55 Public Square

Last updated
55 Public Square
55 Public Square from West 3rd Street.jpg
55 Public Square
55 Public Square
General information
StatusCompleted
Typeoffice
Location Cleveland, Ohio
Coordinates 41°30′01″N81°41′46″W / 41.500263°N 81.696039°W / 41.500263; -81.696039
Estimated completion1958
OwnerOptima International LLC.
Height
Top floor300 feet (91 m)
Technical details
Floor count22
Floor area430,000 square feet (40,000 m2)
Design and construction
Architect(s) Carson & Lundin
Main contractor George A. Fuller Company

55 Public Square (formerly known as the Illuminating Building, after the Illuminating Company, the building's primary tenant) is a 22-story skyscraper located at number 55 Public Square, the town square of downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Designed by Carson & Lundin, it is 300 feet (91 m) tall, was completed in 1958, [1] and was the first new skyscraper built in Cleveland since the Terminal Tower complex was completed in 1930. It was also the first tall International Style building in the city and the first to use a reinforced concrete frame. [2]

Contents

Design and history

Like other modernist office towers of its time (including the Seagram Building, built in the same year), it is set back from the street by a small pedestrian plaza, which is interrupted only by a single-story restaurant at one end. The tower was initially intended to employ a steel frame, but reinforced concrete was used for the upper 12 floors because of a steel shortage. [2] A seven-story parking garage adjoins it on the north side. The building was built at a cost of $17 million, and was first owned by Vincent Astor and the Brooks-Harvey Co. of New York City. [3] Willett Properties LLC. of Rye, New York purchased the building in late 2003, and owned it until July 2008 when it was sold to Optima International LLC for $34 million, [4] [5] a Miami-based real estate investment firm led by Chaim Schochet and 2/3rd owned by the Privat Group, one of Ukraine's largest business and banking groups. [6] [7] It is classified as class B office space. [8]

55 Public Square is reminiscent of New York City's Lever House which was designed by Gordon Bunshaft.[ citation needed ] The Lever House and 55 Public Square are almost identical looking with its curtain wall. A main difference is that Lever House has 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2) while 55 Public Square has 430,000 square feet (40,000 m2).

The structure was built on the site of Charles F. Brush's first arc lamp, which in 1879 was the world's first electric street light, and a replica of the lamp hangs outside the restaurant. Also previously on the site were the third and fourth Cuyahoga County courthouses. The third was built in 1860, and was replaced by the fourth in 1875, which in turn was replaced by the current Cuyahoga County Courthouse on Lakeside Avenue in 1912. Courthouse number four was demolished in 1931 for a parking lot. [3]

In 2005, there was small fire on the building's 18th floor which according to the Cleveland Fire Department was caused by a piece of overheated office equipment. The Cleveland Fire Department had contained the fire to the 18th floor, the only thing lost was a piece of glass window and a few smoke covered panels. The office was renovated and cleaned up.

In 2013, First National Bank of Pennsylvania acquired Cleveland's Parkview Federal and moved Parkview Federal from its Solon Headquarters to the Illuminating building. The bank put new signage and modernized the 55 on the building.

The building was sold in 2018 to The K&D Group, a properties company with significant holdings in Cleveland. At the time of sale the building was partially vacant, with the First National Bank and Law Offices of Cleveland as the largest tenants. [5] K&D turned much of the space into apartments, moving offices to the top floors. [9]

From 1959 to 2013, John Q's Steakhouse was located just outside the base of the building, with outdoor seating on the plaza in front of the building during summer months. Originally owned by Stouffer's, John Q's was sold in the 1980s but retained its name. The restaurant was highly popular with residents and celebrities for a number of years and was slated to be replaced by another steakhouse.[ citation needed ] A restaurant called Fahrenheit is expected to occupy the space starting in July 2023. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Key Tower</span> Skyscraper in Cleveland, Ohio

Key Tower is a skyscraper on Public Square in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Designed by architect César Pelli, it is the tallest building in the state of Ohio, the 39th-tallest in the United States, and the 165th-tallest in the world. The building reaches 57 stories or 947 feet (289 m) to the top of its spire, and it is visible from up to 20 miles (32 km) away. The tower contains about 1.5 million square feet (139,355 m²) of office space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terminal Tower</span> Skyscraper in Cleveland, Ohio

Terminal Tower is a 52-story, 215.8 m (708 ft), landmark skyscraper located on Public Square in the downtown core of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Built during the skyscraper boom of the 1920s and 1930s, it was the second-tallest building in the world when it was completed. Terminal Tower stood as the tallest building in North America outside of New York City from its completion in 1927 until 1964. It was the tallest building in the state of Ohio until the completion of Key Tower in 1991, and remains the second-tallest building in the state. The building is part of the Tower City Center mixed-use development, and its major tenants include Forest City Enterprises, which maintained its corporate headquarters there until 2018, and Riverside Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">200 Public Square</span> Skyscraper in Cleveland, Ohio

200 Public Square is a skyscraper in Cleveland, Ohio. The building, located on Public Square in Downtown Cleveland, reaches 45 stories and 658 feet (201 m) with 1.2 million square feet (110,000 m2) of office space. It is the third-tallest building in Cleveland and fourth-tallest in the state of Ohio. The building opened in 1985 as the headquarters for Standard Oil of Ohio or Sohio, and was known as the Sohio Building or Standard Oil building. After British Petroleum (BP) rebranded Sohio as BP in the early 1990s, the building was often called the BP America Building, BP America Tower, BP Tower, or BP Building, and those earlier names are still regularly used even after BP moved its North American headquarters to Chicago in 1998. It was officially renamed 200 Public Square in 2005 and since 2010, has been Cleveland's regional headquarters for Huntington Bancshares.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">One Cleveland Center</span> Skyscraper in Cleveland, Ohio

One Cleveland Center is the Sixth tallest skyscraper in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The building has 31 stories, rises to a height of 450.01 feet (137.16 m), and is located at 1375 East 9th Street. It has about 530,014 square feet (49,239.9 m2) of office space. It was purchased on May 15, 2008, for $86.3 million by Optima International LLC, a Miami-based real estate investment firm led by Chaim Schochet and 2/3rd owned by the Privat Group, one of Ukraine's largest business and banking groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justice Center Complex</span> Building complex in Cleveland, Ohio

The Justice Center Complex is a building complex located in the Civic Center District in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. The complex consists of the Cleveland Police Headquarters Building, the Cuyahoga County and Cleveland Municipal Courts Tower, and the Correction Center, and Jail II. It occupies a city block bounded by Lakeside Avenue, Ontario Street, West 3rd Street, and St. Clair Avenue. The Lakeside Avenue entrance faces the Cuyahoga County Court House, erected in 1912.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The 9 Cleveland</span> Building complex in Cleveland, Ohio

The 9 Cleveland is a residential and commercial complex located in Downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, at the corner of East Ninth Street and Euclid Avenue. It includes three buildings, the largest of which is a 29-story, 383 feet (117 m) tower commonly known by its previous name of Ameritrust Tower and formerly known as the Cleveland Trust Tower. The tower was completed in 1971 and is an example of brutalist architecture, the only high-rise building designed by Marcel Breuer and Hamilton Smith. The complex also includes the adjacent Cleveland Trust Company Building, completed in 1908, and the Swetland Building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public Square, Cleveland</span> Historic central plaza in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.

Public Square is the central plaza of Downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Based on an 18th-century New England model, it was part of the original 1796 town plat overseen by city founder General Moses Cleaveland of the Connecticut Land Company. The historical center of the city's downtown, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beachwood Place</span> Shopping mall in Ohio, United States

Beachwood Place is a shopping mall located in Beachwood, Ohio, an affluent Greater Cleveland suburb roughly 10 miles (16 km) from downtown Cleveland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The 925 Building</span> High-rise office building in the Nine-Twelve District of downtown Cleveland, Ohio

The Centennial, formerly The 925 Building, and Huntington Building, originally the Union Trust Building, is a high-rise office building on Euclid Avenue in the Nine-Twelve District of downtown Cleveland, Ohio, USA. When the building was completed in 1924, it was the second largest building in the world in terms of floor space, with more than 30 acres of floor space. It also included the world's largest bank lobby, which today remains among the largest in the world. The lobby features enormous marble Corinthian columns, barrel vaulted ceilings, and colorful murals by Jules Guerin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reserve Square</span> Two-building skyscraper mixed use apartment complex in downtown Cleveland, Ohio

Reserve Square is a two-building skyscraper mixed use apartment complex in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Both buildings have 23 floors and are 266 feet high. Reserve Square is directly west of the senior residential Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority's Bohn Tower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AECOM Building</span> Commercial high-rise building in Cleveland, Ohio

The AECOM Building, formerly known as the Penton Media Building, and the Bond Court Building, is a commercial high-rise building in Cleveland, Ohio. The building rises 253 feet in Downtown Cleveland. It contains 21 floors, and was completed in 1972. The AECOM Building currently stands as the 29th-tallest building in the city, tied in rank with the Ohio Savings Plaza and Ameritech Center. The architectural firm who designed the building was Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, who also designed Chicago's Willis Tower and Dubai's Burj Khalifa. The building is a part of the Bond Court complex. The Bond Court area used to contain nightclubs and bars but was cleared in the 1960s to 1970s for the office block and the Westin Hotel Cleveland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">75 Public Square</span> Offices in Cleveland, United States

75 Public Square is a high-rise office building on Public Square in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. It was designed by the Cleveland architectural firm of Hubbell & Benes and was completed in 1915. It served as the headquarters for the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company until the construction of the adjacent 55 Public Square in 1958. The building also abuts Cleveland's historic Old Stone Church. In 2014, the Millennia Companies, planning to convert the building into apartments, purchased the building for $4 million.

Chaim Schochet is an American real estate executive, developer, and manager at Optima Ventures, once the largest holder of real estate in Downtown Cleveland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garfield Building (Cleveland)</span> Commercial/Residential Conversion in Ohio, U.S.

The Garfield Building is a high-rise building on the corner of Euclid Avenue and E. 6th Street in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. It was the first steel frame skyscraper constructed in the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chase Financial Plaza</span> Mixed Use in Ohio, United States

The Chase Financial Plaza is a 1991-built 14 story 165 foot high rise office building on the Tower City Center property of downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The postmodern building was erected in 1991 when Forest City Enterprises sought to improve the leasing power of the eventual opening of Tower City Center in 1991 which was commenced by Forest City acquiring the ionic Cleveland Union Terminal Group in 1982. The tower's squat appearance is deceiving in the fact that it contains 200,000 square feet of office space. The building closely mirrors its counterpart tower on the other side of the Tower City mall property at West 3rd. Both these structures were built on top of one solid concrete platform that remained from a skyscraper unbuilt in the 1930s It offers views of the Cleveland skyline and the Cuyahoga River. It was one of the first successful mixed-use buildings in the city of Cleveland. This allows it to cater to many different types of tenants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleveland Trust Company Building</span> Building in Ohio, U.S.

The Cleveland Trust Company Building is a 1907 building designed by George B. Post and located at the intersection of East 9th Street and Euclid Avenue in downtown Cleveland's Nine-Twelve District. The building is a mix of Beaux-Arts, Neoclassical, and Renaissance Revival architectural styles. It features a glass-enclosed rotunda, a tympanum sculpture, and interior murals.

The K & D Group, of Willoughby, Ohio, is an American major real-estate holder of numerous prominent office and residential properties in Northeast Ohio. K&D Properties was originally established as a partnership by Douglas E. Price, III and Karen M. Paganini in 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Halle Building</span> United States historic place

The Halle Building, formerly known as the Pope Building and after 2014 as The Residences at Halle, is an 11-story Chicago School mixed-use structure located in the Downtown Cleveland central business district in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. Designed by architect Henry Bacon, the building was the flagship department store of the Halle Brothers Co. from 1910 to 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Lumen</span> Skyscraper in Cleveland, Ohio

The Lumen is a high-rise apartment building in the Playhouse Square district of downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Completed in 2020, the 34-story, 396-foot (121 m) tower sits at the southwest corner of Euclid Avenue and East 17th Street, adjacent to the Hanna Building and across Euclid from the Keith Building. It is the second new apartment building built in downtown Cleveland since the 1970s, following the construction of The Beacon in 2019.

References

  1. ↑ Emporis.com: 55 Public Square [usurped] . Accessed October 9, 2006.
  2. 1 2 Johannesen, Eric. Cleveland Architecture 1876-1976, Western Reserve Historical Society, 1979. ISBN   0-911704-21-3
  3. 1 2 Herrick, Clay Jr. Cleveland Landmarks, Landmarks Publishing Company, 1986. ISBN   0-9646459-0-4
  4. ↑ Jarboe, Michelle (2008-07-10). "55 Public Square sells to buyer bullish on Cleveland". The Plain Dealer . Retrieved 2008-07-13.
  5. 1 2 Jarboe, Michelle (May 30, 2018). "K&D strikes deal to buy 55 Public Square office tower, with mixed-use renovation plans". Cleveland Plain Dealer. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  6. ↑ Cleveland Plain Dealer: "The most important guy you've never heard of: Chaim Schochet, 25, builds downtown Cleveland empire" By Michelle Jarboe McFee February 04, 2012
  7. ↑ Cleveland Plain Dealer: "55 Public Square sells to buyer bullish on Cleveland" By Michelle Jarboe McFee July 10, 2008
  8. ↑ 55 Public Square, Cleveland, Ohio Archived 2006-05-06 at the Wayback Machine , Willet Companies LLC. Accessed October 12, 2006.
  9. 1 2 LePard, Clay (June 22, 2023). "More than $80 million worth of renovations wrapping up at 55 Public Square". WEWS-TV . Retrieved June 23, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.