The Arcade: 1966

Thank you so much for this. I am a Clevelander who knows and loves the Arcade. It is so interesting to see a glimpse of it as it looked two months before I was born. I was fortunate enough to see the building in Sydney, which another poster referenced above. I love this grand style and so happy to see it preserved.

Sydney, Australia has a similar building, the Queen Victoria Building. Saved from the wrecker's ball in 1959, it was restored in the 1980s. The building is on four levels and opened in 1898.

http://www.sydneyarchitecture.com/cbd/cbd3-007.htm

This is about the year my mother introduced me to downtown Cleveland, specifically Euclid Avenue and this arcade. Really a shame it's all but dead due to suburban malls. It was truly a magic time for this 8-year-old boy.

When friends tell me they'll be visiting the Rock Hall of Fame, I always urge them to stop at nearby Arcade...always breathtaking upon its first viewing, especially 'cause there's little hint from the exterior as to what awaits within.

Me, I used to walk through on workday lunch hours in the 70s. I remember the real-deal office supply store, "marking devices" and all, as well as Willis Music, a great place to pick up long-out-of-print scores and sheet music. Ahhhh, the memories -- thanks, Dave, for posting this one!

Sometime in the late 80's, I installed a 7 hour photo lab (those were the days!) on the second floor of the Arcade and took a very long lunch to photograph this magnificent place. One of the details that amazed me were the animal head gargoyles that were mounted on the beam ends just under the roof. You can see them in the blow up of the photo above, they seem to be painted white. By the 1980's, they were gilded.

I would say the lamps are in the Art Nouveau style, which was at its peak of popularity at the turn of the (19th) century.

Cold enough for boots and coats, but not a single (or indeed married) woman in pants.

You just don't find many restaurants that serve supper nowadays. I guess "dinner" sounds classier. I'd love to eat supper at the Clover.

Here is a view of the arcade as it appeared on Aug. 23, 2008. The image was taken as I participated in Scott Kelby's 1st worldwide photowalk.

The lamps at the foot of the steps in the foreground (along with the railing) appear to be in the Art Deco style, especially the bases of the lampposts. Maybe they were installed in the 1930s.