The more things change, the more they stay the same.
A century ago, the city of Cleveland was eager to work with the private railroads to replace its undersized, outdated lakefront train station with a glamorous new downtown terminal. The new lakefront station would be a key component of its ambitious Group Plan designed by Daniel Burnham to remake the central business district into a setting of beautiful public buildings built along a park-like mall.
But two brothers from the eastern suburbs began developing Shaker Heights, rapid transit lines and a $1.8 billion (in today's dollars) downtown station complex for railroads, public transportation, office towers, luxury hotel, department store and post office. Both plans were achieved, although the Group Plan was built without the railroad station. The Van Sweringen brothers' Cleveland Union Terminal was constructed instead, crowned by Terminal Tower.
No comments:
Post a Comment