‘The New Center,’ twice over: The past, present, and future of the Rose Building
Benjamin Rose was a savvy businessman from a young age, who focused on building his Cleveland meatpacking empire and investing in the city’s real estate—while also quietly pursuing his interest in caring for the senior members of society.
The results of Rose’s efforts included Cleveland Provision Co., The Benjamin Rose Institute, and the Rose Building on 2060 E. 9th Street in the Gateway District.
The intersection at Erie, Huron, and Prospect, Looking west, one year before the Rose Building construction began.Born in March 1828 in Warwickshire, England, Rose moved with his family to Cincinnati when he was 10 years old and by age 12 got his first job in a local slaughterhouse. That job only lasted for about a year, but it was the cornerstone for Rose’s successful career in the meatpacking industry, and ultimately as a philanthropist who left his fortune for the formation of Cleveland’s Benjamin Rose Institute, which cares for the area’s aging population.
Rose moved to Cleveland around 1840 and started a provision company with his brother. In 1854, he launched Rose & Prentiss with his partner, Chauncey Prentiss. By 1876, the partners were running what had become the Cleveland Provision Co.—the leading meatpacker in Cleveland, in part because of Rose’s use of refrigeration in his packinghouse and use of rail and ocean shipping.
Cleveland Provision Co. continued to grow and evolve over the years. In its time, the company moved to the Flats, then the Stockyards, before it was bought by Lake Erie Provision in 1937, then purchased by Ohio Provision in 1954 on Walton Avenue, where it retained its title as Cleveland’s largest meatpacker until ultimately closing in 1962.
As Rose amassed his fortune through the growth of Cleveland Provision Co. at the turn of the 20th Century, he decided to make a real estate investment: build Ohio’s largest office building.
In 1898 Rose commissioned architect George Horatio Smith to design the building. Smith, who came to Cleveland from Pennsylvania in 1879, was known for designing several mansions along Euclid Avenue’s Millionaires’ Row—including John D. Rockefeller’s stables in 1881, arc light inventor Charles F. Brush’s home in 1883, and Standard Oil cofounder Samuel Andrews’ 1885 Euclid Avenue mansion.
Smith is also known for his design of The Arcade and the Colonial Arcade, among other Cleveland buildings.
The Rose Building nears completion in 1900. The ceiling heights are 16 feet on the first five floors, then go do to 11 feet heights on floors six through 10. Architect George Horatio Smith also co-designed the Arcade.The ‘New Center’
At the time, Euclid Avenue was the hotspot for new construction, but Rose and Smith chose to build on the eastern edge of downtown Cleveland, on Erie Street (today’s East 9th Street). Rose dubbed the location “The New Center” in an effort to entice additional businesses to come to the street. It was a term Rose also applied to the six-point intersection where the building sat. Rose and other neighborhoods eventually formed the "New Center Association" to promote additional commercial development.
The project broke ground later in 1898, and initial construction took about two years. The first two floors of the Rose Building are clad with decorative ironwork reminiscent of the Rockefeller Building, while the upper floors are clad in white terra cotta.
A detailed arched entry was later replaced with a simplified one. The plaques on the left and right of the entry advertise the Builders Exchange, which was located on the third floor before it moved to its own building in the 1930s.
The 10-story Rose Building was constructed to house an eclectic mix of businesses and offices. According to Rose’s specifications, reportedly, the first five stories of the Rose Building had 16-foot ceilings, while the upper five stories had 17-foot ceilings.
The Rose Building was engineered to support up to eight additional floors, but the demand never surfaced.
The Rose Building opened in 1902 with Lederer Furniture, Scott Dry Goods, and offices for the White Sewing Machine, and Cleveland Gas & Electrical Fixture companies on the lower levels. The upper floors housed doctors’ and dentists’ offices, an artist’s studio, a correspondence school, and the offices of multiple oil companies.
By 1908, Rose began making plans for a second “New Center” and bought St. John’s African Methodist Episcopal Church to construct a 12-story office building, as the congregation prepared to move to its East 40th Street home. However, Rose died while on a trip to England and the plans for the second building never came to fruition. Rose was buried in Lake View Cemetery.
The next chapter
Upon his death, Rose left $3 million to establish the Benjamin Rose Institute, which offers assistance to seniors and children in need.
An ad for Lederer Furniture, which moved to the Rose Building from Woodland Avenue and occupied the first five floors with the According to legend, Rose was inspired to will his fortune to those senior community members who needed financial assistance after running into a once-wealthy former acquaintance who needed financial help in his old age. It inspired Rose to use his money to provide another option for those needing support in later life. The Benjamin Rose institute has been responding to the evolving needs of older people and caregivers, ever since, developing and providing innovative programs and services.
The Institute operated out of the Rose Building until 1984, when it sold the building to long-term tenant Medical Mutual of Ohio. Medical Mutual then sold the building in 2000, bought it back in 2017, and moved out a final time in 2023.
In June 2024, Spark GHC, a private real estate joint-venture focused on developing, acquiring, and operating select service hospitality assets, and Cleveland Construction announced that a new partnership would be investing $120 million in “Project Scarlet,” to convert the historic 400,000-square-foot office space into 154 luxury apartments, a boutique Marriott Tribute hotel, and a 150-seat restaurant and bar.
A portion of the first floor has already been restored to its historic splendor, team members say, and construction will start early this year, with help from a $5 million Ohio Preservation Tax Credit.
