Society for Savings Building

Related person

Daniel Hudson Burnham (architect)

Date

1889-1890 (built)

Location

North and Central America->United States->Ohio->Cleveland

Description

The Society for Savings Bank Building was Cleveland's first skyscraper. The ten-story building was completely rehabilitated to serve the needs of the bank and connect it to their new, adjoining 55-story tower. The program also included extensive restoration of the exterior, the ground floor banking hall, and the mezzanine boardroom. In order to connect existing floors to the new tower, a new structural system capable of supporting the required floor loadings was inserted within the outer stone bearing wall above the ground (main banking hall) level. The original second floor was replaced with a large space frame that transfers loads from the six new columns to the original fourteen columns in the banking hall.
Keywords: Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, Commercial structures, multistory buildings, historic preservation, adaptive reuse, views, masonry unit construction. Submitted by Kara Gustafson.

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