Empire builders: an illustrated history of the rise and fall of Cleveland's Van Sweringen brothers

Abstract

"Oris P. and Mantis J. Sweringen were born into abject poverty in Wooster, Ohio, in the late nineteenth century. Although they might have been forgiven if they had never made anything of themselves, Oris was an extraordinary visionary who, with the help of his devoted younger brother, amassed a vast fortune in real estate and railroad developments. Their crowning achievement came in 1913 with the establishment of Shaker Heights, an affluent garden suburb connected by a brand-new interurban railroad to the then-booming Midwestern metropolis of Cleveland. The Van Sweringens' ascension after Shaker Heights was meteoric, culminating with the construction of Terminal Tower in downtown Cleveland. But following the stock market collapse of 1929, their empire began to crumble around them. In Empire Builders, architectural photographer and local historian Lauren R. Pacini tells the remarkable story of the Van Sweringen brothers through words and images. This rich illustrated volume features more than 150 photographs of the still-fabulous historic homes the brothers built throughout Cleveland's eastern suburbs"--