Cleveland Mall, Cleveland

The Cleveland Mall, located in downtown Cleveland, is a landscaped public park and a prime example of the City Beautiful movement in the United States. Conceived as part of the 1903 Group Plan by prominent architects Daniel Burnham, John Carrère, and Arnold Brunner, the Mall was designed as a monumental public space flanked by the city’s major civic and governmental buildings in the Neoclassical style.

The Mall is one of the most complete realizations of the City Beautiful movement in the United States. It was intended to transform a formerly neglected area into a magnificent civic center crowned by a Union Terminal at its northern end on the shores of Lake Erie. Although the Union Terminal was ultimately relocated to Public Square, the plan remains a largely successful execution of City Beautiful principles, emphasizing symmetry, grandeur, and open space.

The Cleveland Mall has three sections: Mall A (Veterans' Memorial Plaza) with the War Memorial Fountain, Mall B, and Mall C (Strawbridge Plaza). The Huntington Convention Center, rebuilt in 2013, lies under Malls B and C and connects to the Public Auditorium and Global Center for Health Innovation. After construction, Malls B and C reopened as elevated green spaces.

The Cleveland Mall has hosted several public art installations. In 2004, Brian Tolle exhibited ''For the gentle wind doth move silently, invisibly,'' featuring eight styrofoam urns shaped by wind data from Lake Erie, which stood until 2006. In 2008, Peter and Alissa North’s The Verdant Walk added native grasses and seven fabric sculptures lit by solar-powered LEDs, remaining until 2010. After the Mall’s reconstruction, Stephen Manka’s City of Light was installed on Mall B in 2013, using programmable light to simulate flames, inspired by flower petals and turbine designs.

The Cleveland Mall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and continues to be a prominent public space in downtown Cleveland, embodying the vision of the City Beautiful movement with its expansive green areas, architectural coherence, and historical significance.