{"nrhp_refnum":"79001809","name":"Wheatley, Phillis, Association","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4450 Cedar Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cleveland","county":"Cuyahoga County","state":"OH","lat":41.50006387500008,"lon":-81.65497422599998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-08-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A nine-story brick and steel residential tower with a rear auditorium-gymnasium wing at 4450 Cedar Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, built in 1927 and dedicated in 1928 to designs by Hubbell & Benes.","why_significant":"It houses the Phillis Wheatley Association, founded in 1911 by Jane Edna Hunter, which was the principal Black social agency in Cleveland for many years. The building was purpose-built for the organization's program rather than adapted from a secondhand structure. It is also considered a significant work of architecture and a last echo of the Chicago style in Cleveland.","narrative":"Rising nine stories above Cedar Avenue in Cleveland, this brick-walled, steel-framed tower was built in 1927 and dedicated in 1928 for the Phillis Wheatley Association. Architects Benjamin S. Hubbell and W. Dominick Benes gave it plain rectangular windows, an arcade across the upper two stories, a stone balcony over the arched entrance, and a flaring coved brick cornice recalling Chicago's Monadnock Building. A two-story auditorium-gymnasium wing stands at the rear. Jane Edna Hunter founded the association in 1911 to provide a safe home for single Black women arriving in the city, starting with a leased 23-room house. Fund-raising for a purpose-built building began in 1922, supported by a $100,000 pledge from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. A day-care and music school addition was attached in 1957, and in 1972 the building became a residence for the elderly. It is recognized for its social role in Cleveland's Black community and as a late example of Chicago-style design.","period_of_significance":"1911; 1927","architect_builder":"Hubbell & Benes","architectural_style":"Chicago style idiom","criteria":[],"status_note":"Converted in 1972 from a home for working girls to a residence for the elderly; it continues to serve the Black community in Cleveland.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:12.281622-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/79001809.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001809/1bffc0ff1e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001809/1bffc0ff1e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 1.0","author":"Christopher Busta-Peck","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phillis_Wheatley_Association_Cleveland_Ohio.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Christopher Busta-Peck</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 1.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phillis_Wheatley_Association_Cleveland_Ohio.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71987773","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q137699083"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/cuyahoga-county/wheatley-phillis-association-79001809/"}