Cuyahoga County Criminal Courts Building   Save
Ohio Guide Photographs
Description: Caption reads: "Cuyahoga County Criminal Court Building, July 1936. Cleveland, Ohio." The Cuyahoga County Criminal Courts Building was located at 1560 East Twenty-First (21st) Street, next to the Cleveland Police Department. The steel and concrete building was designed by Warner and Mitchell in the Art Deco style. The 13-story cut-back tower has a sandstone façade, while the remainder of the building is surfaced with light-colored brick. The Art Deco style was carried throughout the building’s interior and some of the light fixtures are on display at the Western Reserve Historical Society. The tower appears four-sided from the exterior, but within becomes an octagon, with a 3-story rotunda topped with a remarkable octagonal light which could be raised and lowered. Completed in 1931, the building housed courtrooms, offices for county officials and a 350 person jail, which was considered one of the most modern jail in the United States when it was built. With the construction of the new Criminal Courts Building in 1977, the building fell into disrepair. Attempts to repurpose the building for other county and local functions eventually failed and the building was demolished (sometime between 2008 and 2010) and is now the site of a large parking lot. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F09_02_01
Subjects: Cleveland (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; County courts--Ohio; Art deco (Architecture--Ohio--Pictorial works.)--United States; Demolished buildings; Western Reserve Historical Society--Archives
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)