Broadway Avenue Historic District

Broadway Avenue and East 55th Street form the center of a compact commercial district on Cleveland's southeast side. It holds 43 buildings built between 1888 and about 1930, plus a church and a school, mostly one to six stories and set directly at the sidewalk. The street grew as a retail strip along the Broadway streetcar line and served Cleveland's Czech community, which was second in size only to Chicago's. Czech settlers moved southeast along Broadway from earlier neighborhoods as they found work in the industrial Flats. The architecture is varied. Neo-Classical bank buildings are a main feature, alongside a turreted Queen Anne corner building, the Victorian Italianate Zverina Block, the Second Renaissance Revival Hruby Conservatory, and a decagonal public library branch. Local architects such as Andrew Mitermiler, Emile Uhlrich and Charles Morris contributed designs. Storefront alterations and signs are common, but the district keeps its low-scale commercial character. It was listed for its ethnic heritage and its architecture.