Lorain Avenue Commercial Historic District

Lorain Avenue between West 32nd and West 58th Streets in Cleveland forms a mile-long commercial strip on the southern edge of the Ohio City neighborhood. It holds 99 contributing buildings, most of them two- to three-story structures with shops below and residences or offices above. Styles include Italianate, Romanesque, Queen Anne, High Victorian Commercial and Commercial Vernacular, and the district has the city's largest concentration of Italianate-influenced commercial buildings. Notable examples include a former livery stable with Mansard roofs from about 1871, a three-story Romanesque furniture store built in 1892 and 1896, and a classical savings and trust bank of 1917. Streetcar lines, first horse-drawn and later electric, encouraged the growth of the strip. Later additions include a 1920s service station and a 1935 diner. Vacant storefronts, demolition and new construction have altered the street, but its architectural variety and its record of changing urban commercial life led to its listing.