Nomination for Vitrolite Building

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES REGISTRATION FORM classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. Place additional entries and narrative 1. Name of Property Historic name Vitrolite Building Other names/site number CUY-319-3 2. Location street & number 2911-2915 Detroit Avenue N/ AD not for publication N/ A O vicinity city or town Cleveland state Ohio .county Cuyahoga code 035 _ zip code 44113 3.

State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of1986, as amended, I hereby certify that this KX nomination -request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property XX meets does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that thisproperty be considered significant - nationally Statewide L locally.(LSee continuation sheet for additional comments.) Signature of certifying official State or Federal agency and bureau In my opinion, the property meets - does not meet the National Register criteria. (- See continuation sheet for additional Signature of commenting or other official 4.

National Park Service Certification 1, hereby certify that this property is: determined not eligible for the entered in the National Register - See continuation sheet. Date of Action comments.) Date National Register other (explain): Inventory and Registration Department Head removed from the National Register Ohio Historic Preservation Office code OH the information requested.If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural Augunt 18, 2004 This form is for use in nominating orrequesting determinations for individual properties and districts.See instructions in How to Complete the National D2280 Cuyahoga County, Ohio 5. Classification X private E building(s) - public-local - district - public-State - site - structure - object 6.

Function or Use Commerce/business, speciality Commerce/professional, warehouse Industry/processing site, storage 7.

Description See Continuation Sheet Foundation roof Concrete public-Federal Noncontributing Flat/built-up other Total Materials Vitrolite Architectural Classification Narrative Description walls Historic Functions Vitrolite Building Current Functions Number of contributing resources previously listed Revival /Italian Renaissance (Enter categories from instructions) in the National Register not include previously listed resources in the count) Ownership of Property Category of Property (Check as many boxes as apply) Name of related multiple property listing (Describe the historic and current condition of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) Number of Resources within Property (Check only one box) Brick and glazed terra cotta (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing.) Late 19t and Early 20*h century NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Rev.

10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 7 Page 1 Cuyahoga County, OH NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION Just minutes from downtown Cleveland, the Vitrolite building is located on Detroit Avenue, one of Cleveland's main thoroughfares and the main east/west artery on Cleveland's Westside. The building has a prominent position overlooking the Shoreway and Lake Erie and is only four blocks from the Detroit-Superior Avenue Bridge, now designated as the Veterans Memorial Bridge (NR, 1974), connecting it to the center of Downtown Cleveland. The building's façade represents one of the small groups of surviving glazed terracotta buildings and one of the only Italianate Venetian Palazzo style façades in the City and perhaps the only façade of its type on the west side of Cleveland.

The Vitrolite Building, located at 2911/15 Detroit Avenue, was designed in 1925 by Chicago born architect Alfred B. Sylvanus and built in 1926 for the Vitrolite Company, erected at a then sizable cost of $100,000. The building as designed and constructed has a glazed terra cotta facade with distinctive Italian treatment especially notable for its second story detailing (Photo #1). The five arched fan lighted arcade windows are supported by molded spiral columns with Corinthian capitals with mottled wheat colored diaper patterned, glazed tiles above (Photo #2), flanked on either side by large flat pylons. Each contains an additional arched window with molded by a bold projecting molded cornice, supported by six elaborate corbels of the same finish and material.

At the top of the center arcade, between the pylons, was a glazed white terra cotta balustrade composed of 25 urn shaped balusters with a simply molded cap rail (Photo #6). The balustrade was removed sometime after the property was inventoried in 1976 by Eric Johannesen. At the first floor street front is a large bulkhead window, which spans the entire space between the pylons and is surrounded by cove molded copper (Photo #1, #7). A deep faux granite glazed tile architrave frames the entire window and both of the entrance doorways within each pylon (2911 at the east and 2915 at the west) (Photo #8, The Italian Renaissance style chosen for the façade in glazed terra cotta both mirrors and complements the Vitrolite first floor street front showroom interior.

The architectural detailing of the Vitrolite showroom and visual harmony with the street front facade and the showroom as it is seen through the curtain window exterior windows down to the spacing of the windows inserted into the pylons (Photos #13, #14, #15, #16). Historic Condition of Property Vitrolite Building (Photo #12).The massing and positioning of the arched clerestory windows duplicate the placement of the granite cornice in complexly glazed gray/blue terra cotta (Photo #5).The five arcade windows are all supported architrave surround (Photos #3,#4).All seven of the second story windows are supported by a molded faux Cleveland, Ohio clerestory) nearly replicates the second story of the facade. This duplication establishes a stylistic #9,#10).

The pylons are each decorated at the top by three large inserted swag decorated faux granite panels above a running band of protruding wave pattern decorated tile (Photo #11). NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 7 Page 2 Cleveland, Ohio Cuyahoga County, OH The choice of colors, textures and decoration of the Vitrolite tiles and their placement offer a broad overall design succeeds by its historic plausibility and the compatibility of the variety of designs and their ambiance, down to the parquet cork composite floors. No additions have been made to the footprint of the building and nearly all of the original design features of the façade are still extant.

The only missing elements on the façade are the glazed white terra cotta balustrade composed of 25 urn shaped balusters with molded cap rail (Photo #6). Those that have been damaged or altered will be sensitively restored using both the original architectural renderings of the building and period photo Photo documentation illustrates that the curtain wall frame and copper molding surround are extant, as are all of any damaged elements of the window and surrounding copper structure. The black and white and color photographs of the interior showroom clearly show the detailing and structure of the existing curtain wall, albeit now with painted over clerestory windows and some broken window glass. The photos of the showroom reveal the extent to which the original Vitrolite installation is still intact.

All of the original walls of the showroom are extant and retain a majority of their hand-painted Vitrolite tiles, now largely painted over with a pea green paint. Cleaning tests have been executed to confirm that the Vitrolite tiles retain original tiles in the photo were loose and were removed for safety reasons prior to our building renovation. Also included is a photo showing the tiles waiting for reinstallation by an appropriate specialist under the direction and supervision of ICA's professional conservation staff. The original parquet floor of multi-colored cork composite is entirely intact and will be conserved and returned to its period presentation appearance. A sizable collection of original Vitrolite documents and catalogues have been assembled revealing numerous examples of Vitrolite tile patterns, designs and colors extant in our showroom.

This documentation has already been helpful in confirming the integrity of the showroom, and has provided information on the correct appearance of existing damaged tiles. documentation. Vitrolite Building original appearance and colors by the removal of the concrete block and by executing a complete restoration of Current Condition of Property their original painted designs and several photos have been included to document this.Many of the missing exotic effect (Illus.#1,#2,#3).Every reasonable effort was clearly made by the architect and designers to incorporate as many plausible patterns into a convincing, somewhat liberally interpreted Italian Renaissance interpretation of the Italian Renaissance style, consistent with the façade (Supplemental photos # 17- 25). The the molded and glazed terra cotta blocks surrounding the window.

Present plans are to return the façade to its NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 7 Page 3 Cuyahoga County, OH The ICA has engaged the noted contemporary glass artisan and Vitrolite glass expert, retired professor Henry Halem of Kent State University to recast missing and broken portions of damaged tiles. The primary goal is to conserve the façade and showroom, and to restore them to a presentation state that development and evolution of an important component of 20th century architecture and design. Vitrolite Building National Park Service Cleveland, Ohio unique example of an architectural period aesthetic in this historic material which helped make possible the respects their original period integrity.

The ICA intends the building to serve as an accurate presentation of a Cuyahoga County, Ohio 8. Statement of Significance

Statement of significance

- A Property is associated with events that have made Art/Decorative Arts a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history. - B Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past. X C Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period,or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant lack individual distinction. - D Property has yielded, or is likely to yield information important in prehistory or history. (Mark "X" in all the boxes that apply.) - A owned by a religious institution or used for (Complete if Criterion B is marked above) - B removed from its original location. - C a birthplace or a grave. - D a cemetery. - E a reconstructed building, object,or structure. - F a commemorative property within the past 50 years.

Mitzel-Shields Co., General Contractor Areas of Significance Alfred Bruno Sylvanus, Architect Narrative Statement of Significance (Explain the significance of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) 9.

The rest of the file

Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.

Major Bibliographical References (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form on one or more continuation sheets.) Previous documentation on file (NPS) - preliminary determination of individual listing (36 CFR 67) has been requested X State Historic Preservation Office - previously listed in the National Register - Other State agency - previously determined eligible by the National - Federal agency ] Local government - designated a National Historic Landmark J recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey - Other -recorded by Historic American Engineering Record 1926 Register University Bibliography Architecture Architect/Builder Applicable National Register Criteria Criteria Considerations Period of Significance Property is: Significant Dates religious purposes.

Name of repository: and distinguishable entity whose components Cultural Affiliation Primary location of additional data Significant Person Vitrolite Building for National Register listing) (Enter categories from instructions) G less than 50 years of age or achieved significance (Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page 1 Cuyahoga County, OH STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The Vitrolite Building is significant under Criterion C as the only known Vitrolite company showroom building extant in Ohio, and is also significant as it represents stylistically a rare survivor of the company's original aesthetic, before the largely imported European Art Deco taste became the new fashion.

There are no other comparable architectural structures in the City of Cleveland in terms of detail or unity, both internally and externally, of a design style. There are a number of buildings along Detroit Avenue of a similar time period of construction, respectively various 20th century eclectic style revivals, but none within a mile proximity or bearing any degree of structural or aesthetic similarity to the Vitrolite Building The building was designed to serve as a primary showroom, design facility, distribution, manufacturing and installation source for "Vitrolite" from the Vitrolite Company, of which Charles Meyers was then president. Parkersburg, West Virginia, where the vitreous glass named Vitrolite was manufactured.

The company was established as the Meyercord-Carter company in October 1907 and first produced its product named "Vitrolite" in Vienna, West Virginia, a small town adjacent to Parkersburg, where a burgeoning industry of glass production was evolving, fueled literally by the large resources of coal and natural gas used to fire the regenerative furnaces then central to glass production. glass support for an extensive range of decalcomania advertising signs for commercial product, and businesses. Pigmented structural glass appears to have its origins around 1900 in the Marietta, Ohio area across and up the Ohio River from Parkersburg, West Virginia.

The Marietta Manufacturing Company produced a white sheet glass which they claimed to be a practical substitute for marble, then a widely used material for countertops and Historic Context Vitrolite Building The manufacture of the signs involved the flash fusing of elaborate decals onto opaque primarily white Vitrolite The Cleveland facility enabled the company to render services heretofore given only by the factory at walls in commercial and domestic environments requiring a high level of hygienic cleanliness. The Vitrolite Cleveland, Ohio the Vitrolite Company in August of 191o.The company originally produced and used Vitrolite as the opaque represent a fascinating reflection of early 20th century marketing. They are widely collected today. George Meyercord, the Chicago-based industrialist who organized the original company changed its name to NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Rev.

10-90) United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page 2 Cleveland, Ohio Cuyahoga County, OH The evolution and progress of the Vitrolite Company and the transition of opaque colored sheet glass from a decorative to a primarily structural, architectural product is not yet thoroughly documented. It is clear from dated published ads, however, that the Vitrolite Company was advertising its product in the second decade of the 20th century as a practical and less expensive marble substitute for countertops, table tops, wainscoting, washroom partitions and the like.

By the 1920s, however, the Vitrolite Company was promoting its product far more ambitiously as a structural glass for traditional building material in new construction, capable of being successfully incorporated to sheath small or large expanses of surface for either domestic interior spaces such as kitchens and bathrooms or for lobbies and entire facades of commercial buildings. The development of multiple color options for Vitrolite by the early 1920s, along with an extensive range of material, evidenced by its wide interior and exterior use during the period.

Custom design could be provided by the Vitrolite Company through their design department and Art Director Frank Sohn based then at their Chicago The range of designs represented in their catalogues throughout the 1920s and 1930s evolved from a broadly eclectic Beaux Arts revival style, which is strongly represented in the 2911/15 Detroit Avenue Showroom, to a more distinct art modern style, as it developed a popularity in America in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Under the art direction of Frank Sohn, Vitrolite remained fashionably current with its design offerings. In support of the new "Art Deco" style the Vitrolite Company commissioned Charles Turzak, a Chicago artist and designer, to illustrate in 1929 an imaginative series of bathrooms employing the diverse range of the new Vitrolite colors, illustrated in many of the most important architecture and design journals of the period.

Vitrolite's popularity and success in the US and worldwide was sufficient for the company to have established by 1927, only a year after opening the Detroit Avenue Showroom, offices in all the principal cities of the U.S. and nearly a dozen foreign countries as far reaching as Johannesburg, South Africa, and Manila, the Philippines. Alfred Sylvanus's commission to design the Vitrolite building in 1925 may have originated through either of Vitrolite Company office there and he was married in Marietta, Ohio, to Josephine Schneider, a Marietta native in the heart of the Vitrolite manufacturing base, with Parkersburg located just twelve miles down the Ohio River. office. Vitrolite Building (LOF) in 1935.

National Park Service two circumstantial connections.He had Chicago origins and possible connections and familiarity with the Company began producing a strongly competitive product christened Vitrolite"which was logoed as"better patterned with exotic surface designs.These catalogues and advertisements were widely distributed and were than marble,"and remained as the advertising slogan until the company's purchase by Libby-Owens-Ford etched and painted, decorative surface patterns and designs, expanded both the appeal and applicability of the NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Rev.

10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page_ 3 Cleveland, Ohio Cuyahoga County, OH In either case or through other sources, he was commissioned to design an expensive, highly visible sales and showroom in Cleveland for the Vitrolite Company which opened in March 1926. Sylvanus (1894-1968) was born in Chicago and practiced in Cleveland before he died in Los Angeles. The Vitrolite building served its purpose for the company, carrying sufficient stock of Vitrolite, and providing manufacturing facilities which enabled the company to render any product service which had previously only been possible by its Parkersburg, West Virginia, plant, until 1939 when the building was sold to the premiere Cleveland Industrial design firm "Designers For Industry".

The Vitrolite Company was sold in May 1935 to the growing glass manufacturing giant Libby Owens Ford headquartered in Toledo. By then the name Vitrolite had become so intimately identified with their opaque, colored, decorated structural glass that both the name and its company facilities remained as a separate division of LOF. Vitrolite continued to be produced and sold successfully by LOF for at least another 20 years. Under Architectural Record. Vitrolite was launched as the ubiquitous colored architectural glass that would be used and seen on facades in the new streamline modern styles throughout the U.S. Vitrolite and its rival Carrara glass production of opaque structural glass exceeded 5 million square feet (Dyson, "Structural Glass," p. 201).

Research on the history and evolution of the manufacture of Vitrolite has mistakenly attributed the ownership of the Vitrolite Company to Libby-Owens-Ford as early as 1916 (Preservation Briefs 12 and Preserving the Recent Past). The purchase contracts and additional transfer documentation between LOF and the Vitrolite Company's Chicago offices still exist in the LOF archives in the Ward Canaday Special Collections Library at the University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio. These documents all date from 1935 and definitively confirm 1935 as the year of transfer of the Vitrolite Company and its holdings to becoming a subsidiary of LOF, which was then, a growing company.

In addition, all period catalogues and advertisements in that same collection, as well as in the ICA's Vitrolite collection, continue through the 1920s and early 1930s to list the firm as "The Vitrolite Company" Executive and Sales Offices at Room 1100, 120 South La Salle Street, Chicago, Illinois well into the early 1930s. This independent company's name and address is also still being listed in Sweet's Architectural Catalogues, such as Volume B 1930 Edition, page B 2310-2313. In addition, ads in The American Architect from November 1930 Page 109 document this same title and address as well as ads in other journals such as Country Life and others from the same period. There can be no doubt however that the extant purchase agreement document between LOF and the Vitrolite Company confirms the official transfer and ownership of the Vitrolite Company in the year 1935.

Vitrolite Building had an important impact on commercial facades and storefronts during the1920s and1930s.By1929 U.s. "Modernize Main Street" competition and ad campaign was sponsored and publicized by LOF in the NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Rev.

10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page 4 Cleveland, Ohio Cuyahoga County, OH It is also no coincidence that shortly after the completion of the sales negotiations in late winter 1935 that LOF Main Street" competition advertised in both the Architectural Record and Architectural Forum for that year established the launching date for LOF's 20-year marketing campaign for a flagship subsidiary of its glass After extensive research which included an investigation of all of the known Vitrolite Company sales offices locations as listed in the Vitrolite Companies' 1927 Catalogue, the inquiry revealed no currently extant showrooms. It is not clear from this listing however whether all of the known period office addresses represented Vitrolite showrooms as well.

Some may have served as both offices and showrooms but none of the listings make that distinction, although it is known from additional period documentation that the Chicago office did originally maintain its own showroom on the 6th floor of the Chamber of Commerce Building at Washington and La Salle Street. In Ohio, the two Vitrolite locations in Cincinnati listed in the 1927 Catalogue no longer exist. While the 1926 Cleveland Telephone Directory lists the Vitrolite construction Company at 2911/15 Detroit Avenue building most likely would have included all design and preparation of the limitless range of design possibilities on the tiles, including developing designs and patterns for the sand blasted etching of the design surely have included the room design and Vitrolite layout requiring the cutting and or shaping of stock glass panels for all custom installations.

All of these processes required significant hand skills and were both time consuming and thus costly to effect. Vitrolite had a successful use history under the directorship, management uses until it ceased production in 1956, superseded by less costly and more durable modern product substitutes. The full larger story of Vitrolite remains to be told. The preservation and accurate restoration of the building's facade and Vitrolite Showroom will allow the public and design history which has yet to be fully explored and understood for its influence and true importance. empire. **several sources cite the Marietta Manufacturing Co. as being based in Indianapolis, Ind.

and historians alike to see and experience a unique survivor of an important period of American architecture Vitrolite Building patterns on glass panels aswell as the final painting of the recessed etched designs.This design work would Avenue as the sole manufacturers of Vitrolite, both in the quarter page ad, as well as its directory page listing, a November 1930 ad in The American Architect lists the factory in Parkersburg, West Virginia. The Detroit launched the most creative and aggressive marketing strategy for its newly acquired company. The "Modernize NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 9 Page 1 Cleveland, Ohio Cuyahoga County, OH Albano, Albert P., "Glass from the Past," ICA News, No. 4 Spring/Summer 2002 ed. Dyson, Carol J.

and Floyd Mansberger, "Structural Glass: Its History, Manufacture, Repair and Replacement," CRM Online, Volume 18, No. 08, Preserving the Recent Past, Dyson, Carol J. "Structural Glass," in Jester, Thomas, ed. Twentieth Century Building Materials. Washington: Dunn, Timothy, Vitrolite Specialist, St. Louis, Missouri. Personal communications, 2001-2003 Kendrick, Gregory D. editor. Preservation Briefs 12, "The Preservation of Historic Pigmented Structural Glass (Vitrolite and Carrara Glass)." Washington, DC, Technical Preservation Services, Preservation Assistance Division, National Park Service, Department of the Interior, February 1984. Libby-Owens-Ford Archive, Ward M.

Canaday Center for Special Collections, University of Toledo, Toledo, Matranga, Victoria K., "Clear As Glass: The Libbey-Owens-Ford Window to Better Living." The Alliance of Art and Industry: Toledo Designs for a Modern America, Toledo Museum of Art, 2002, 177-193. Sweets Architectural Catalogue, 22nd ed., New York: F.W. Dodge Corporation, Sweets Catalogue Service, "Vitrolite Company Erects $100,000 Building Here."The Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 24, 1926. Original Vitrolite catalogues, Intermuseum Conservation Association library collection, circa 1925-1935. Wood, Edelene. "Vitrolite: The Forgotten Glass." Glass Collector's Digest, Aug./Sept. 1993, 59-66. Ohio. 1915-1928.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Vitrolite Building http://crm.cr.nps.gov/archive/18-8/18-8-5.pdf Cuyahoga County, Ohio SEE CONTINUATION SHEET Acreage of Property 0.148 --less than one (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet) 1 17 440590 4593110 Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet.) Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet.) 11. Form Prepared By name/title_Albert Albano, Executive Director organization Intermuseum Conservation Association date June 30, 2003 street & number 2915 Detroit Avenue _zip code 44113 Submit the following items with the completed form: A USGS map (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's location.

(Check with the SHPO or FPO for any additional items) (Complete this item at the request of the SHPO or FPO.) name Intermuseum Conservation Association (a non-profit corporation) Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.). Estimated Burden Statement:Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 18.1hours per response including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Project (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503.

Photographs Additional Documentation Property Owner Additional items Vitrolite Building Continuation Sheets UTM References Zone Easting Northing state Ohio telephone (216) 658-8700 city or town Cleveland 10. Geographical Data A Sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous resources. Representative black and white photographs of the property. this form to the Chief, Administrative Services Division, National Park Service, P.0.Box 37127,Washington, DC 20013-7127; and the Office of Maps NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Section number 10 Page 1 Cuyahoga County, OH VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION Situated in the City of Cleveland, County of Cuyahoga, State of Ohio and known as being all of Sublot No. 50 and the Westerly 4 feet of Sublot No.

51 in the Taylor Farm Allotment of part of Original Brooklyn Township Lot No.51, as shown by the recorded plat in volume "S" of Deeds, Page 610 of Cuyahoga County Records. Said Sublot No. 50 and part of Sublot No. 51 together form a parcel of land having a frontage of 44 feet on the Northerly side of Church Avenue, N.W. and extending back between parallel lines 147 feet to the Southerly line of Detroit Avenue, N.W., as appears on said plat, be the same more or less, but subject to all legal highways. BOUNDARY JUSTIFICATION The above property is the parcel of land on which the Vitrolite Building is located and has been located since its construction in 1926. Vitrolite Building CONTINUATION SHEET Cleveland, Ohio National Park Service NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Rev.

10-90) United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Cuyahoga County, OH Photographer: John Seyfried Date of Photographs: June 2003 Location of Negatives: 2915 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44113 Photo Number/Description Overall view of building façade at 2911/15 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland as of May, 2003, showing large area of bulkhead window which spans the entire space between the pylons, surrounded by cove molded Streetscape view, looking east-southeast. Rear and side elevations, looking north-northwest. Detail of diaper pattern glazed tiles at façade top and center. View of one of the seven arched second floor windows. Detail of molded faux granite cornice. Photograph of building façade at 2911/15 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, circa 1939 showing white terra Detail showing cove molded copper surrounding bulkhead window.

Detail of faux granite glazed tile architrave at top of entrance. Detail of faux granite glazed tile at bottom of entrance. View of large faux granite panels above a running band of protruding wave pattern decorated tile. View of interior of Vitrolite showroom looking northwest showing bulkhead window and door to western entrance hall. View of interior of Vitrolite showroom looking south and up showing arched clearstory windows and View of interior of Vitrolite showroom looking southeast showing south wall, clearstory arched View of interior of Vitrolite showroom showing northeast corner of room. Wide angle view of west wall of Vitrolite showroom showing southwest and northwest corners of room. copper. ceiling. PHOTOGRAPHS Vitrolite Building National Park Service windows and arched entry from eastern entrance.

View of faux granite glazed tile architrave frame around entrance at west side of building. Section number Additional Documentation Page1 Cleveland, Ohio cotta balustrade composed of 25 urn shaped balusters with molded cap rail. NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number _Additional Documentation Page 2 Cuyahoga County, OH Digital representation of proposed restoration of Vitrolite showroom, south wall. Digital representation of proposed restoration of Vitrolite showroom, northeast corner and eastern wall with entrance hall. These illustrations were produced using designs from photographs of the Vitrolite tiles which remain attached in their original positions on the building's original walls.

ILLUSTRATIONS Vitrolite Building Digital representation of proposed restoration of Vitrolite showroom, northwest corner. Cleveland, Ohio NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Cleveland, Ohio Cuyahoga County, OH 00.000 Building Here and to provide such manufacturing display room will be provided in -burg, W. Va. front with Italian treatment fo" the 1 The Mitzel-Shields Co. Is the gen- and Add. Dlay counters and other commercial the rear of the salesroom are indi- Vitrolite Building Che basement to show the many uses with flat pylons in a color scheme and celling of which will be built of polychrome Vitrollte in such a Source : The huilding, as designed by Al- Section numberDoc.

Page Italian in style, the-floor, walls kitchens, Vitrolite Company Erects vidual booths to show the material which Charles Meyers is president, decorative values of Vitrolfte. The salesroom on the first flnor manner-aa-to show_all the-possible The sito UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET N PDIL: N PERIOD: PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: N SUR DRAFT: N COMMENT WAIVER: N ABSTRACT/ SUMMARY COMMENTS : RECOM.

/CRITERIA If a nomination is returned to the nominating authority, the TELEPHONE 10/06/04 10/14/04 RETURN MULTIPLE DISCIPLINE 8/31/04 DATE REVIEWER NATIONAL: OTHER: VACCEPT NAME: DATE RECEIVED: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: REASONS FOR REVIEW: Bntered in the DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N DATE OF 16TH DAY: REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION STATE & COUNTY: OHIO, Cuyahoga nomination is no longer under consideration by the NPS.

REJECT Vitro lite Building, Cuyahoga Coumty , Ohio MFG CO TESTO Vitrolite Building, Cuyahoga County, Ohio Vitrolite Building, Car Vitrolite Building ,Cuyahoga County ,Ohio Vitrolite Building, Cuyahoga County, Ohio Vitrolite Building Cuyahoga County Ohio Vitro lite Building ,Cuyahoga County , Ohio Vitrolite Building ,Cuyahoga County ,Ohio Vitrolite Building , Cuyahoga County, Ohio 2915 Vitrolite Building , Cuyahoga County , Ohio Vitrolite Building , Cuyahoga County , Ohio Vitro lite Building , Cuyahoga County, Ohio Vitrolite Building, Cuyahoga County, Ohio Vitrolite Building ,Cuyahoga County , Ohio Vitrolite Building , Cuyahoga County ,Ohio Vitrolite Building , Cuyahoga County, Ohio Vitrolite Building, Cuyahoga County, Ohio Vitrolite Building, Cuya hosa County, Ohio Vitrolite Building, Cuya hoga County, Ohio U.S.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OHIO CUYAHOGA CO 1994 CLEVELAND SOUTH QUADRANGLE 7.5-MINUTE SERIES (TOPOGRAPHIC) COMMERCIAL SURVEY CO CUYAHOGA CO., CH Produced by the United States Geological Survey USGS U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR CLEVELAND SOUTH, OH 17/440590/4593110 567 East Hudson Street Columbus, Ohio 43211-1030 614/ 298-2000 Fax: 614/298-2037 Visit us at www.ohiohistory.org August 24, 2004 Ms. Carol Shull, Chief of Registration National Park Service 1201 Eye Street, NW 8" Floor Washington DC 20005 Enclosed please find three (3) new National Register nominations. All appropriate notification procedures have been followed for these new submissions. NEW SUBMISSION Purcell, Robert A. and Elizabeth H., House If you have questions or comments about these documents, please contact the National Register staff in the Ohio Historic Preservation Office at (614) 298-2000.

State Historic Preservation Officer COUNTY enclosures Sincerely, SOCIETY Cuyahoga OHIO Franklin Stark HISTORICAL Vitrolite Building Ohio Historic Preservation Office Company Building SINCE 1885 Buckeye State Building and Loan Rachel Tooker National Register of Historic Places Dear Ms. Shull: RECEIVED AUG 3 TT 2004