At the turn of the twentieth century, Cleveland became a model of what could be accomplished by a partnership between the city’s wealthy and the local government to create an architecturally beautiful, livable, industrial city. Inspired by the success of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, with its classically inspired Beaux-Arts buildings, Cleveland developed an architectural and urban planning strategy over the next three decades which not only resulted in the Cleveland Group Plan for Public Buildings of 1903 but also inspired an additional quarter century of impressive City Beautiful buildings for all forms of public use.

As Anne Trubek puts it, Cleveland Architecture, 1890-1930 is a stunning accomplishment. At once a history, an encyclopedia, and an analysis of the City Beautiful movement, the book contains startling original research and offers a comprehensive resource for anyone interested in Cleveland, architecture, or history. Gorgeously illustrated in a splendid hardcover format, this is a necessary book and a remarkable service to the city and to scholarship.

Jeannine deNobel Love is an independent art historian focusing on American art and architecture. She has worked at the Detroit Institute of Art and served as Director of the Intermuseum Conservation Association, a regional art conservation center in Ohio. She has written on Frank Lloyd Wright and his collaborators and on John La Farge’s stained glass in Cleveland. She has also contributed to The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art: Guide to the Collections. 

Cleveland Architecture, 1890-1930, is available at msupress.org and other fine booksellers. You can connect with the press on Facebook and @msupress on Twitter, where you can also find me @kurtmilb.

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