Landscape Information
This 365-acre suburb was one of the first platted in the desirable higher ground located along an escarpment above Cleveland’s University Circle neighborhood. A forested tract at the summit of Cedar Hill, between Lake View Cemetery and Ambler Park, was purchased by a group of investors led by Patrick Calhoun, grandson of Vice President John Calhoun, in 1890. Landscape gardener Ernest Bowditch laid out the development to accommodate grand estates, arranging lots along gracious, tree-lined drives. In 1896, Calhoun, with John D. Rockefeller, Sr., gave land for the establishment of a streetcar line that connected Euclid Heights to the city. Bowditch platted three main thoroughfares divided by streetcar lines, with 40-foot-wide grassy medians now occupying the space through which they once ran. Bowditch also laid out curvilinear boulevards and linear side streets bordered by sidewalks and lawn verges dotted with trees. An eighteen-hole golf course was installed at the top of the ridge, and later broken up to create additional allotments.
In its first two decades, Euclid Heights became populated by grand, architect-designed homes predominately in Queen Anne, Colonial, Neoclassical, and Tudor Revival styles. The largest lots and homes were sited along Overlook Road, with views across a natural bluff. By 1915, Calhoun had sold his holdings in the development, and over the next two decades deed restrictions were lifted, allowing for the addition of more modest homes, apartment complexes, and commercial buildings. The newer buildings introduced a diversity of architectural styles, including Spanish Revival, Italianate, and Craftsman, but conformed to the material palette of brick, stone, and tile established by the earlier single-family residences, achieving a cohesive appearance throughout the neighborhood. The success of Euclid Heights set the stage for successive suburban developments, prompting a demographic and economic shift outside the city limits in the twentieth century.
The Euclid Heights Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.
