former The May Company and Kaufmann's; Cedar-Center Plaza, University Heights, Ohio. 1950s exterior view. (photo courtesy Pat Richardson) 
former The May Company and Kaufmann's; Cedar-Center Plaza, University Heights, Ohio. Exterior sign. (photo courtesy Pat Richardson) The May Company's Ohio division built its largest branch store in University Heights, Ohio at Cedar-Center Plaza in 1956. The four-level store included a nine-story warehouse (six stories tall, with three sub basements) attached to the south side of the main store, designed to handle furniture distribution for Cleveland's east side.
The red brick warehouse facility, designed to look like an integrated part of the colossal store, was only used for a short time. The warehouse remained empty from 1960 until the University Heights store was demolished in the 1990s.
Great views of a classic - one of Victor Gruen's lesser known works. That "liberty bell" sign is too cool!
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed that they never converted the warehouse into some sort of retail space.
I had no idea Victor Gruen designed this store. It's a classic to be sure. The bell has something to do with David May. It's been years since I read the story, but it had some kind of significance to him.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason the warehouse was never converted to retail space is because of the sheer size of this store. I think it was over 400,000 square feet, not counting the warehouse.
May overestimated the market for this location, and by the time they built out the market, the store was really oversized. The replacement Kaufmann's store at Richmond Town Square was barely half that size.
All I can say here, Steven, is WOW! Some amazing photos. And Dave's right, the liberty bell sign is too cool. This speaks to me because I am orginally from Cleveland and grew up on the east side of town. Sad this was virtually gone by the time I came around.
ReplyDeleteWhile, we were never big on traditional department stores, my mother does hold fond of memories of the May Co.
A little hometown flavor for you? Cool! Glad you liked them. I didn't grow up with The May Company, but the photos here (and the future photos to be posted...soon) show they have a certain flair.
ReplyDeletehere's the story on the bell, as told to me by the cedar center may company store's first general manager. the bell originally was mounted on top of may's downtown store. every time a ship would dock at the port of cleveland the bell would be rung, signaling to local merchants to man their stores. when the store was built in university heights, the bell was retrieved from a warehouse and mounted at the corner of cedar & warrensville roads. so much for history. now for the present & future. my company has redeveloped the southwest corner of the intersection [whole foods, cvs, dollar tree, tuesday morning, first watch, and others] and is preparing to redevelop the northwest corner, which is in the city of south euclid.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the history of the bell!
ReplyDeleteThis store lasted longer than the 1980s. I have been inside the store, and I didn't get to Cleveland for the first time until 1993. IIRC, that was the year that the downtown store was closed and all the branches (including this one) were rebranded Kaufmann's. I remember it was really big, a throwback to the era when May Co built huge suburban stores, like Lakewood, Redondo Beach, and Covina in CA.
ReplyDeleteI've corrected the post. Thanks for the information.
ReplyDeleteAbout a year before they closed the store they had a sale in the basement. It had been closed for about 20 years. I had to go check it out. They were selling old display cases & assorted junk. The only way down was some stairs in that warehouse. Very creepy. Wouldn't have wanted to go down there alone.
ReplyDeleteAwesome. I would have liked to seen that.
ReplyDelete