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Sterling-Lindner Co.

Buildings and structures in ClevelandCompanies based in ClevelandCompanies disestablished in 1968Defunct companies based in ClevelandDefunct department stores based in Cleveland
Retail companies established in 1845
SLDavis
SLDavis

Sterling Lindner Davis (SLD) was a major department store in downtown Cleveland's Theater District which operated from 1845 (with the founding of Sterling & Welch) to 1968. The retailer was primarily known for displaying the largest decorated Christmas tree in the state of Ohio, this tradition started in 1927. At their peak, Cleveland's department stores (May, Higbee's, Bailey's, Taylor's, Halle, and SLD or the big six) were one of the largest shopping districts in the United States. Before the explosive growth of Cleveland's suburban post World War II housing boom, people would flock to downtown's Euclid Avenue dressed in the finery of their Sunday best to shop in these huge stores that carried everything from clothing and jewelry to furniture and housewares. Though the idea of the largest tree in Cleveland is an attributed to Higbee's in A Christmas Story in 1983, the tradition was actually that of SLD, not Higbee's, which were in fact (along with May and Halle) huge rivals and constantly attempting to outdo each other in ever growing extravagance of merchandise and audacity of style. Sterling Lindner Davis was a conglomeration of three previously separate companies: Sterling & Welch, Lindner Co., and W. B. DavisCo. Lindner & Davis was bought by Allied Stores in 1947, which then bought out Sterling & Welch, and the store became known as Sterling Lindner Davis in 1951. The store closed to little notice (due to the birth of malls and outlets) in 1968. By the end of the 1990s, none of the "big six" Cleveland department stores was still in operation.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Sterling-Lindner Co. (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Sterling-Lindner Co.
Euclid Avenue, Cleveland

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Latitude Longitude
N 41.501194444444 ° E -81.683527777778 °
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The Sterling Building

Euclid Avenue 1255
44115 Cleveland
Ohio, United States
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Cleveland Athletic Club
Cleveland Athletic Club

The Cleveland Athletic Club (CAC) was a historic organization founded in 1908. Founding members included Mayor Charles A. Otis, Walter Baker, and Elbert Baker; banker William Parmalee Murray was its first president.In 1911 the organization commissioned a 15-story social club building at 1118 Euclid Avenue, a structure with facilities for its boxing tournaments, office space, a 12-room hotel, a dining room, an eight-lane bowling alley, a basketball court, and many other amenities. Olympic and Hollywood swimmer Johnny Weissmueller broke the record for the 15-yard backstroke in the club's penthouse pool in 1922.The architect was J. Milton Dyer, who also designed the Cleveland City Hall. Murals in the club were among the first commissions of American muralist William P. Welsh. The building is a contributing property to the city's Euclid Avenue Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places, and a part of the Nine-Twelve District as designated by the Downtown Cleveland Alliance. The club was in financial difficulty in 2007. It closed its doors permanently on December 31, 2007 because of "sagging membership and financial problems".In 2015, the building was sold for $3.3 million in a sheriff's sale, with announced plans for its conversion into a residential or mixed-use property. As of early 2020 the building had been extensively renovated into a luxury apartment building called "The Athelon".Another, earlier Cleveland Athletic Club was established in 1890, with early baseball executive Frank Robison as its President. Despite an impressive new headquarters in the former Dodge mansion at 500 Euclid Avenue, and despite a large membership, it appears to have faded after 1895.

Ohio Theatre (Cleveland, Ohio)
Ohio Theatre (Cleveland, Ohio)

The Mimi Ohio Theatre is a theater on Euclid Avenue in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, part of Playhouse Square. The theater was built by Marcus Loew's Loew's Ohio Theatres company. It was designed by Thomas W. Lamb in the Italian Renaissance style, and was intended to present legitimate plays. The theater opened on February 14, 1921, with 1,338 seats. The foyer featured three murals depicting the story of Venus, and the balcony contained paintings of Arcadia. Throughout the 1920s, the Ohio had a stock company and hosted traveling Broadway plays. In 1935, the theater was redecorated in an Art Deco style and transformed into a supper club called the Mayfair Casino. The owners hoped to turn the establishment into an actual casino, but since gambling was not allowed in Ohio, the Mayfair closed in 1936. The Loew's Theatres chain reopened the Ohio in 1943 as a first-run movie theater. A 1964 lobby fire also damaged the auditorium interior. The theater was reopened again after the lobby was rebuilt along modern lines. The auditorium was painted red to hide smoke damage. Decreasing patronage caused the theater to close in early February 1969, along with the rest of the Playhouse Square theaters. Twice the Ohio and State Theatres were threatened with razing in order to build a parking lot; in 1972, when the buildings were saved by public outcry, and again in 1977. The Playhouse Square Foundation responded by obtaining a long-term lease for the theaters, and the Loew's Building was purchased by Cuyahoga County. In 1978, the Ohio was added to the National Register of Historic Places, along with the rest of the Playhouse Square group. Because of the extent of the building's fire damage, the Ohio was originally slated to be the last of the group to undergo renovation, but plans were accelerated so that the theater could become the home of the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival. The $4 million restoration took less than nine months, and on July 9, 1982, the Ohio Theatre became the first Playhouse Square theater to reopen, with 1,000 seats, playing Shakespeare's As You Like It. The 1964 fire had so badly damaged the lobby that funding and time allowed for only a simple, contemporary design for the space in 1982. In 2016, Playhouse Square re-created the original 1921 lobby. The space was renamed "the George Gund Foundation Lobby" in recognition of a contribution that made the re-creation possible.