Agree with Cara - "How do you rate a beautiful piece of Cleveland history and architecture when you know damn well it's not living up to its potential?"
5 stars for beauty. 3 stars for not pushing the envelope.
The Arcade in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, is a Victorian-era structure of two nine-story buildings, joined by a five-story arcade with a glass skylight spanning over 300 feet along the four balconies. Erected in 1890, at a cost of $867,000, the Arcade opened on Memorial Day (May 30, 1890), and is identified as one of the earliest indoor shopping malls in the United States.
Today is sits in an almost faded glory. You can imagine what it could be, but it's not there. You see the glass display cases with nothing in them. And if there is a biz utilizing the space the case is filled with odd knick knacks. I could see this being revitalized into something grand. For instance if the organizers of the Cleveland Flea or another organization took over filled the spaces with things that people actually wanted instead of outdated baby doll clothes and dusty soaps this place could be incredible.
As of now, there is nothing I wanted to to buy here and it made me so so sad to see the spaces sit empty or like I said filled with items from people's personal collections. There aren't really bars or restaurants bringing in customers for shopping purposes either. There is one hotel bar and that's about it. Someone needs to take this gem over and bring people back into the city!
It's worth a walk in to admire the beauty of such a rare and historic gem - but that's about where the fun stops.