Design + Build
Peter B. Lewis bldg - photo Bob Perkoski
Here's something you won't find in Phoenix: A grand public mall flanked by Beaux Arts-style architectural gems built some 100 years ago. Stretching back to Daniel Burnham's grand Group Plan of 1903, the Cleveland skyline has been graced with epic structures boasting dignity, symmetry and grace. Complementing the historic architecture and design, today’s design and building community are looking at new ways to re-envision the city, from the redesign and update of Public Square to making connections from the city to the lakefront through green space and the proposed pedestrian bridge.
The American Institute of Architects Cleveland and Cleveland Metroparks have launched Parkitecture—a lecture series that explores the intersection of design, ecology, and public space within the Metroparks system. The inaugural winter program at Brecksville Reservation examined the evolution of park architecture from the 1939 WPA-era Nature Center to contemporary facilities.
![Mike Crawford uses a big laser cutter to make wooden gift boxes at the Sears think[box].](/galleries/2026/Jauary_2026/Issue_683/Sears_thinkbox/Mike_Crawford_laser_cutter.jpg?s=lf)
CWRU's Sears think[box] is the nation's largest free public makerspace, offering equipment, materials, and mentorship in a 50,000-square feet space to students, professionals, and the community. Think[box] levels the playing field so anyone can access typically expensive tools and transform their ideas into reality.
The American Institute of Architects Cleveland recently hosted Cleveland architect Robert Maschke as part of its Body of Work lecture series, where he presented his projects in Gordon Square and Little Italy. Maschke shares his design philosophy of giving small projects the same attention as larger ones, with a focus on context-driven designs that reflect neighborhoods' histories and character.
St. Luke's Foundation's Tim Tramble is nearing the completion of his $10.5 million housing development, 89th Rising, in Fairfax. With 48 rental units in six Victorian-style buildings, the project honors the street's historic character and addresses current housing needs—with hope it will be a catalyst for reversing disinvestment and be a model for revitalization.
Over three decades, the Cleveland Restoration Society took on an ambitious project to illuminate 24 historic church steeples, towers, and domes along Interstate 71. The Steeple Lighting Program was funded by a $370,000 bequest from East Cleveland dentist Dr. Reinhold "Ray" Erickson to the Cleveland Foundation. Theproject transformed the nighttime skyline and helped neighborhood revitalization.
CHN Housing Partners broke ground on Cleveland West Veterans Housing, a $21.6 million, 62-unit residential development exclusively for veterans experiencing or at risk of homelessness in Cleveland. The complex, scheduled for completion in Fall 2026, represents Cuyahoga County's first Low-Income Housing Tax Credit development focused entirely on veterans addresses a critical service gap on Cleveland's West Side.
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Artist Edra Soto has created a unique bus shelter installation in Cleveland, inspired by Puerto Rican architectural motifs. "La Distancia" serves as both a functional transit shelter and a public art piece—exploring themes of cultural identity, migration, and belonging. The shelter is designed to be a gathering space for the community while showcasing Puerto Rican architecture and culture.
Tickets and sponsorships are now on sale for the Cleveland Restoration Society's 2025 Benefit on Friday, Nov. 21. The event will feature guided tours of two historic churches, highlighting the organization's work with Sacred Landmarks throughout Cleveland. Pentecostal Church of Christ, an example of successful preservation efforts, and the University Circle United Methodist Church, which may soon see adaptive reuse, are the featured Sacred Landmarks.
The American Institute of Architects Cleveland hosted a lecture on Charles Schweinfurth, a prominent Cleveland architect from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as part of its Body of Work series. The lecture explored Schweinfurth's architectural legacy in Cleveland, which includes Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and numerous Euclid Avenue mansions.
University Settlement, which has been serving the community for almost a century in Slavic Village, in August began a new era of support and uplifting the community with the opening of 5115, a mixed use development with space for programming, a food pantry, and a host of services, as well as 5115 At The Rising apartments and townhomes.
Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry is piloting a 3D-printed affordable housing project to create two homes for those at risk of experiencing homelessness. Cleveland City Council provided $500,000 for the project championed by Council member Stephanie D. Howse-Jones.
Architectural photographer and Shaker Heights resident Lauren Pacini this week published “Empire Builders: An Illustrated History of the Rise and Fall of Cleveland's Van Sweringen Brothers,” the story of the eccentric Van Sweringen brothers' successes and failures in developing Shaker Heights as an exclusive residential garden community and their eventual demise during the Great Depression.
The 2024 Celebration of Preservation, hosted by the Cleveland Restoration Society and the American Institute of Architects Cleveland, will highlight some of the best restoration and historical architecture projects in the past year at the Ariel LaSalle Theater on May 22. The event will honor projects like the West Side Market clock tower, the conversion of the former Henry W. Longfellow Elementary School in Collinwood into affordable senior apartments, and the Ford Hessler Apartments.
After years of planning and collaborating, the next step in Fairfax Renaissance Development Corporation's Innovation Square Neighborhood Plan—Aura at Innovation Square—became a reality this week with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
Cleveland Masterworks: Louisville-based architect William Arrasmith established himself in the 1930s and 1940s by designing Greyhound Bus Stations across the country in a Art Deco Streamline Moderne design—using long, horizontal lines and curving forms with a somewhat nautical look to create a sleek, almost futuristic architectural style that was the hot trend for the time. The Cleveland Greyhound station is one of his most celebrated of the 60 Greyhound stations Arrasmith designed and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Cleveland Masterworks: Hungarian-born architect Henry Hradilek came to Cleveland in the early 1900s and wasted no time designing industrial buildings, apartments, and homes, including the building that is today's Don’s Lighthouse. His remarkable Beaux Arts design of the Weizer Building in Buckeye will soon be Providence House's new east side location.
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CHN Housing Partners has the goal of making home ownership available to everyone in Cleveland. With the recent ribbon cutting of Larchmere Homes in Buckeye Shaker, the organization is one step closer to that objective. But CHN officials say there's more to be done.
Cleveland Masterworks: The 1894 Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ in Tremont is just one of many churches, buildings, and homes designed by Cleveland architect Sidney Rose Badgley. Tremont History Project will give free tours of Pilgrim this weekend.
Cleveland Masterworks: The 1927 Ohio Bell Telephone Building on Huron Road was briefly the tallest building in the city—until the Terminal Tower overshadowed it in 1928. Designed by Hubbell and Bennes, the building was the site for technological leaps in long-distance phone calls in the 1940s and 1970s.
The Tremont History Project, a group of amateur historians and volunteers from the south side neighborhood who have been collecting and documenting Tremont history, is hosting tours of four historic Tremont churches over the next four weeks.