Architecture Tour

Downtown Cleveland is rich with historic architecture—streets lined with buildings that reflect the city’s rise in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many of these iconic structures, designed by notable architects, continue to define the skyline today.

Explore the architectural legacy that shaped Cleveland’s urban landscape, highlighting key styles, design elements, and the role of architecture and planning in the city’s evolution. From grand civic spaces to early skyscrapers, you’ll gain insight into the artistry and function behind these enduring landmarks.

In collaboration with the American Institute of Architects, Cleveland Chapter, the tour uncovers the stories behind the facades and the visionary minds who built them.

Characters you may meet along the tour: Daniel Burnham, Levi Schofield, or I.M. Pei.

Early Cleveland to Beaux-Arts Route
Explore Cleveland’s architectural legacy beginning at Public Square, originally designed as a New England–style village green and the civic heart of early Cleveland. From there, trace the city’s evolution through Civil War–era buildings in the Warehouse District to the Beaux-Arts grandeur of The Malls, where stately civic architecture and planned public spaces reflect a city shaping its identity and ambition.

Modernism Route
Discover the architecture north of Euclid Avenue along East 9th and East 12th Streets, where Erieview’s Modernist vision took shape through a “city in the park” concept—introducing open space, clean lines, and forward-looking design in a transformative chapter of Cleveland’s architectural story.