William Taylor & Son

The William Taylor & Son Company building is a 146-foot 9 story 1915-opened high rise apartment building in downtown Cleveland's Gateway District that had a long and fruitful former life as a major Cleveland department store.[1] The building was originally only five floors, but when the company outgrew that floor plan, four more floors were added in 1913.[2] The architect on the building was J. Milton Dyer who was also responsible for the Cleveland City Hall and CAC Building.

Six Six Eight
Former namesWilliam Taylor & Son Company
General information
TypeResidential
Location668 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44115 United States
Construction started1907
Completed1913
Height
Roof44.50 m (146 ft)
Technical details
Floor count9
Design and construction
ArchitectJ. Milton Dyer

Taylor's

Founded as Taylor, Kilpatrick, and Company in 1870, Taylor's was part of the big six department stores (Halle's, May's, Higbee's, Sterling-Lindner Davis, Bailey's, and Taylor's) in Cleveland.[3] All six are now distant memories in Cleveland history. Taylor's was closely compared with Harrod's and Selfridge's in London in regards to its elaborate styling of architecture and the fact that it kept much British merchandise in stock.[4] On October 24, 1941, Taylor's celebrated their flagship store's 26th Birthday at the now demolished Hollenden Hotel, where the Fifth Third Center now stands on Superior and East 6th Street.[5]

Taylor's (the store) had throughout its history gone through a succession of Taylors who operated and owned the store. This started with William Taylor (1832-1887) and his son John Livingstone Taylor (d.1892) who joined the firm in 1887, then when John died in 1892, the business went to Sophia Strong Taylor who managed and was president of the store until 1935, when she handed the reins over to her brother Charles H. Strong who was president until 1939, when it changed hands again to a man who was sympathetic to the minority owner of Taylor's, the May Company.[6]

Eventually the department store catered to lower middle class patrons which fit in well with May Company's model to expand their clientele to include this often neglected demographic. In fact, in 1945, May completed a $2 million expansion of the store and began to invest heavily in the company.[2] However, by 1961, not even twenty years later, it was closed.

668 euclid

The second life of the building was commenced in 2009, when the K & D Group of Willoughby began offering apartments at the building, which was now called Six Six Eight Euclid Avenue.[7] For this project, the old store was completely gutted and refaced, redecorated, and refinished to offer all the modern amenities that one expects in modern downtown urban dwelling. These renovations included granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and custom floor treatments.[8] This trend of rehabbing old buildings in Cleveland has gentrified and modernized buildings that were for so many years moth balled and left to rot. The interest in urban living and urban environs can be exemplified by projects like the 668, The 9 Cleveland, the Huntington Bank Building, 1717 East Ninth Building, the Statler Arms Apartments and the whole East 4th transformation of once abandoned properties.

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References
  1. "William Taylor son & company department store". Emporis. Retrieved 2015-09-22.
  2. Grabowski, John J., ed. (1997-07-23). "William Taylor Son & Co.". The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Case Western Reserve University. Retrieved 2015-09-22.
  3. Deegan, G.G. & Toman, J.A. (1999). A progressive era 1900-1919. The Heart of Cleveland: Public square in the 20th century. Cleveland Landmark Press:Cleveland, Ohio.
  4. Karberg, R.E. & Toman, J.A. (2002). The lower avenue: Double stamps & dime store Cokes. Euclid avenue: Cleveland's sophisticated lady, 1920-1970. Cleveland Landmark Press:Cleveland, Ohio
  5. Cormack, G. (Ed.) (2002). Wm. Taylor & son. Memories of a lifetime, Volume 1, Second edition. Images from the Cleveland Press collection. Instant Concepts:Berea, Ohio.
  6. Klein, Richard (2014). Let's go shopping at the square Cleveland's leading downtown stores: A business legacy. Cleveland: MSL Academic Endeavors. ISBN 978-1-936323-48-7. OCLC 906801121.
  7. Jarboe, Michelle (2009-07-23). "K&D Group's apartments at 668 Euclid Avenue complex to be available Aug. 15". The Plain Dealer.
  8. "Welcome to the residences at 668". K&D Management. Retrieved 2015-09-22.
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