People wanted bathrooms, a cafe and a water feature in addition to an expansive lawn and plenty of shade. After an uninspiring update in 1986, Public Square was again up for a facelift in 2009, and the current design was completed just in time for the GOP Convention in 2016.
Dating to 1796 when the city was founded, Public Square has been the heart of Cleveland ever since. It’s the region’s central gathering space and the city’s tallest towers surround the Square, visible from 20 miles away.
Meet Tony Coyne, former chair of the Group Plan Commission that oversaw the remaking of Cleveland’s Public Square, as he describes some of the items the public wanted to see:
Public Square has always been big, much larger than other civic spaces such as Fountain Square in Cincinnati, Campus Martius Park in Detroit or Union Square in San Francisco.
During most of its history, the Square consisted of four quadrants with streets running through them, and it was hoped that the latest iteration would finally unify the space. After a battle with the local transit agency, an east-west busway was allowed through the center, although the whole Square can be closed off for special events.
Below is an overview of Cleveland’s Public Square:
We tell the story of Public Square in a piece that compares the historical Cleveland place with Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square, a 1980s created space that replaced a block-square parking garage in the heart of downtown.
The Rebol Cafe in Cleveland’s Public Square is shown below:
The water feature in Cleveland’s Public Square is below with the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument in the background:
Saving the City creator Ron Blatman was recently featured in an extended interview in The Planning Report, a journal about cities out of Los Angeles.
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This post is adapted from our biweekly newsletter. Read the original newsletter.
Read our previous post: Restoring Birmingham’s Railroad Park.
