The Allen-Sullivan House of Cleveland’s Millionaire’s Row

All, All Abandoned, Famous People & Places, Homes, Ohio, UncategorizedDecember 28, 2020June 20, 2021No Comment

The Allen-Sullivan House of Cleveland’s Millionaire’s Row

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Euclid Avenue

Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio stretches 19 miles from Cleveland’s Public Square to the suburb of Willoughby as a part of U.S. Route 20 and U.S. Route 6. Between Public Square and the area that was once known as Millionaire’s Row, you’ll pass Playhouse Square, Cleveland State University, the famous Agora Theater and Ballroom and numerous businesses from ALDI to local coffee shops, food markets and restaurants. Today the Avenue is still one of the busiest areas leading travelers through Cleveland as it has become a main area for not only workers and business owners, but tourism to pass through the city as well. While sections of Euclid Avenue on its west end operated as thriving business districts during early years, Millionaire’s Row to the east was filled rather with beautiful homes. If we look back to the mid-1800s, we will see that today this section of the Avenue is a complete parallel to what it once was; an area where some of the wealthiest, most prominent businessmen, doctors and industrialists called home.

In fact, one of the few areas remaining along the avenue to still operate as it did during the early days of Cleveland’s growth is Playhouse Square — the country’s second largest theatre district next to New York City’s Broadway theatre district. Playhouse Square is only rivaled in size by Lincoln Center.

During Cleveland’s earlier days as a growing city, Euclid Avenue had become known as one of the most beautiful residential streets in the world, rivaling even two of the most adored streets in the world at the time — Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris and the Unter den Linden in Berlin. During the late 19th century, the amount of combined wealth between all of the residents along the Avenue surpassed New York’s famous Fifth Avenue.

Notable residents

People to live along the “Millionaire’s Row” section of the Avenue included John D. Rockefeller, Sylvester T. Everett, Isaac N. Pennock I (inventor of the first steel railway car in the US), Charles F. Brush (inventor of the arc light), George Worthington, Horace Weddell, US Senator Marcus Hanna, Ambrose Swasey of Warner & Swasey, Amasa Stone, John Hay (personal secretary to Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State under William McKinley), Jeptha Wade (Cleveland benefactor and founder of Western Union Telegraph), Charles Lathrop Pack, and more. Of course one of the most notable and arguably memorable names along the Avenue was the infamous Cassie Chadwick, but that’s a story for another time.

Richard N. Allen

There were once over 300 incredible homes standing along Euclid Avenue, but only a handful remain today. Among those remaining in 2020 is the grand home of Richard N. Allen, and his wife, Susan Allen; though unfortunately, the house was never designated as a historic landmark, and will not be standing for much longer as there are plans to demolish the home.

Allen was a railroad engineer known for revolutionizing passenger railway travel during the 19th century. A large portion of his wealth came from his invention of the paper car wheel, which helped to dampen wheel noise and vibrations on train cars, making for a much more pleasant ride for travelers. The wheels were constructed of wrought iron or steel with an interlayer of laminated paper. In the center of the wheels, paper was compressed and held between two plate-iron discs. These wheels were most commonly used on Pullman dining and sleeping cars.

Richard was born in Massachusetts in 1827, but would move to Cleveland for the first time around 1860. He resided in the city for a handful of years before moving back to Massachusetts. In 1867, Allen started the Allen Paper Car Wheel company with his brother-in-law, and would eventually open a factory near the Pullman Company’s factory complex in Chicago. After opening the factory, Allen would move back to Cleveland in 1881. Having built a great deal of wealth through his business ventures, he moved him and his wife into a home on Euclid Avenue, alongside some of the richest people in America.

Moving to Euclid Avenue

Initially they purchased a home formerly owned by Ephraim J. Estep, a distinguished Cleveland attorney. The home, located on the south side of the Avenue, was built by a founder of the Joseph & Feiss Company during the 1850s. It sat just a few houses away from East 71st street, which at the time was known as Giddings Avenue. At the time, the section of Euclid Avenue from Giddings to East Madison (now East 79th street) was not as wealthy or desirable of an area as the section between East 22nd and East 40th; the area officially known as “Millionaire’s Row.” While not the same level of wealth as Millionaire’s Row, the area was still quite grand and desirable. In their section of the neighborhood you could find other notable figures neighboring their home, such as Morris Bradley, heir to a shipping fortune and the feather of future Cleveland Indian’s owner Alva Bradley, Dr. Hiram Little, a physician who would eventually become one of the largest real estate developers in Cleveland, Edward Lewis, co-founder of Otis Steel Company, J. H. Thorp, vice-president of Forest City Varnish Company, Hiram Haydn, pastor of the Old Stone Church and eventual President of Western Reserve University, and the largest coal and coke operator in the United States – William J. Rainey.

When they moved in, there were nineteen impressive homes between East 71st and East 79th streets. In a matter of about 20 years, 17 more homes were built, totaling 36. Most of the homes built during this time were of the Queen Anne architectural style, which was the most popular architectural style between 1880-1910. This architectural style included features such as fine brickwork, varied with terracotta panels, or tile-hung upper stories with white painted woodwork, or sometimes limestone detailing. Other decorative elements included oriel windows, which were often stacked one above another, corner towers, wraparound front porches, and deeply shadowed entrances among other things.

Richard and Susan build a new home

In 1887, after residing in the Estep House for six years, Richard and Susan decided to tear it down to make way for a new three-story, 9,000 square foot Queen Anne style house to be built in its place. One of the most notable architectural features of the home is an unusually wide, off-center bay on the right side of the home. The bay rises up onto the roof, almost becoming a turret, though a true turret can be found on the left side of the home’s front facade.

Richard’s death

Unfortunately in 1890, shortly after the home’s construction was completed, Allen suddenly died at the age of 63. For the next 8 years, Susan would continue to occupy the house before moving back to Massachusetts. After she moved, the home was sold to Jeremiah J. Sullivan, Irish immigrant and founder of Central National Bank, which had become one of Cleveland’s largest banks during the twentieth century. The company is also responsible for constructing the AmTrust Financial Building in 1968, which at the time was known as the Central National Bank Building, and was the fifth-tallest building in downtown Cleveland.

When the Sullivan family moved into the home in 1898, Euclid Avenue was seeing its peak, as more of the country’s wealthiest people continued to move in. Worchester Warner & Ambrose Swasey, life-long friends and founders of Warner and Swasey, built homes next to each other. Dan Hanna, future owner and publisher of the Cleveland Leader and the Cleveland News also lived just up the street from the Sullivans.

The decline of Euclid Avenue

The Sullivans, among these other families would see not only the rise of the Avenue, but its eventual decline as well. In 1923, shortly after Jeremiah’s death, the Sullivan family moved out of the house. At this point, Euclid Avenue had already started to see a decline as Cleveland’s elite were leaving, some headed east to Cleveland Heights. This was a result of commercial businesses starting to take up much of the Avenue, and the road becoming crowded with streetcars and other traffic. A growing nearby ghetto was also a noted reason people continued to move. As the Great Depression hit, some mansions were converted to rooming houses and more wealthy residents fled the area. By 1930, only two elite families remained on Euclid Avenue in the section between East 71st and East 79th Streets–Ambrose Swasey, who lived in his home until his death in 1937, and David Z. Norton’s son, who would eventually head to Cleveland Heights in 1939 leaving the family mansion behind.

Multiple owners over the years

Throughout the twentieth century, many of the mansions were demolished, while others were put to various uses as commercial buildings, multi-family homes and institutional facilities. The Allen-Sullivan House was one of a handful of mansions saved to be repurposed, and would change hands of ownership numerous times over the following nearly 80 years. From 1923-1931, the home operated as an upscale furniture store called The Josephine Shop. In 1934, the Grand Lodge of Ohio, Order Sons of Italy (SOI) in America took over the house. The Italian-American fraternal organization made the addition of an auditorium to the back of the house, making it their Ohio Grand Lodge. The auditorium was large enough to seat 200 people. A dedication ceremony was held on June 2, 1935, which was attended by local, state and foreign dignitaries. One in attendance was the Italian ambassador. This was a historic moment for Ohio, as it was the first time that an ambassador from Italy had visited the state.

The fraternity occupied the house until 1946, when they decided to sell it to the American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers, who would then open a national research laboratory there. The group known today as ASHRAE–the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, operated the research laboratory here from 1946-1961. Three years later, the property was once again sold, this time to Mary Fisco, spouse of Italian immigrant Benjamin Fisco. Benjamin restored the home to its condition as it existed during the years when it was owned by the Sons of Italy. He would then go on to open and operate a part center here known for years by the name of the Coliseum (or Colosseum) Party Center. In the late 1990s, years after Benjamin’s death in 1992, the party center was closed and the home was abandoned. Since about the year 2000, the home has sat vacant, falling into disrepair.

Set to be demolished

In 2020, the home is now slated to be demolished as the city of Cleveland looks to further develop the Midtown Corridor along Euclid Avenue. Since 2017, there have been efforts from ASHRAE to at least place an Ohio historical marker on the site of the house to commemorate their national research laboratory, which operated here from 1946-1961. This has still been met with no answer.

It’s unfortunate to see one of the few remaining grand mansions of Cleveland’s history become no more than a rotting shell of something once so lively and beautiful. It’s even more unfortunate to know that its inevitable fate is to be reduced to a pile of dust and bricks by a wrecking ball with visions of office buildings to take its place.