ART & ART DECO CLEVELAND 2006
September 13-17, 2006

Ohio Bell Telephone Building (1927)

(now part of AT&T) 750 Huron Road. Hubbell & Benes, architects.

At 24 stories, this is the tallest Art Deco building in Cleveland, and mirrors the Manhattan "setback" towers that evolved under New York City's 1926 zoning laws. Ornament is kept to a minimum, and vertical emphasis is maintained by thin piers framing ribbons of windows and recessed spandrels. The concrete pad onto which this building was built was the most massive continuous pour of its day.

The comic book hero Superman was the creation of Clevelanders Jerome Siegel and Joseph Shuster in 1938. The Ohio Bell Building was the inspiration for the "Daily Planet" building featured in the comic.

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