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CLEVELAND'S BREUER DESIGNED TOWER’S PENDING DEMO FEATURED IN GERMAN ARCHITECTURAL MAGAZINESubmitted by Jeff Buster on Mon, 08/20/2007 - 15:02.
 The following article has been forwarded to David Ellison (because of Ellison’s co sponsorship – with Sally Levine - of the Marcel Breuer re-design re-use exhibit at Ingenuity Fest which is linked here) by Berlin architectural journalist Ulf Meyer. The article will appear in NEUE ZURCHER ZEITUNG (according to Meyer one of Europe’s best papers). Google translator won’t work on the older windows system from which I am now posting. A quick translation from someone would be great!
Löcher im gebauten PatrimoniumIn den USA entbrennt eine neue Diskussion über den Umgang mit dem Erbe der ModerneAls mit der Machtergreifung der Nationalsozialisten in Deutschland 1933 die besten Architekten aus Mitteleuropa in alle Welt fliehen mussten, brachten diese Immigranten wider Willen die Ideen der Moderne in die neue Welt und verhielfen ihr so zu einem ungeahnten internationalen Durchbruch – die Nazi-Politik erreichte also das genaue Gegenteil ihrer reaktionären Ziele: Besonders Amerika, das damals wie heute architektonisch hinter Europa hinterher hinkte, erwies sich als fruchtbarer Boden für die modernen Architekten wie Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe und Richard Neutra. Auch Marcel Breuer, der berühmteste Bauhaus-Designer, dessen Möbel-Entwürfe bis heute den guten Geschmack bei Interieurs prägen, baute nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg in Amerika mehr als je zuvor. Eines seiner größten Werke, ein Bankhochhaus in Cleveland/Ohio, soll nun ohne Not abgerissen werden. Die erregte Diskussion darum zeigt, dass sich nun, siebzig Jahre später, die Frage nach dem Umgang mit dem Erbe der Moderne in neuem Licht stellt: An keinem Gebäude wird dies deutlicher als an Breuers „Cleveland Trust Tower“: Dieser 29-stöckige Turm in bester Downtown-Lage ist das einzige Hochhaus, das Breuer entworfen hat. An seiner Stelle soll ein neues niedrigeres und überaus mediokres Regierungsgebäude nach Entwurf der Architekten Kohn Pedersen Fox gebaut werden. Örtliche Architekten und Denkmalschützer sind entsetzt. Denn auch wenn der Turm nicht zu den Höhepunkten in Breuers Werk zählt, „wirft man keine Picasso-Skizzen weg nur weil sie nicht so gut sind wie die Guernica”, so Louis Pounders vom American Institute of Architects, der sich für den Erhalt des Breuer-Turms stark macht. Fertiggestellt wurde das Trust-Hochhaus 1971, genau ein Jahr also nachdem Breuers Plan für ein Hochhaus über dem Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan scheiterte und zum Wendepunkt des Denkmalschutzes in Amerika wurde. Beide Entwürfe sind frappierend ähnlich: Für die Fassaden der beiden Türme hatte Breuer bienenwabenförmige Fassaden vorgesehen. Breuers schwere, brutalistische Betonfassaden haben tiefe Fenster mit Nischen dazwischen, die innen Heizung und Klimaanlage aufnehmen. Beide sind strenger als Breuers skulpturaleres Spätwerk wie das Whitney Museum in New York etwa. Heute ist der Denkmalschutz, der Breuers Grand-Central-Projekt einst bekämpfte, auf Breuers Seite. Das “National Building Museum” in Washington DC wird im November eine grosse Ausstellung über den 1981 verstorbenen Breuer eröffnen. Auch die Kuratorin, Susan Piedmont-Palladino, kämpft für den Erhalt von Breuers Turm in Cleveland und gegen „die Schaffung irreparabler Löcher in unserem gebauten Patrimonium“. Ursprünglich hatte Breuer einen zweiten, spiegelgleichen Turm nebenan geplant. Er hätte ein neoklassizistische Gebäude an der Straßenecke, das George B. Post 1908 gebaut hat, auch auf der zweiten Seite umgeben. Dieser Kuppelbau soll auf jeden Fall erhalten blieben. Zum Bau der zweiten Hälfte von Breuers Hochhaus kam es jedoch nie, denn der Cleveland Trust wurde zum “Ameritrust” und fusionierte schliesslich in den 80er Jahren mit einer Grossbank. Der Turm steht seither leer. 2005 kaufte der Landkreis das Hochhaus und fünf Nachbargebäude und votierte für den Abriss. Die niedrigen Geschosshöhen im Breuer-Turm machen eine Umnutzung angeblich unmöglich. Der geplante Neubau soll nur ein Fünftel teurer sein als der Umbau. Asbestsaniert werden muss der Turm in jedem Fall, selbst vor einem möglichen Abriss. Hochschulen, Architektenverbände und Privatinitiativen legten Widerspruch ein und entwarfen Alternativen. Eine Studie beweist, dass das Haus umbaubar ist. Die drei Meter hohen Geschosse bieten sogar Raum für den vom Landkreis geforderten Doppelboden. Der bauhistorische Verlust eines einzelnen Gebäudes wäre akzeptabel, wenn er nicht nur die Spitze eines Eisberges wäre, des Umgangs mit dem vernachlässigten Bauhaus-Erbe n in den USA. Es scheint, als hätte die Moderne jetzt erstmals einen Punkt erreicht, wo für jedes gute neue Gebäude, das neu gebaut wird, mindestens ein „altes“ Gutes verloren geht: Aus den USA, wo die Moderne einst ihren weltweiten Durchbruch erlebt hatte, wurden allein im letzten Jahr (drohende) Abrisse auch von Bauten von Richard Neutra und Paul Rudolph gemeldet, den besten Architekten ihrer Zeit. Selbst Alvar Aalto und Louis Kahn sind nicht davor gefeit, dass man ihre Werke leichtfertig abreißt oder entstellt, wie Aaltos Poetry-Room in Harvard oder Kahns Badehaus in New Jersey zeigen. Es ist nicht der allgemeine Hass auf die Architektur des Brutalismus, sondern auch allgemeine Ignoranz der Nachkriegsmoderne gegenüber und der kommerzieller Druck einer Wegwerfgesellschaft, der die Moderne gefährdet. Der Cleveland-Trust-Tower ist nicht das einzige Gebäude in Amerika von Breuer, das vom Abriss bedroht ist: Auch die Gemeinde Grosse Pointe im US-Bundesstaat Michigan plant den Abriss ihrer Zentralbibliothek von Breuer aus dem Jahr 1953 - und den Neubau einer größeren Bücherei an selber Stelle. Zu ihrem Schutz hat sich eine Gruppe von Architekten gebildet, die sich „Modern Architecture Protection Agency (MAPA)“ nennt und wie in Cleveland einen Wettbewerb auslobte, der demonstrierte, dass sich auch dort die neuen Nutzungsanforderungen mit dem Erhalt des Breuer-Baus vereinbaren liessen. Das ähnlich geartete „Recent Past Preservation Network“ kämpft derweil gegen den Abriss eines Richard-Neutra-Gebäudes in Gettysburg/Pennsylvania durch den „National Park Service“. In dem „Cyclorama Center“ von 1962 befindet sich ein grosses Diorama über den amerikanischen Bürgerkrieg. Es ist eines der wenigen öffentlichen Gebäude von Neutra an der Ostküste und gilt zugleich als eines seiner besten. Erst 1998 wurde es „wegen seiner historischen und architektonischen Signifikanz” zum Denkmal erklärt, aber auch das schützt vor Abriss nicht. Noch schlimmer trifft es derzeit das Oevre von Paul Rudolph, einem Schüler von Gropius und Breuer, von dem gleich zwei seiner besten Werke abgerissen werden sollen: Das Micheels-Haus in Westport/Connecticut von 1972, eine Reihe raffiniert ineinanderverwobener Kuben, die an der Ostseite weit über einen Hang auskragt. Der Bauherr war damals Dr. Louis Micheels, Präsident der New England Psychoanalytic Society. Der heute 89 Jahre alte, in Holland geborene Auschwitz-Überlebende hatte mit seinem Buch „Doctor 117641: A Holocaust Memoir“ für Aufsehen gesorgt. Die Riverside High School in Sarasota (Florida) von Rudolph soll ebenfalls abgerissen werden, um Raum für einen Parkplatz zu geben. Das 1958 errichtete Gebäude ist eines der wichtigsten Bauten der „Sarasota School“, mit der die Architektur in Florida von 1941-1966 bezeichnet wird. Die leichte Konstruktion aus Stahl, Glas und Ziegeln wird von weiten Dachüberständen und Sonnenblenden charakterisiert, die allein durch natürliche Ventilation und Tageslicht angenehmes Gebäudeklima erzeugten und damit heute wieder hochaktuell erscheinen. Um Alternativen zum Abriss auch in Cleveland aufzuzeigen, hatte der örtliche Architekt David Ellison über 30 Architekten aus aller Welt dazu motiviert, alternative, teils polemische Entwürfe einzureichen. Giorgio Chiarello aus Venedig beispielsweise schlug vor, rote Boxen als Erweiterungen in die Fassade zu stecken, Jonathan Novak hingegen will anstelle der obersten Stockwerke Windturbinen aufstellen lassen und den Turm in umweltfreundliche Wohnungen verwandeln. Jede Umnutzung des intakten Gebäudes wäre umweltfreundlicher als ein Abriss und Neubau eines „grünen“ Gebäudes. Den Abriss-Gegnern bleiben nur noch wenige Tage, um mindestens 46.000 Unterschriften für den Erhalt des Breuer-Turmes zu sammeln, der exemplarisch einen blinden Punkt im Denkmalschutz repräsentiert: Er ist weder neu genug um geliebt zu werden, noch alt genug, um geschützt zu werden. Jede Generation stösst sich am meisten am jüngeren Erbe der Elterngeneration. Ulf Meyer (ca. 8.000 Zeichen)
Here is a link provided by Mr. Meyer to http://www.architecture-in-berlin.com/
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Sprechen sie Deutsch?
Jeff--Glad, you are okay. The author gets the Breuer conflict mixed up with the Medical Mart conflict towards the end here.
See the following bad, bad translation from babelfish. Sorry. This should be cleaned up by someone who actually speaks German.
You say that this article will appear in the Zurich newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung?--Cleveland Public Library's Main Library gets the hard copy mailed and it can also access the same day issue online through the database Press Display. Try it out. I just searched world papers for Cleveland and did not find the article in NZZ, yet although the Bangkok paper ran a story about how foreclosures are ravaging Cleveland. Sad.
Here goes--(my apologies):
In the USA a new discussion is inflamed over handling the inheritance of the modern trend When with the seizure of power of the national socialists in Germany 1933 the best architects from Central Europe had to flee into all world, these immigrants brought her in such a way against will the ideas of the modern trend into the new world and verhielfen to a undreamt-of international break-through - the Nazi politics achieved thus the exact opposite of its reactionary goals: Particularly America, which limped at that time like today architecturally behind Europe afterwards, proved as fruitful soil for the modern architects such as walter Gropius, Ludwig bad van the raw one and Richard Neutra. Also Marcel Breuer, the most famous building house designer, whose furniture drafts to today the good taste coin/shape with Interieurs, built after the Second World War in America more than ever before.
One of its largest works, a bank multistoried building in Cleveland/Ohio, is to be torn off now without emergency. The excited discussion therefore shows that now, seventy years later, the question about handling the inheritance of the modern trend in new light arises: At no building this clear than at Breuers "Cleveland becomes trust Tower": This 29-stoeckige tower in best Downtown situation is the only multistoried building, which sketched Breuer.
In its place a new lower and extremely mediocre government building is to be built after draft of the architects Kohn Pedersen Fox. Local architects and monument conservationist are frightened. Because even if the tower does not rank among the high points in Breuers work, "one does not throw Picasso sketches away only because it as is not good as the Guernica", so Louis Pounders of the American of institutes OF Architects, which makes itself strong for the receipt of the Breuer tower.
The Trust multistoried building was finished 1971, exactly one year thus after Breuers plan for a multistoried building over the Grand cent ral terminal in Manhattan failed and the turning point of the monument protection in America became. Both drafts are striking similarly: For the fronts of the two towers Breuer had planned (bienenwabenfoermige?) fronts. Breuers heavy, brutalistic concrete fronts have deep windows with niches between them, which take up inside heating and air conditioning system. Both are more strictly than Breuers sculpture late work like the Whitney museum in New York about.
Today the monument protection, which fought Breuers Grand Central project once, on Breuers is side. "national the Building museum" in Washington DC will open a large exhibition over the 1981 deceased Breuer in November. Also the Kuratorin, Susan Piedmont Palladino, fights for the receipt our Patrimonium "built by Breuers tower in Cleveland and against" the creation of irreparable holes in. Originally Breuer had planned a second, push-pull tower next door. It would have surrounded a neoklassizistische building at the street corner, which built George B. Post 1908, also on the second side. This domed structure is in any case remained preserved. To the building of the second half of Breuers multistoried building it however never came, because the Cleveland trust became the "Ameritrust" and fused finally in the 80's with a major bank. Since that time the tower stands empty. 2005 bought the district the multistoried building and five neighboring building and votierte for the outline. The low storey heights in the Breuer tower allegedly not possibly make a use for new purposes. The planned new building should be more expensive only one fifth than the change. To be asbestos-reorganized the tower in each case must, even before a possible outline. Universities, architect federations and private initiatives inserted contradiction and sketched alternatives. A study proves that the house is changable. The three meters of high projectiles offer even area for the double bottom demanded by the district. The build-historical loss of an individual building would be acceptable, if it were not only the point of an iceberg, handling the neglected building house inheritance n in the USA. It seems, as if the modern trend would have reached one point for the first time now, where for each good new building, which is again built, at least a "old" of property is lost:
From the USA, where the modern trend had experienced once its world-wide break-through, alone in the last year (threatening) outlines were announced to the best architect of their time also by buildings by Richard Neutra and Paul Rudolph. Even Alvar Aalto and Louis punt are not protected before the fact that one tears off or disfigures its works thoughtlessly, as Aaltos Poetry Room to Harvard or punt bath house point in new jersey. It is not the general hate on the architecture of the brutalism, but also general ignorance of the postwar modern trend opposite and that commercial pressure of a waste-oriented society, which the modern trend endangers. The Cleveland Trust Tower is not the only building in America von Breuer, who is threatened by the outline: Also the municipality large one punchline in the US Federal State Michigan plans the outline of its zentralbibliothek of Breuer from the year 1953 - and the new building of a larger library on place. To its protection a group of architect formed, who calls itself a "decaying Architecture Protection Agency (MAPA)" and out-praised as in Cleveland a competition, which demonstrated that the new use requirements with the receipt of the Breuer building could be agreed also there. The similarly constituted "Recent Past Preservation network" fights meanwhile against the outline of a Richard Neutra building in Gettysburg/Pennsylvania by "national the park service". In the "Cyclorama center" from 1962 is a large Diorama over the American civil war. It is one of the few public buildings of Neutra at the east coast and is considered at the same time as one to its best. Only 1998 were explained it "because of its historical and architectural significance" as the monument, in addition, does not protect against outline. Still more badly it meets at present the Oevre of Paul Rudolph, a pupil of Gropius and Breuer, by which directly two of its best works are to be torn off: The Micheels house in Westport/Connecticut of 1972, a row refines ineinanderverwobener Kuben, which auskragt at the eastern side a far over slope. The owner was at that time Dr. Louis Micheels, president that new England Psychoanalytic Society. That today 89 years old Auschwitz survivors born in Holland had Doctor 117641 with its book ": A Holocaust Memoir "provided for attention. The Riverside High School in Sarasota (Florida) of Rudolph is to be torn off likewise, in order to give area for a parking lot. The 1958 of established buildings are one of the most important buildings of the "Sarasota School", with which architecture in Florida is marked of 1941-1966. The light construction from steel, glass and bricks is characterized by far roof projections and sun visors, which produced alone by natural ventilation and daylight pleasant building climate and thus today appear again topical.
In order to point alternatives out to the outline also in Cleveland, the local architect David Ellison over 30 architects from all world had motivated in addition, alternative, partly polarize-mixes drafts to submit. Giorgio Chiarello from Venice for example suggested putting, red boxes as extensions into the front, to let Jonathan Novak however wants in place of the highest floors windturbinen set up and to transform the tower into pollution free dwellings. Each use for new purposes of the intact building would be more pollution free than an outline and a new building "becomes green" building.
The outline opponents remain only few days, in order to collect at least 46,000 signatures for the receipt of the Breuer tower, exemplary a blind point in the monument protection represented: It is neither again enough over to be loved, still old enough, in order to be protected. Each generation pushes at most at the recent inheritance of the parents generation.
(I am sending this to a friend from Germany, who will hopefully make sense of my translation)
Swiss News on Breuer translated
This translation comes via Carolinn Kuebler of Studio Architecture:
Holes in the Built Patrimony
A new discussion has broken out over the handling of the inheritance of modern architecture in the USA.
With the seizure of power of the National Socialists in Germany in 1933, the best architects from Central Europe fled across the world. Against the will of others, these immigrants brought the ideas of modern architecture into the new world and, in this way, helped to bring about an undreamt-of international breakthrough – thereby achieving the exact opposite of the intended reactionary goals of Nazi politics: especially America, which limped along at that time, like today, architecturally behind Europe, proved itself as fruitful ground for modern architects such as Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Richard Neutra. Also Marcel Breuer, the most famous Bauhaus designer, whose furniture creations still influence the good taste of interior design today, built more than ever before in America following the Second World War. One of his largest works, a multi-storied bank building in Cleveland, OH is now to be torn down without necessity. Now, after seventy years, this heated discussion brings the question of the handling of the inheritance of modern architecture into a new light. This is no more apparent than with Breuer's "Cleveland Trust Tower". This 29-story tower on prime downtown real estate is the only multistoried building that Breuer designed. A new, lower and extremely mediocre government building, designed by architects Kohn Pedersen Fox, is to be built in its place. Local architects and monument conservationist are appalled. Because, even if the tower does not rank among the high points of Breuer's work, "one does not throw Picasso sketches away only because they are not as good as the Guernica", according to Louis Pounders of the American Institute of Architects, which/who includes itself/himself among those who strongly back the retention of the Breuer tower.
The multistoried Trust building was completed in 1971, exactly one year after Breuer's plan for a multistoried building over the Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan failed and became the turning point of the monument protection movement in America. Both drafts are strikingly similarly: For the fronts of the two towers, Breuer planned beehive-shaped facades. Breuer's heavy, brutalistic concrete fronts have deep windows with niches between them in which indoor heating and air conditioning system are situated. Both designs are more sever than Breuer's sculptural late works like the Whitney Museum in New York.
Today, the monument preservation movement, which once fought Breuer's Grand Central project, is on Breuer's side. In November, the National Building Museum in Washington, DC will open a large exhibition about Breuer who died in 1981. The curator, Susan Piedmont Palladino, is also fighting for the retention of the Breuer tower and against "the creation of irreparable holes in our built patrimony".
Originally Breuer had planned a second, mirror-imaged tower next door to the existing one. It would have surrounded a neoclassic building at the street corner - the George B. Post office building built in 1908 – on its second side. This domed structure (the Post building) is to be retained in any case. The planned second half of Breuer's multistoried building was never built because the Cleveland Trust became Ameritrust and, in the 1980s, finally fused with another major bank. Since then, the tower stands empty. In 2005 the district/city purchased the Breuer Tower and five neighboring buildings and voted for demolition. The low ceiling heights of the Breuer tower allegedly makes renovation for other uses impossible. The planned new building is only supposed to cost a fifth more than the renovation of the Breuer Tower. In any case, asbestos removal will be required even if the Tower is demolished. Universities, architectural groups and private initiatives have voiced objection to demolishing the tower and have drafted alternatives. One study proves that the tower can be renovated. The three meters high stories will even provide space for the double ceilings demanded by the district.
The loss of even a single historical building would be acceptable, if it were not just the tip of the iceberg, when it comes to the handling of the neglected Bauhaus inheritance in the USA. It seems as if modern architecture has finally reached the point when for every good, new building that’s built, at least one “old” one is lost. Just in the last year in the USA, where modern architecture once experienced its worldwide breakthrough, there have been reports of the possible demolition of works by Richard Neutra and Paul Rudolph – the best architects of their day.
Even Alvar Aalto and Louis Kahn are not immune to the easy destruction or disfigurement of their works as is shown with Aalto’s Poetry Room at Harvard or Kahn’s bathhouse in New Jersey.
It is not the general hatred of the architecture of brutalism, but also the general ignorance of post-war modern architecture and the commercial pressure of a throw-away society that endangers modern architecture/modernity.
The Cleveland Trust Tower is not Breuer’s only building in America that is being threatened with demolition. Also the municipality of Grosse Point, MI is planning the demolition of it main library, designed by Breuer in 1952, and intends to build a new, large library in its place.
A group of architects, known as the “Modern Architecture Protection Agency (MAPA), has gathered to protect these buildings and, in Cleveland, rewarded a competition that demonstrated that even in Cleveland the new usage specifications could be agreed upon with the retention of the Breuer Tower.
Meanwhile, the similarly natured “Recent Past Preservation Network” is fighting against the demolition of Richard Neutra’s building in Gettysburg, PA by the National Park Service. There is a large Diorama in the “Cyclorama Center”, built in 1962, covering the American Civil War. The “Cyclorama Center” is one of the few public buildings of Neutra’s on the east coast and, at the same time, is deemed one of his best works. Only in 1988 was it declared a monument (landmark) “because of its historical and architectural significance”, but even this is not protection from demolition. Even worse, the body of works (oeuvre) of Paul Rudolph’s, a student of Gropius and Breuer, is being affected and two of his best work are supposed to be demolished. The Micheels house in Westport, CT from 1972, a row of sophisticated interwoven cubes that hangs far over the slope on the east side. The builder at the time was Dr. Louis Micheels, President of the New England Psychoanalytical Society. Micheels, who is now 89 years old, was born in Holland and survived Auschwitz, won attention with his book, “Doctor 117641: A Holocoust Memoir”. Rudolph’s Riverside High School in Sarasota, FL also faces possible demolition in order to make space for a parking lot. This building from 1958 is one of the most important buildings of the “Sarasota School”, with which the architecture in Florida from 1942 to 1966 is identified. The light construction of steel, glass and tiles is characterized by wide roof projections and sun visors and which alone, through natural ventilation and day light creates a pleasant building climate and which appears to remain highly topical today.
In order to identify alternatives to demolition (also in Cleveland), the local architect David Ellison has motivated 10 architects from around the world to submit alternative, partly controversial (polemic) drafts. Giorgio Chiarello from Venice, for example, suggested sticking red boxes as extensions into the facade; Jonathon Novak, on the other hand, wants to place wind turbines on the roof and to transform the Trust Tower into ecologically friendly apartment units. Every new use of the intact building would be more ecologically friendly than the demolition of the old and the building of a new “green” building.
There are only a few days remaining for the opponents of the demolition to gather 46,000 signatures necessary to retain the Breuer Tower which exemplarily represents a blind spot in the preservation movement. It is neither new enough to be loved nor old enough to be protected. Each generation resents the young/more recent inheritances of their parent’s generation the most.
Note -- The idea that we must have 46,000 signatures to retain the tower relates to the fact that despite suggestions that the tax increase is being implemented to build a convention center to leverage a medical mart, the approximately $880 million that would be raised is not slated for building a $350 million or even $500 million convention center -- but goes to the general fund which would allow the county the money it would need ASAP to begin demolition of the tower and building of the KPF/Madison county govermnent mall in the financial district. The question has been raised repeatedly, but not answered by the BOCC -- where would you get the cash to vacate all the offices you currently occupy, raze the tower and other buildings and build a new office building. I guess we know -- from the tax hike. (www.putitontheballot.com)
Another note: Some have suggested that when federal money was made available for the RTA's Euclid Corridor project, a certain number of jobs coming to the avenue was tied to that money. We have wondered aloud repeatedly what is the economic development in moving existing jobs from one block of the city to another. If the county moves their jobs to the corner of 9th and Euclid, this may be the easy (though expensive) way for them to achieve this caveat of the funding promise. Since the construction of the Euclid Corridor has not been a streamlined effort with crews working round the clock or even in many locations simultaneously, the avenue is bleeding businesses and jobs. Moving county government to the corner of 9th and Euclid (BOCC choosing this site despite many more reasonable options such as the already buildingless corner of Public Square) is a quick finger in the dike of losing that funding.
Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to decieve!
site you might want to check out
You might want to check this site out as it posts translations of arts and culture news from Europe and often translates articles from this journal
http://www.signandsight.com/intodaysfeuilletons/1490.html.
If you email them - they might feature the article for you.
Good lead
Thank you to my fellow librarian and world ART aficionado!
Thanks -- I emailed them
I emailed the sign and sight editor, but haven't heard from them yet. Thanks for the suggestion. Good to see you posting here in this bastion of free speech.
When will NZZ story be published?
I hope it comes out on a Sonntag/Sunday. It will be accessible online longer and Press Display features a translator function. Check with the Cleveland Public Library Periodical Center 216-623-2904. They can keep an eye out for the arrival of the publication in hard copy.
Those alternatives were not
Those alternatives were not realistic, many looked like sarcastic caricatures. What the county is doing is good until you get to the part about removing a 29-story building. They did not need to do that; they actually should go to 55th street and be midpoint in the corridor. They should not spend the money to take down the tower.
Consolidating itself into one building is actually standard action to make itself more efficient, it is looked at as positive by those that do the rating of county bonds. However, huge spending in order to get there is obviously not efficient.
Dispersing, spreading out activity through the corridor is wise it elevates traffic and congestion, we should think of the entire area from the city center to university circle as all metropolitan.
The county should can the plan to demolish the building; they should take the open space on 55th and develop it. They can make a campus of buildings and have green space. The entire corridor is traversable with the sliver line. They need to set them selves mid point, the cost saving could be used to leverage other development in the area.
The tower could eventually be developed; it could be eligible for an urban development grant. It could be mixed use housing, office and retail, if the convention center gets built and the med mart, then activity downtown will pick up and the county does not have to be there. It does not have to be in the CBD, it can be in the center of the corridor and for hell of a lost less.
great idea Oengus!
I agree that an admin building at 55th and Euclid would be great. It would be even more transit accessible for the many people who need to visit and a chance for the County to develop a green building campus style with greenspace and parkland.
An interesting point about elevator dependent offices is that folks stand at the elevators instead of walking across a street or down a hall to visit another office. (Just visit the elevator area of Cleveland City hall and wait for the elevators there and you'll see the point.)
This is why, I would pay a pretty penny to have an apartment in the existing Breuer Tower. If the Clean Ohio Funds could be spent to clean the asbestos away, the Tower could become a piece of prime realestste for offices or residential development.
Just because Jacob's didn't do this, doesn't mean it can't won't be done. Case in point; the Coast Guard Station which he also had an opportunity to develop and improve while he owned it. Instead of making improvements, he let the building deteriorate and then gifted the city with an almost blighted landmark. I don't know how this guy sleeps at night.
PS I want to congratulate you on this very clear, concise argument. It should be strongly considered by the BOCC. I guess we'll see if it is.
The corridor, making sense yet?
It makes sense to leverage this money. The corridor developed; the county could create a new district midpoint on the corridor, not a mall a campus of buildings. As it migrates in can be done in sections, it should consider having its Information Technology in a separate building of the campus.
The entire corridor developed as mixed use, residential, commercial. Euclid has a nice attribute; it is all new - the entire street. The object is a well maintained corridor, and it exists. The appearance of that street from end to end is that of very consistent and polished.
The county could easily acquire all the open space and the abandoned buildings at 55th Street. The impact would be greater there than the impact it would have on the corner of 9th street.
The cost of dismantling the AT tower is wasting money; the building is not an eyesore, it is actually artistic. If you want to see, ugly go to 55th Street and look at the buildings that are all falling apart. Architects will tell you that these big old buildings convert to office space relatively cheaply - especially the old warehouses. There is much space at the midpoint of the corridor. Spread the money out; spread the complex out into a larger space with room to grow.
Today private investors are looking to develop the “super block” a large section of Euclid addressed because of the counties purchase of the AT complex, adjacent building addressed. That is good, but stop, the county does not have to occupy that space. In fact, the initial investment of 20M can be recovered. The cost of dismantling the tower is 60M that could be taken to 55th street and they have open sites open space, they could build there, the additional funds that would be spent to build a new building still available.
The Tower is not threatening anything, it can be re-visited, in time after other more visible changes take place, that being the “Super Block” has residential in volume.
A ride on the silver line should present no visual blight, this is attainable, if the county strikes at 55th, and it is the point that could change the entire corridor. It could create a center district and grow a mid point hub.
We need to look beyond ourselves, if regional government comes even after all of us are gone, that area has room to grow. The county should have a campus and its buildings separated into functional units with adjacent space to grow.
I hope someone is listening. The County should be in the center of the metropolitan area, and though it is not plain to see today, the center is East 55th. Five minutes to downtown, the Lake, University Circle.
Was the corridor worth it? Not if we do not develop in synergy with it.
A campus or a mall, how about some big trees on the county campus.
I am not blind all of this development will eventually create more interest in the city, if they keep adding residential, the May Company and the Higbee’s could be a Kohl’s and a Target, the whole corridor becomes a big neighborhood. I suggest RTA not plaster advertising on the silver lines, they should look clean and be clean. Shopping, restaurants, theater, a convention center, museums. Living on the corridor, working on the corridor, the Cleveland Play House should be Play House Center and exist from 89th to 79th with a campus that includes restaurants and an outdoor theater, and housing as well a landscaped campus.
The Clinic is building a 5000-car garage, after 5pm it will not be fully occupied; it could have valet service for the Play House Center. Pull up and the car is parked next door, the Clinic has around 14,000 employees; they operate three shifts. Most work a day shift as the evening comes that garage will not be full. It could have available spaces of 500 or more. The area has some great old buildings that could all be incorporated into the campus, things displaced are relocated into adjacent neighborhoods. Namely fast food, the area needs more than fast food, those can be anywhere. They could exist in the corridor but they should have very strict design requirements
It’s a solid corridor; it can accommodate much all linked with state of the art transportation. A lot of people work on that line and many could also live on that line.
Make some lemonade already!
Headache
I am sorry Oengus--is this some reference to your wandering, Irish logic?--I can't make heads or tails of this post.
800 million to leverage,
800 million to leverage,
The super block is defined in an article in the PD, related to developing 1010, 1030 Euclid and now also the cleveland athletic club.
the corridor is self defining, a 280 million dollar federal investment.
it call for not demolishing the Bruerer and taking the project to 55th street and buildign a district, using the funds that would be used to dismantle the tower.
It also call for developing 79th street to 89th street as a complex that extends Play House as a theater/residential district. The Clinic super garage is on 89th, it could be used by the Playhouse, that being they no longer need a parking lot.
It calls for leveraging the 800 million the county has access to to saturate the corridor with development.
all of it is feasible and all of it could happen, some is already.
May company and Higbees are abandoned department stores, Kohls and Target are department stores, if enough housing exists they would consider using those spaces.
The county could hold the tower and develop it as mixed use at a later date, they could build a complex midpoint on the corridor.
ONE BIG GIANT DOWNTOWN? INSTEAD OF TWO?
MAKING LEMONADE IS WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU THINK YOU HAVE A LEMON, IT AN EXPRESSION AN OPTIMISTS CONCLUSION, TO A BAD SITUATION.
HOW MUCH HAVE WE BEEN TOLD
HOW MUCH HAVE WE BEEN TOLD THE COUNTY CAN LEVERAGE?
800 MIILION? THEY GOT THE TAX, BUT THEY HAVE NOT SPENT IT YET.
GREEN WINDOWS IN BREUER
Funny but we in Cuyahoga County are demolishing the avant garde. We are so ignorant.
Susan Miller talked with David Ellison who had spoken with Carl Stein (who worked for Breuer) and Susan pointed out to me that the windows in the Marcel Breuer Tower are recessed to avoid direct sunlight and the heat load that sun puts on the building. So, in 1971, BEFORE our first energy “crisis”, Breuer had the where-with-all to create coffered precast window modules to save on air conditioning and allow quality “north light” into the building.
We think the building is dark and ugly. We are tearing down the future...
Tim Hagan, Jim Dimora, and Peter Lawson Jones - what will your legacy be?