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Ohio inventions and firsts · Achievement · 1890

Cleveland Arcade

The Arcade at 401 Euclid Avenue opened May 30, 1890; designed by John Eisenmann and George H. Smith, it is one of the earliest indoor shopping arcades in the United States (NHL 1975).

At a glance

Year
1890
Place
Cleveland, Cuyahoga County ZIP 44114 · Cleveland · Cuyahoga County

The story

In the late 1800s, European cities had grand covered shopping galleries, and Cleveland's business leaders wanted one. The model was the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan.

The Cleveland Arcade opened on Memorial Day, May 30, 1890. Designers John Eisenmann and George H. Smith put two nine-story buildings on either side of a five-story arcade under a glass skylight over 300 feet long and 100 feet high, with about 1,800 panes of glass.

It cost $867,000, roughly $31 million in 2025 dollars. The money came from John D. Rockefeller, Stephen V. Harkness, Mark Hanna and Charles F. Brush, Cleveland's leading industrialists.

The Arcade went on the National Register of Historic Places on March 20, 1973 and became a National Historic Landmark on May 15, 1975. In 2001 Hyatt turned it into Cleveland's first Hyatt Regency hotel; the two lower atrium floors remain open to the public as shops and restaurants, and the skylight was replaced that year.

Timeline

  • 1890-05-30: The Arcade opens on Memorial Day. (Cleveland, OH) source
  • 1973-03-20: Added to the National Register of Historic Places. (Cleveland, OH) source
  • 1975-05-15: Designated a National Historic Landmark. (Cleveland, OH) source
  • 2001: Reopens as a Hyatt Regency with a new skylight. (Cleveland, OH) source

What it changed

  • Cost $867,000 to build.
  • A skylight of about 1,800 panes spans over 300 feet.

Why it matters

Landmark.

Places in Ohio to see

Further reading

Sources

Confidence. Medium: the main facts were confirmed, but some details (often an address or ZIP code) were not.