Switzer Apartments was constructed in 1907 for George Switzer. Designed by prolific Cleveland architect, Paul Matzinger, Switzer Apartments offered luxurious accommodations at what was the rural edge of the city. Located on the Superior Avenue streetcar line, its residents could easily commute to work in Cleveland’s downtown without the need for a horse and buggy or horseless carriage. Switzer Apartments, a three-story building with a basement, had six three-bedroom units, six two-bedroom units, and a small manager’s unit in the basement. The building offered centralized steam heat and hot water supplied by a basement boiler.

Rockefeller Park, a miles-long linear park, was developed immediately in front of Switzer Apartments. As this photo from 1936 shows, the American Legion Peace Gardens monument originally stood directly in front of the Switzer Apartments. Later, many individual gardens were developed in Rockefeller Park, constituting the Cleveland Cultural Gardens.

During the 1960s, the general area suffered decline, and a series of landlords failed to adequately maintain the building. By 2010, the last resident moved out, and the building was abandoned and boarded up. Meanwhile, starting in the mid-2000s, the area immediately surrounding Switzer began to revitalize. On East 101st Street, many older homes were demolished and replaced with brand new homes designed in a historically compatible style. Yet, the Switzer building, the most visible in the neighborhood, stood vacant, forlorn, and looking for love.

Around this time, Switzer Apartments was designated a Cleveland Landmark, as city leaders hoped that someone would save it.

In 2019, our group acquired Switzer Apartments for a nominal amount at a tax sale. In 2020, Switzer Apartments was named a contributing building in the East Boulevard Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. This allowed us to undertake a certified historic rehabilitation under the auspices of the National Park Service and the Ohio State Historic Preservation Office. We also applied and were awarded tax credits by the Ohio Department of Development through the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program. This was an extremely competitive process, and a letter of recommendation for our project from longtime Cleveland Mayor Frank G. Jackson put us on top. With tax credits secured, we began a complete renovation of the building in 2021.

At every step of the renovation, we have sought to maintain the historical integrity and character of the building, while also meeting the stringent green building standards set by Enterprise Green Communities. Wherever possible, we have saved features such as historic lumber, trim, door hardware, windows, and other architectural elements, while updating the windows and doors to modern efficiencies with carefully selected and placed weatherstripping. In this way, we have saved numerous items from being discarded in a landfill. All mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems have been fully replaced with new modern systems. To help reduce our carbon footprint, Switzer is an all-electric building with ultra high efficiency central heat pumps that provide heating in the winter and cooling in the summer. We have also prewired our units for high-speed Internet service through Spectrum, with ethernet cabling and conduits to provide future upgrades.

Our team finished the east half of the building with the six three-bedroom apartments in June 2024, and we plan to finish the western half of the building with six two-bedroom apartments in early 2025.