Cleveland's Downtown Architecture

Book excerpt: Downtown Cleveland has many architectural landmarks that define this big, proud city on the lake. Most famous is Terminal Tower, the "grand dame" of Cleveland skyscrapers, which was the tallest office building outside of New York City from 1930 until 1967. Other notable high-rises such as the BP building, Key Tower (at 948 feet one of the tallest in the nation), and the new Federal Court House with its distinctive lighted cornice also dominate the city's beautiful Lake Erie skyline. And then there are the details-the terra-cotta "starburst" motif on the exterior of the Standard Building, the extensive metal decorative work inside the gargoyle-encircled atrium of The Arcade, and the immense stained-glass dome of the Cleveland Trust Rotunda.