Old Ameritrust Branch, at East Ninth & Euclid, downtown Cleveland.

The old Cleveland Trust Rotunda in downtown Cleveland, at what used to be the heart of the city’s financial district, at Euclid Avenue and East Ninth Street. This corner was once the crossroads of the region’s big money changing hands.

The image is captured on black and white film with a 30-year-old Canon AE1, with the negative scanned and digital darkroom processing.

There seems to be some ambiguity of when the four-story branch was opened, either 1908 or 1909. Designed by George B. Post, the building has become a landmark in downtown Cleveland and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. About a decade after its opening, plans were made for an 11-story tower to be built on top of it, obscuring the rotunda to outside passersby.

The building rising in the background is the old Ameritrust Tower, one of a handful of remaining designs of Marcel Breuer in the brutalist style. Initial plans for a twin tower were eventually scrapped.  The 29-story skyscraper opened in 1971 but has been vacant for nearly two decades. It was nearly razed to make way for a new Cuyahoga County Administration Building – instead its renovation by a private owner is nearly complete and it will open later this year as residences, offices, a hotel and retail.

Plans are in the works for the bank branch with it’s grand rotunda to open soon as a Heinen’s premium grocery.

– TMulloy