Summary
- The Beachland Ballroom received a Cleveland Landmark nomination.
- The Wellman-Seaver-Morgan Co. Building received Cleveland Landmark nomination, and there are plans to re-open it as a manufacturing facility. [Editor’s note: Cleveland City Council has final approval of Cleveland Landmark nominations. Learn more about the designation process.]
Follow up questions
- There are vacant manufacturing facilities all over Cleveland. How does a vacant space become a candidate for development and re-use through the Site Readiness Good Jobs Fund?
Landmarks Commission notes
- The meeting started at 9:19 a.m. [video]
- Agenda [PDF]
- All presentations [PDF]
- The following commission members were present:
- Julie Trott, chair
- Robert Strickland, vice chair
- Calley Mersmann, director of City Planning
- Michele Anderson
- Mark Duluk
- Chris Loeser
- Raymond Tarasuck Jr.
- Michael Sanbury
- Regennia Williams
Other attendees included:
- Daniel Musson, commission secretary
- Sierra Lipscomb, assistant director of Law, City of Cleveland
- Jessica Beam, Landmarks staff
- Karl Brunjes, Landmarks staff
- Diana Wellman
- Cindy Barber
Commission Member and Ward 3 City Council Member Deborah Gray was absent.
Election of Officers
Every two years, the commission nominates a chair and vice chair to serve a two-year term, Musson said.
Robert Strickland re-nominated Julie Trott for chair. Passed unanimously. Strickland nominated Chris Loeser for vice chair. Passed unanimously.
Cleveland Landmark nominations
Wellman-Seaver-Morgan Co. Building, 7000 Central Ave.
Presenter: Diana Wellman, of Naylor Wellman, LLC, a local historic preservation consulting firm.
Wellman gave an extensive history of the building. Samuel Wellman, who in 1896 cofounded the engineering and manufacturing company that gave the building part of its namesake, is her husband’s great-great-grandfather. The presentation begins on page 10 of the presentation document. The presentation has not yet been uploaded to the Landmarks Commission website. Jessica Beam said that should be done today, Jan. 9. [Editor’s note: As of Jan. 14, the file is not on the commission’s website. But you can download it here.]
The Wellman-Seaver-Morgan Co. Building at 7000 Central Ave. is a large early-20th-century industrial complex. It housed one of Cleveland’s most influential engineering firms. The company, founded by steel-industry pioneer Samuel Wellman, played a major role in designing steel mills and material-handling systems. The site is a surviving physical record of Cleveland’s leadership in industrial engineering and large-scale manufacturing innovation. The site qualifies for landmark designation locally, and Landmarks staff members anticipate it being listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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Duluk asked about the intended use of the site. Diana Wellman responded that this is a Site Ready project, with the goal to put it back to some level of industrial use. The Site Readiness Good Jobs Fund aims to turn “vacant, contaminated land into clean, development-ready sites” and set “the stage for jobs, growth and lasting community investment, according to its website.” Wellman confirmed, “There is someone that plans to take over the entire building and manufacture out of it.”
Duluk extended his support, comparing the case to others in which historic buildings are lost. “This should be the norm … however we can help facilitate, whatever it takes within City Hall and with CDC partners and everyone, so that this becomes the norm. This is what we do. We find the user [of the property] before it’s too late,” he said.
Nomination passed unanimously.
Beachland Ballroom and Tavern (former Croatian Liberty Home), 15711 Waterloo Road.
The presentation begins on page 44 of the presentation document.
Presenter: Karl Brunjes, Landmarks staff
Brunjes acknowledged former Ohio History Americorps Community Surveyor Julia LaPlaca. He said LaPlaca’s national registry questionnaire provided a great deal of information and was the basis for this presentation.
Brunjes provided a history of Croatian immigration to the Cleveland area. The Croatian Liberty Group was founded in Collinwood in 1906, and the plot of land was purchased in 1931 by Croatian Liberty Home Inc. In 1937, a frame house on the east side of the plot was converted into a club. After two decades of fundraising, plans to erect a building on the west side of the plot began.
The architecture firm of Paul Matzinger & Rudolph Grosel was hired to design the building after they had already designed numerous churches, terraces and apartment buildings in Cleveland. The hall opened in 1950 and for the next three decades held Croatian cultural events and union meetings for industrial workers. In the 1980s, the decision was made to move the space further east following the trajectory of many Croatian families, who were moving out of Cleveland proper. In 1984, the American Croatian Lodge opened in Eastlake and is still a popular venue for Croatian cultural events today. The Waterloo building went on the market in 1991.
In 2000, the building was acquired by Cindy Barber and Mark Leddy. Soon after they launched the Beachland Ballroom with the 150-person tavern opening first, followed by the ballroom’s first concert shortly thereafter.
The Beachland Ballroom and Tavern has been an anchor for revitalization of the neighborhood and is now one of many arts institutions on Waterloo Road. The property appears to be eligible for registration on the National Register of Historic Places, Brunjes said.
Barber, the co-owner, said that she’s very involved nationally in the cause of small independent music venues and started a nonprofit in 2012 called Cleveland Rocks: Past, Present, Future. She said she is working with Ohio Sen. Kent Smith (D-Euclid) on legislation to provide sales tax rebates from alcohol sales to small music venues, modeled after a Tennessee law. “We’re trying to figure out legislation … to preserve those types of at-risk places,” she said.
Vice Chair Strickland asked whether Barber had an idea of how successful Smith had been in rallying support. Barber responded, “We could use some help. It’s Senate Bill 186 … [the county has] a lobbyist that’s potentially going to help us try to work on this.” They are also seeking support for Senate Bill 187, a tax credit for music production.
Nomination passed unanimously and enthusiastically.
Suggested Reading
Landmarks Commission administrative tasks
Meeting minutes were accepted from Jan. 13, 2022.
Administrative Reports Year in Review
Beam gave an extensive year-in-review statistical summary of the work of the commission in 2025. You can find them on page 69 of the presentation document.
There was a discussion of an updated website being launched in 2026. It will hold
history and images of significance and links to GIS files. A search-by-address feature was suggested by Trott, as not everyone knows the names of the landmark buildings.
The next meeting is Jan. 22.
Meeting concluded at 10:18 a.m.
These notes are by Documenter Maria Shuckahosee.
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@signalcleveland.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.