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Cleveland
Trust Tower, Marcel Breuer and Hamilton Smith,
A prominent high rise building in Cleveland, designed by Marcel Breuer, is seriously threatened with demolition. Earlier this year, the Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners purchased the former Cleveland Trust Company (Ameritrust) site in order to develop a new county administration complex. In addition to a Neo-Classical style banking hall, the parcel also contains the Breuer designed, twenty-nine story, modernist tower. Cleveland area preservationists were quick to welcome the county’s decision to restore and adaptively use the historic banking hall rotunda, designed in 1905 by George B. Post & Sons. However, development plans that called for the demolition of the modernist tower initially elicited little concern from Cleveland’s otherwise vocal preservation community. Thankfully, AIA Cleveland, a Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, began an effort to raise awareness about the tower, the significance of Marcel Breuer and the importance of preserving buildings of the recent past. Completed in 1971, the Cleveland Trust Tower is one of only two Cleveland area structures to be designed by the world-renowned architect Marcel Breuer (the other being the 1971 addition to the Cleveland Museum of Art). Born in 1902 in Hungary, Breuer taught at the famed Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany, worked in London, and later immigrated to the United States, where he worked as an associate professor at Harvard University along with Walter Gropius. He operated a New York practice from 1946 until his retirement in 1976. Breuer is recognized as one of the founders of the Modern Movement in architecture and is considered one of the most important furniture designers of the Twentieth Century. The Cleveland Trust Tower is one of Breuer’s few realized designs for a high-rise building. The tower’s unique and dramatically sculpted façade was a departure from the glass and steel skin of earlier skyscraper designs. The curtain wall is formed of precast concrete panels with granite aggregate molded to create window recesses within darker granite panels. Breuer’s signature “mouse hole” high in the south parapet - a dominant feature on downtown Cleveland’s skyline - recalls the “Cyclops” window of his Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. This new approach to high rise design established a trend for other towers built across the United States in the 1970’s. Interestingly, the building’s composition provides a most effective visual backdrop for the Neo-Classical Rotunda Building and, through its use of materials and form, is an early attempt at contextualism. The Cuyahoga
County Commissioners, as part of their justification to demolish the building,
have pointed out the tower’s relatively low ratio of usable floor
space in relation to elevator shafts and stairwells. This is true when
compared to contemporary open office standards. However, Breuer’s
original design envisioned a second tower that would share the vertical
circulation of the existing tower. Completing Breuer’s vision would
solve the County’s floor The fate of the Cleveland Trust Tower remains in the balance. Two of the three Cuyahoga County Commissioners have stated their preference for pulling-down the building although the final decision has not yet been made. The potential demolition of this important building, designed by one of the most important architects of the twentieth century, would certainly be a devastating loss to our nation’s architectural heritage. For additional information contact AIA Cleveland’s website www.aiacleveland.com - Anthony W. Hiti, AIA Principal, Herman Gibans Fodor, Inc. Architects AIA Cleveland Statement: Cleveland, Ohio, January 30, 2007 - AIA Cleveland, a Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, urges The Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners to preserve and renovate the Cleveland Trust (Ameritrust) Tower. Designed by the pioneering modernist architect Marcel Breuer in 1971, the tower's prominent location, noteworthy design and contribution to downtown Cleveland's skyline, make the building potentially eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. As stewards of the built environment, it is our community's responsibility to ensure that significant examples of modern architecture like the Cleveland Trust Tower endure for future generations. Furthermore, AIA Cleveland encourages the Commissioners to undertake a comprehensive feasibility study of adaptively reusing the Breuer Tower for the new County Administration Center. This study must thoroughly analyze the overall project development costs to the tax payers of Cuyahoga County and definitively justify the decisions made by the Commissioners. In addition, the impact of demolishing the twenty-nine story structure must be carefully considered from an economic, environmental and sustainability perspective. This study, coupled with a creative and transparent design process, will determine if and how the existing building can best meet the County's needs. Most importantly, we urge the County to engage the community during the decision making process so that all voices are heard on this major expenditure of public resources. AIA Cleveland stands ready to provide the Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners with assistance and counsel in this most important matter and we look forward to a constructive community dialogue on this issue. Letters
of Support for Preservation Discussions/Press Coverage of the Tower Issue realneo.org Architecture in the City: Future of the Ameritrust Tower. Good discussion about the pros and cons of saving this building. Taxpayers Against Breuer Tower Demolition A downloadable tri-fold brochure from "Taxpayers Against Waste" Cleveland State University: Love It/Hate It? Renovate It/Raze It? A Public Forum on the Breuer Tower Metropolis Magazine Farewell, Marcel "Poor Marcel Breuer. . . Part of the problem is that while Breuer is hailed as a master, the public has not always had such a warm relationship with his work..." 14 March 2007 Crain's Cleveland Business on the Web Ameritrust Tower to Come Down, 30 March 2007 AIA Urgent Bulletin - Cuyahoga County Commissioners to Determine Fate of Breuer Tower, 27 March 2007 Preservation San Politics, a blog by Craig B. More Images of the Tower Other
buildings in Cleveland in immediate danger: Additional Contacts: CITY OF CLEVELAND PLANNING COMMISSION MEMBERS Anthony Coyne, Chair:
216-523-1500 (o) David Bowen: 216-491-9300,
ext. 808 Joe Cimpermann:216-664-2691 Norman Krumholz:216-687-6946 Lillian Kuri:216-659-4926 Larwrence Lumpkin:
216-299-1550 Gloria Pinkney: 216-751-5131 CLEVELAND
CITY PLANNING COMMISSION STAFF Meetings are held
the first and third Friday*s of everything month @ 9:00 am Please call
for the schedule and the agenda. Gary Newbacher, Chief
City Planner Jean Crawford, Private
Secretary Letters to the Editor The Cleveland Plain
Dealer e-mail letters to:
letters@plaind.com Include your full name, address and daytime telephone number for verification purposes. Submissions should not exceed 200 words. Call & Post e-mail letters to
charper@call-post.com The New-Herald e-mail: editor@News-Herald.com The Sun News |
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