{"nrhp_refnum":"82001368","name":"Karamu House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2355 E. 89th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cleveland","county":"Cuyahoga County","state":"OH","lat":41.493753093000066,"lon":-81.62364168899995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-12-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Performing Arts"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Karamu House is a two-story community arts center at 2355 East 89th Street at Quincy Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. The present building dates from 1949-1959, and the organization began in 1915.","why_significant":"The nomination calls Karamu House of exceptional recent significance as a multipurpose social center and biracial Afro-American community theater active since 1915. It began as the Playhouse Settlement, founded by social workers Russell and Rowena Jelliffe, and was named Karamu in 1927. The reviewer recommended Criterion A.","narrative":"Karamu House is a community arts center at East 89th Street and Quincy Avenue in Cleveland. Its two-story building, designed by Small, Smith, Reeb & Draz, has an irregular plan of massed rectangular blocks that hold meeting rooms, classrooms and two theaters: a proscenium theater seating 223 and an arena theater seating 140. The exterior is brick with large areas of metal sash windows, ornamental cast spandrels, a flat overhanging cornice and aluminum doors. The institution traces its origins to 1915, when social workers Russell and Rowena Jelliffe started the Playhouse Settlement. It was renamed Karamu, a Swahili phrase meaning place of joyful meeting, in 1927, and moved into the present building in 1949. The nomination describes it as a multipurpose social center and biracial Afro-American community theater of exceptional significance. It stands on a busy corner in an urban residential and commercial neighborhood in the heart of Cleveland's Black community. The building remains in use as an arts center and is in good condition.","period_of_significance":"1915; 1949-1959","architect_builder":"Small, Smith, Reeb & Draz","architectural_style":"International Style vernacular (listed as Modern)","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Listed in good condition inside and out, and in use as a community arts center.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:14.824943-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/82001368.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001368/a88ec0b9b0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001368/a88ec0b9b0-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 1.0","author":"Christopher Busta-Peck","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Karamu_House_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:Karamu_House_Cleveland_Ohio.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71984710","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karamu_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6368358"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/cuyahoga-county/karamu-house-82001368/"}