Lower Prospect-Huron Historic District

Seven blocks of downtown Cleveland around Prospect Avenue, Huron Road and East 9th Street form a commercial district of 27 contributing buildings. They were built between 1889 and the late 1920s, with later additions and remodelings. The buildings range from one to 22 stories and are of brick bearing-wall or steel-frame construction. Most stand at the property line with shops at street level. Neoclassical design predominates, and architectural terra cotta appears on many facades and cornices. Notable examples include the Caxton Building, the Halle Bros. department store buildings, the Cleveland Grays Armory, the Rose Building, and the 22-story Ohio Bell Telephone Building. The two diagonal streets cross at East 9th Street to make a six-point star, which produced unusual vistas and irregular plans such as the flat-iron Osborn Building. The district was recognized for its role in Cleveland's commerce and for the variety of its commercial architecture, with significance running from 1889 to 1949. Two later resources, a pedestrian mall and an altered grille building, do not contribute.