18 August

On 18 August 1927, workers marked a major milestone in the construction of Cleveland’s Terminal Tower when a flag was raised above its completed steel frame.

Historical material held by Cleveland State University records that the steel skeleton had reached its full height on that date, marking the topping out of what would become one of America’s most recognisable early skyscrapers.

The tower ultimately rose 52 storeys and 708 feet above Cleveland’s Public Square.

But its importance to real estate history goes far beyond height.

Terminal Tower formed the centrepiece of the much larger Cleveland Union Terminal development: an ambitious project that combined railway infrastructure, offices, shops, hospitality and urban transport in the heart of downtown Cleveland.

The project was driven by brothers Oris P. and Mantis J. Van Sweringen, who were both real estate developers and railroad entrepreneurs.

Their original interest was closely connected with their suburban development at Shaker Heights. They wanted better transport links between the suburb and downtown Cleveland, but their plans eventually expanded into a much larger urban and commercial development centred on Public Square.

That link between property development and transport is what makes the project particularly relevant to modern real estate.

The Van Sweringens understood that better transport could increase the accessibility and attractiveness of land and property. Instead of treating the railway station as a stand-alone transport facility, they integrated it with commercial property and urban development.

In modern terminology, the idea closely resembles what is now described as transit-oriented development: concentrating offices, shops, services and other real estate around major transport connections.

The physical scale of the Cleveland Union Terminal project was extraordinary.

The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History records that its engineering involved foundations reaching approximately 250 feet below ground, the demolition of more than 1,000 buildings, and the construction of bridges and viaducts required for new railway approaches.

The Terminal Tower itself became the visual symbol of this redevelopment.

At 708 feet, it was the tallest building in the world outside New York City when completed and remained the tallest skyscraper outside New York until 1953.

Yet the wider property development was arguably even more significant.

When the Union Terminal formally opened in 1930, passengers could find shops and services inside the complex, while a department store and hotel were also connected with the development. Cleveland Historical describes the project as a multi-use “city within a city” concept that even preceded New York’s Rockefeller Center.

The project also changed the geography of downtown Cleveland.

Plans had previously focused much of the city’s civic development closer to the lakefront. The decision to locate the terminal at Public Square helped shift development pressure and commercial importance back towards the existing downtown centre.

For real estate history, that is an important lesson.

A major railway station, metro line, motorway or airport does not simply move people. It can change which land becomes commercially valuable, where offices and shops are built and where developers choose to invest.

Terminal Tower demonstrated this principle nearly a century ago.

The project connected a major transport investment with large-scale commercial real estate and became a defining part of Cleveland’s skyline and downtown identity.

On 18 August 1927, the flag raised above Terminal Tower therefore marked more than the completion of a skyscraper’s steel frame. It symbolised an early form of transport-led urban development in which infrastructure and real estate were planned as parts of the same investment strategy.