continues to fascinate me, and that is 1269 East 99th Street.

The prominent feature of this Colonial Revival structure is the front entrance that is flanked by four towering Ionic columns. To me, it appears to be a structure that was built with much thought and effort put into it, and by someone would wanted to make an architectural statement.

It appears that none of the original windows have been bricked in, however there is an addition built off the back of the structure. There is a small entrance on both sides of the building. The side entrances were most likely very conducive for the apartments that the building ended up being sectioned off into, and I speculate that the addition on the rear was most likely added for this purpose as well. On the front of the house, there seems to be a section of wooden porch railings missing on the right side.

I found a postcard on the Cleveland Memory website of the intersection at East Blvd. and East 99^th. I believe that the first house showing on the right hand side is the same structure. In the postcard, the columns and wooden porch railings (both lower and upper levels) are painted white and there are awnings over each window. The house does not have the same “domineering” quality that it does now. The postcard is marked 1915, and so far I have traced the house back to at least 1895, which means the house would have been at least 20 years old at the time the postcard was printed.

The next time you are driving through Rockefeller Park, don’t just crane your neck, take a slight detour up the hill and along East Blvd. until it takes you back down into the park just north of St. Clair. You won’t be disappointed, and better yet, you won’t cause any traffic jams!