musical accompaniment: Nobody’s Dirty Business by Mississippi John Hurt

I think the Cleveland Arcade is one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve ever visited. In fact, if you’ve ever been there, you might recognize the Arcade in this website’s banner.

This photo was made by Carol Highsmith. It’s obviously a modern photograph but I wanted to use color to contrast it to the Rotterdam Arcade which is a photochrom print.

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The Arcade was designed by John Eisenmann and built in 1890, when Cleveland was an ascendant city. it was one of the earliest indoor shopping malls in the United States.  The basement and first floor still have small shops and restaurants. The offices on the top two floors are used by the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

I haven’t visited Rotterdam but I was interested to see this photograph since their Arcade was built around the same time and in the same style.

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I couldn’t find a lot of information about the Rotterdam Arcade or even whether the building is still standing. I hope so! What a beautiful building it is.