Architecture Tour (2026)

Terminal Tower (1930) is the crown of Cleveland's skyline, a Beaux-Arts skyscraper. Key Tower (1991) is the tallest building in Ohio at 947 feet. The Old Arcade (1890) is a five-story Victorian-era shopping arcade with a stunning skylit atrium, one of the earliest indoor shopping centers in the country. The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland on Superior Avenue is a dramatic Renaissance Revival building with massive bronze doors. Walking the blocks around Public Square covers over a century of architectural styles.

Severance Music Center, designed by Walker and Weeks in 1931, is a neoclassical masterpiece with Art Deco interiors. The Cleveland Museum of Art combines its original 1916 Beaux-Arts building with Marcel Breuer's 1971 Brutalist addition and Rafael Vinoly's 2012 glass-and-steel atrium. The Museum of Contemporary Art by Farshid Moussavi is a faceted, mirror-clad form. The Peter B. Lewis Building by Frank Gehry is a signature example of deconstructivist style.

Shaker Heights was one of America's first planned communities, developed in the 1920s with strict architectural standards. Cleveland Heights' Cedar-Fairmount area has excellent Arts and Crafts bungalows. Tremont features a mix of Victorian workers' cottages, renovated row houses, and modern infill. The Clifton Boulevard corridor in Lakewood is lined with grand early 20th-century apartment buildings.

The Detroit-Superior Bridge (Veterans Memorial Bridge) opened in 1917 and features a lower deck that once carried streetcars; tours of the abandoned lower level are offered seasonally. The Hope Memorial Bridge, with its Art Deco Guardians of Traffic pylons, is one of the most photographed structures in Cleveland. Cleveland's industrial infrastructure, including the ore docks along the Cuyahoga River, draws photographers and architecture enthusiasts.