Restored and Reopened

Back in May, Sandra and I visited Cleveland and learned about the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument. In a previous post, I mentioned the detail of the artwork outside. This time, I can talk about the inside.

Most of the interior renovations were complete and the monument was open to the public during December. The first thing that drew my attention was the bronze work.


Showcasing Civil War Leaders

The next thing I noticed was that the restoration has returned a vibrancy of color which was lost over the hundred years since the Monument opened in 1894. The listing of the veterans, who served from Cuyahoga County, is impressive. Names are clear and easy to read.



Sandra Surveys the Names

The light fixtures are dramatic, so too are the stain glass windows.



Looking Up

Again, the quality of the color impressed me.



A Closer Look

I would highly recommend visiting the monument if you're in the Cleveland. It's public art, which I think would very unlikely to commissioned these days. Just look at the detail in the bronze work:



Lincoln's Face

Very nice indeed.

Of Many Names

It's a tale of municipal struggles. Having seen the economy decline in the city, Cleveland saw a ray of optimism when Sohio, Standard Oil of Ohio, committed in 1981 to build a new skyscraper on Public Square. By the time the building opened in 1987, BP had bought Sohio and moved its headquarters for its BP America operations into the newly finished tower appropriately named the BP America Tower.

However, BP purchased Chicago-based Amoco in 1998 and moved the corporate HQ to the Windy City and out of Cleveland. Since then, the building has seen different owners and varying amounts of utilization. Currently, it is known as 200 Public Square and is home to offices with some mixed use on the lower floors.

With modern restraint, the interior offers nice clean lines and a touch of class. Since it was hoilday time, a Christmas tree dominated the lower space.



Holidays!

Also, from the building, you get a nice view of Public Square. In the next image, you can see the exterior of Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument and, in the background, Terminal Tower.



Winter on the Square

Coming soon, I'll post some interior photos of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, which reopened after a renovation.

Arcade: Cleveland Style

One of Cleveland's downtown treasures is The Arcade located between Euclid and Superior Avenues. It opened in 1890 with two 9-story towers connected by a skylit 5-story court. Modeled after an Italian gallery, The Arcade is recognized as the first indoor shopping mall in the United States.



Looking Upward

The interior is simply gorgeous. It's one of the old splendors of this country. Thankfully, Hyatt Hotels, in 2001, spent resources to redevelop the mall to some of its former greatness. The building is now a mixed use of retail and hotel accomodations.



A Touch of American Pride

Wikipedia has a short article on The Arcade. There is a nice black and white photograph on the site from 1966.

Here are a couple of more images, snapped back in December, which I hope showcase the elegance of the mall:



A Moment in Time


Looking Down the Arcade

Bricks, Mortar, and Bronze

One of the nice aspects of Cleveland is the architecture downtown. From its roots in 1814, the city grew to nearly a million people in 1950, based on heavy industry, including steel and automaking. Standard Oil (think Rockefellers) was originally headquartered in the growing metropolitan in 1870. The city was a major hub of finance. It still plays a role being one of the Federal Reserve Banks.

Being a major industrial powerhouse brought much prosperity to the city. You can still see this in many of the open plazas and interior displays. In some ways, they are vestiges of a more prosperous past, but there is a lot of gorgeous public and private areas.

Here's a picture of a plaza downtown:



Open Air Plaza


Wikipedia has an excellent article about the history of Cleveland. There are several nice photographs of the city on the Wikipedia site, including this great image of the skyline.

Unlike many other cities, Cleveland has tried to maintain its downtown vitality. Not all of the attempts have been successful, but the Rock and Roll Hall Fame and sports stadiums are located in the central part of the city.

Here's a photo outside the new football stadium with a view towards a wind mill standing in front of the Museum of Natural Science:



A Touch of New Along the Lakefront


Even better images of a few architectural treats will soon follow.

Christmas in Cleveland

Back in December, Sandra and I back to her hometown of Cleveland. It was a little holiday getaway during the middle of our move, so she could visit her family. The flight in was rather uneventful, though the whole rental car situation was a mess (my fault! I forget to book earlier than when I did).

We stayed at the same place we did back in May, the Holiday Inn Express in downtown Cleveland. This time we actually had a room with a lake view.



Between the Buildings

Yes there's water...Lake Erie.



A Smaller Focus

Over the next week or so, I intend to post more about holidays in Cleveland, so stay tuned.

Glimpsing the Olympics

I've been watching a little of the Olympics. The sports have been a hodgepodge which have included downhill skiing, snowboard cross, speedskating, and figure skating. In many ways, the games are not the great meeting place, where all the nations come together and the best athletes compete against one another, bringing the world closer. The Olympics don't stop wars, don't prevent famine. An earthquake will strike, with or without the games playing. The games are not the great human achievement. They are just one small pebble rippling in the vast sea of human consciousness.

Though, it's that insignificance which also shows the Olympics' greatness. In this highly likely to be nihilistic world, showing up and competing means long hours and dedication. It might not result in a medal, but 25th place might very well be the greatest of showings. The games spotlight how our effort matters, how it can lend some purpose to our often blind sense of our lives.

Triple axles. Half-hour train rides. Late night streetlamps.

How it matters.

Not as Snowy

Yesterday was a snowy day. The white stuff started falling the previous night and continued almost non-stop throughout the entire day, carrying into the evening. It wasn't anything like the storms some of the eastern states have been receiving, but it was a measurable, a slushy slosh-through it, amount of the wet fluffy stuff.

And beautiful...
I tried to catch some of its beauty, though with the low light and no tripod and through plastic or slightly foggy glass, I don't think the images quite capture the lovely scene. Still...




Lights of the Intersection



Across the Street



Tree Etched With Snow

A Bus and the Slightly Unexpected

I take an early morning bus, and it's often crowded. Last week was no exception, particularly one day, when a man, perhaps in his forties, stepped on the bus. He was loud, and even though it was 8 am, the thought of him being drunk entered my mind.

He was going to the casino, he kept saying. We all knew. He sat down next to a woman, probably half his age, and let her know that he was going to casino.

And she actually talked to him and then the young man across the aisle talked to him about blackjack and how to play to win. Then the guy sitting next to me, a completely different man, starting talking to me about slots, about how he was playing some slots for a while and didn't win, and then this lady came after him, played a little, and the lights went off and the sounds went off because she had won the jackpot.

Sometimes strange little jackpots...