Wolfe Music Building, 2112 Eucllid Avenue, Cleveland

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS OH-55. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Built in and opened in the Wolfe Music Building was owned by land developer Anthony Carlin. The building constructed at Euclid Avenue embodied the distinctive characteristics representing the work of local masters Frank Walker and Harry Weeks. The building was part of a push of commercial construction on Cleveland s prestigious Euclid Avenue, taking the place of the disappearing residences on Millionaire s Row. Description: The Wolfe Music Building was a handsome three story structure. An ornamented terra-cotta fa ade gave the commercial building a Neo-Classical styling with Adamesque detailing in the terra-cotta and copper storefront. The structure was approximately 34 feet wide and originally part of a zero-lot-line block of commercial structures.

The only recent evidence of the context was the simplicity of the flat, unadorned east and west facades where shadows of the adjacent attached structures remained. Stretching 126 feet in length, no windows punched the sides where the adjoining structures supported this building. There were windows on the rear fa ade that addressed the middle of the block toward Prospect Avenue. The entry to this commercial building was through a pressed copper clad storefront. A pair of slight and delicate Corinthian columns was set atop a granite base marking the recessed opening. The columns supported an ornamented pediment with a cartouche at the peak. The storefront glass was most recently covered with plywood, though the copper cladding remained exposed to reveal the delicate framing.

While access to the interior was not possible and consequently observation of the framing from the inside was also not possible, it is likely that the framework was steel and the copper cladding was exclusively an exterior ornament. The copper storefront was set within a simple surround made of Georgia Marble. The blocks of marble lined both sides articulating the fa ade and crossing the storefront at the top of the first floor. WOLFE MUSIC BUILDING HABS No. OH-55 (page 2) History: Terra-cotta units, fired with a glaze to emulate the Georgia Marble, adorned the remainder of the fa ade. Four double hung wood windows on each of the second and third stories were separated by pairs of Corinthian columns fashioned from terra-cotta.

Pilasters supported each pair just above a heavily ornamented band course that divided the marble and copper storefront from the upper levels. This classical composition lent a monumental impression to the fa ade that was really only 34 feet in width. Engaged columns, also in terra-cotta, wrapped the front corners of the building at the upper levels to further the impression of monumentality. This terra-cotta would have been visible above the roof of the adjoining buildings or as an end to this fa ade where the next building began. Atop the columns was an entablature and pediment that carried swags and ornament likened to that of Colonial Adamesque design. The pediment, acting as a parapet, was in keeping with the decorated fa ade.

The Wolfe Music Building was built by Irish born Anthony Carlin, whom developed and owned several properties along Euclid Avenue in Cleveland and initiated the Viaduct Foundry, the Standard Foundry and Manufacturing Company, and the Standard Steel Range Company. The building was constructed primarily for Wolfe Music Company, founded in by Harry Wolfe. The building space allowed room for large sales, display space, repair shop, instrument demonstration, and piano sales in the basement. The company originally had a ten year lease, but by Wolfe Music had closed and the building remained empty for a decade. In the National Cash Register occupied the building. The building was designed by renowned Cleveland Architects Walker & Weeks. Massachusetts natives Frank R. Walker and Harry E.

Weeks joined the Cleveland firm of J. Milton Dyer at the request of John M. Carrere, a member of the Cleveland Group Plan Commission. In Walker & Weeks established their own firm and became known as specialists in bank buildings but are also known for their religious, commercial, and public buildings in the Cleveland area. Walker & Weeks specialized in Classical and Beaux Arts revival styles, as in the Cleveland Public Library, Public Auditorium, Severance Hall, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Cleveland State University acquired the building in and the building was located adjacent to campus on their Viking Hall Block between East and East Streets. Kinko s occupied the building until and the building was vacant until December when it was demolished.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS OH-55. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Cleveland Planning Commission/Landmarks Commission: Legislation Cleveland Planning Commission: Meeting minutes. Encyclopedia of Cleveland History (Case Western Reserve University & Western Reserve Historical Society) Cleveland State University, Capital Planning WOLFE MUSIC BUILDING HABS No. OH-55 (page 3) Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps National Register Nomination, Wolfe Music Building, written by Robert Kaiser. Deeds. Euclid Avenue. Historians: Chambers, Murphy and Burge Restoration Architects, Michael R. Sanbury, Associate AIA Ashley Cramer Banbury, Associate IIDA Elizabeth Corbin Murphy, FAIA