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Sign reading Playhouse Square illuminated at night with scroll detailing on both sides in front of block of tall buildings
Playhouse Square

60-Acre Theater District Revitalization

Client

Playhouse Square

Project Location

Cleveland, OH

Venues

Allen Theater, Palace Theater, Ohio Theater, State Theater, Hanna Theater

Awards

National Trust for Historic Preservation, Honor Award for Preservation of a Downtown, 1988

In downtown Cleveland at Playhouse Square lies a remarkable group of 1920s theaters that were saved from demolition in the 1970s and redeveloped over the past four decades to create a vibrant arts and entertainment district. Our firm has been involved with this revitalization process since the beginning, orchestrating a master plan that encompassed the theaters and commercial properties in adjacent buildings. Much of the original vision has been fully executed and Playhouse Square contributes more than $60 million to the local economy and attracts over 1,000,000 patrons to 1,000+ arts and entertainment events annually.

Using the master plan as a roadmap, our firm designed the initial restoration and reopening of the magnificent Palace, State, and Ohio Theatres, which resulted in Playhouse Square becoming a top tour spot for Broadway producers. We adapted an adjacent historic commercial building for Idea Center, an integrated broadcast media, performing arts, and education facility and new home for WVIZ/PBS and 90.3 WCPN ideastream (affiliates of National Public Radio and Public Television) and Playhouse Square Foundation’s arts education programs. We renovated the Hanna Theatre, sensitively converting its 1,400-seat house into an intimate 560-seat proscenium/thrust stage for repertory theater. At the Allen Theatre, we inserted a new 512-seat proscenium theater within the volume of the existing 3,080-seat movie palace and developed two new venues – a 300-seat multi-form theater and a 150-seat black box – in new construction. The complex is shared by the Tony Award-winning Cleveland Play House and Cleveland State University’s Theatre Department. We completed a new 30-year master plan for the District in 2014, resulting in several additional projects such as the re-creation of the Ohio Theatre’s historic lobby and recent renovations to the seating, box office, and back of house areas in the Key Bank State Theatre.

Together with our forward-thinking client, we have creatively leveraged historic and new markets tax credits, sustainable design within historic structures, and community partnerships to turn Playhouse Square into a major visitor attraction and economic development catalyst for the city. We provided master planning; architecture; interiors; electrical, mechanical, and structural engineering; acoustics, audiovisual; information transport; life safety & security; lighting; preservation; signage/wayfinding; sustainability; and theater technical design services.

Revitalization

Our firm has renovated and reimagined all eight of Playhouse Square’s theaters as well as restaurant and banquet facilities, a parking structure, a central box office, and adaptations of adjacent buildings for art galleries, workplaces, and educational spaces.



01
Broadcast

Idea Center

In a partnership that was the first of its kind in the nation, WVIZ/PBS and 90.3 WCPN ideastream, affiliates of National Public Radio and Public Television, and the Playhouse Square Foundation joined forces to co-locate within a single facility, integrating broadcast media, performing arts, dance and education programs. The design leverages a highly visible, street-front location on the main corridor of the city’s urban core.

02
Repertory Theater

Hanna Theatre

Great Lakes Theater, one of the country’s top regional theater companies, was originally constructed in 1921 and was renovated to provide a home for the Great Lakes Theater, one of the country’s top regional theaters. The project re-imagined and modernized the 1,400-seat theater into an intimate 560-seat proscenium/thrust stage. The project conformed to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation and was structured to take advantage of federal and state Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits.

03
Multi-venue

Allen Theatre Complex

The Tony Award-winning Cleveland Play House, the nation’s first professional regional theater, and Cleveland State University were both in need of new theater facilities. Our team’s transformative renovation and expansion of the Allen Theatre creates an arts hub where CSU’s theater students work alongside professionals and graduate students in the Cleveland Play House / Case Western Reserve University MFA acting program. The complex includes a 512-seat proscenium theater; a 300-seat multi-form theatre; and a 150-seat black box.

04
Public Space

Ohio Lobby Restoration

The Ohio Theatre Lobby functions as an important pre- and post-performance and event gathering space within Playhouse Square. Our restoration of the lobby returns the massive space to its original 1921 neoclassical splendor. Using the original architectural drawings, photo archives, and remnants of surviving ornamental plaster detail, the restoration recreates original paint colors, plaster ornamentation, and columns, accurately replicating the original design, while accommodating current building codes.

Awards

1988 Honor Award for Preservation of a Downtown

National Trust for Historic Preservation

2012 Reuse & Retrofit of Older Structures Award

AIA Cleveland

2017 Preservation Merit Award

Ohio Historic Preservation Office

2012 Peggy Ezekiel Award of Outstanding Achievement for Professional Audiovisual Design

USITT Ohio Valley Chapter

2007 Sustainable Development Award

International Downtown Association

2017 Honor Award for Interior Architecture

AIA Cleveland

2014 Award of Merit

Ohio Historic Preservation Office

2009 Silver Award

Building Design + Construction

2006 Merit Award

AIA Cleveland

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