by Lynette Filips

   (Plain Press July 2026) I didn’t grow up in Old Brooklyn, but generations of my ancestors did — and some were still living there when I was a child in post-World War II Parma.  My parents had to migrate south because there wasn’t enough housing available for all the Baby Boomer families in what was then called “South” Brooklyn. But we were back in their old neighborhood to visit relatives so often that certain streets were almost as familiar to me as the streets in our part of suburbia. Pearl Rd. was the main artery between the two localities and even now I can remember landmarks along the route and within Old Brooklyn. One of them was at the corner of Memphis Ave. and Pearl Rd. The triangular-shaped building on the north side of the intersection was like nothing I had ever previously seen. I was especially captivated by the florist shop with all the windows at the tip of the triangle. In my youth, of course, I didn’t know that its official name was the Greenline Building and that its unique wedge-shape style was called “flatiron”, named after the vintage ironing device for pressing clothes. I just knew that at Christmastime, when the windows were filled with brilliant red poinsettia plants, it was a wonderful sight for my eyes to behold.

   As I write this article on Friday, June 26, 2026, it’s a whole different story. If the plan for the week which Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation (OBCDC) Director David Robinson posted on Facebook Monday afternoon is on schedule, the Greenline Building and the one-story commercial building next to it will be a pile of rubble by the end of the day. And so will the circa 1860 little old house situated on the back of the property. The ground will be torn up around the Greenline Building in an attempt to find and ultimately remove some kind of potentially dangerous storage tanks which have been there for more decades than anyone can remember. This is all supposedly “Phase 1” of OBCDC’s attempt to revitalize the corner. (“Phase 2” is expected to come later this year.)

   This “Phase” concept is a new one to me. I hadn’t heard of it until I read an earlier — but also very recent — online post from David Robinson. What I had previously heard — what we had been promised by Cleveland Councilman Kris Harsh and by a person in a position of authority at City Hall — was that no demolition would occur until the “capital stack” (i.e., the money to finance the entire project) was in place. At that time, about $8 million in grant money had been secured for dealing with environmental hazards (aka, Brownfield Remediation) and a very large loan from the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) had been guaranteed by HUD (the federal government’s Department of Housing and Urban Development); roughly another $15 million was necessary to complete the deal. 

   Now, after reading the Executive Director’s column in the Summer issue of the Old Brooklyn News, I have learned that HUD is no longer backing a loan for this project. Exactly what that means I don’t know, because no one at the City answers my requests for information. But I do know that the whole list of funding sources I included in my article several months ago is no longer accurate. It could also mean, since the project has now been divided into stages, that after the historic buildings are demolished, there might not be money to move forward with OBCDC’s proposed project to replace them. But before I worry too far into the future about a possible scenario, I must return to this eulogy for the corner…

   The first time I was inside St. Luke’s was in the mid-to-late 1970s. That was the era right after OBCDC was born, and other neighborhood groups were also getting started. One of them was the Greater Brooklyn Ministerial Association. Many of the churches in Old Brooklyn, the City of Brooklyn and Brooklyn Centre participated in it by providing opportunities for their ministers and parishioners to worship and socialize with each other at each other’s facilities. I attended the vast majority of those functions and the church which impressed me the most was St. Luke’s. The way that we moved from the beautiful sanctuary where the service was held to the beautiful adjoining parlor after the service was unlike anything I had ever experienced. I was used to going into church halls in basements for such gatherings, not to a gorgeous parlor with stained glass windows which complemented those in the church. St. Luke’s did have a basement, I later learned, but that was for rummage sales, not for Sunday get-togethers.

   That experience is one of the reasons I want to scream every time I hear the people intent on tearing down this lovely addition refer to it as an educational annex. Yes, it has classrooms, but it was (and still could be) so much more than an addition for a school. Jonathan Sandvick, the local architect highly experienced in doing such things and who also submitted a proposal for this site, was absolutely confident that it could be saved and adaptively reused.

   The grand facade of St. Luke’s and the raised area in front of it (piazza?) also provided an elegant backdrop for any number of things. One Saturday afternoon during roughly the same time period as the Ministerial Association’s gathering, OBCDC had Old Brooklyn history book author Kathryn Gasior Wilmer conduct a tour of St. Luke’s and Brookmere Cemetery. A reporter from one of the local TV stations who was interviewing the people attending the tour stood in that grand area right outside the doors of the church when she talked with us. Later, color photos of St. Luke’s stained-glass windows became an important component of Wilmer’s second history book, Old Brooklyn New Book II.

   As happened with so many main-stream urban Protestant congregations, the population at St. Luke’s declined to the point that it could no longer support itself. I attended their last service on Easter Sunday of 2013 before I went to the Easter service at my own parish and it was indeed a sad day. St. Luke’s “turned over the keys” to the Western Reserve Association of the United Church of Christ (UCC) shortly thereafter (though to help ease the pain of the loss, a remnant of the congregation did join a Bible study with members of the neighboring Pearl Road United Methodist Church for a short while.) The UCC then engaged the services of a commercial realtor to find someone to purchase the church. There was a lot of excitement initially, but the church was overpriced and so it did not sell.

   In time, keeping St. Luke’s became too much of a financial liability, so the UCC gave it to the Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corporation, aka the “Land Bank”, who ultimately gave it to OBCDC. (All these transfers can be viewed on the “My Place” segment of the County’s website; this month’s article is meant to be more about heartfelt feelings and less about relating facts.) OBCDC also tried to find a buyer for the building and they almost succeeded. Dwight and Tim, the highly creative owners of a business originally located on W. Schaaf Rd., All Things 4 You, were on the verge of signing the papers to begin turning their dream of owning a unique business space in the neighborhood into a reality. But at the last minute they were presented with important information about the process which they should have been told at the beginning. Perhaps before this drama is over, they will want to add their story to the saga. OBCDC continued to take individuals through the building, but I never saw a formal “Request for Proposals” issued. Folks who wanted to see the building preserved were never able to obtain a list of who went through it and who, if any of them, had an interest in possibly purchasing it and who was just curious. 

   Knowing of Tom Yablonsky’s success stories with downtown Cleveland buildings, I asked him if he would be willing to get a team together to look at St. Luke’s. He replied that he would be interested and I repeatedly asked OBCDC to contact him. But they did not request a proposal from him. Finally, Tom contacted them without having an RFP (Request for Proposals) and had a team — Sandvick Architects, a developer and a financial person — working on putting a proposal together. But, in the midst of that work, they were told that another developer was chosen and they were dismissed. The developer’s company’s name was NRP.

   This is turning into a very long eulogy, but the whole story needs to be told because an important grassroots effort, “Save Our Historic District”, began at this time. So, it’s probably a good place to stop for now. 

   I had planned to do a recap of last month’s Cleveland History Days and Take-a-Hike events in Old Brooklyn but those will have to wait until next month. While there won’t be any hikes in Old Brooklyn in July, there are two nearby areas being featured which should be of particular interest to people who like learning about old cemeteries:  the Willet Street Cemetery, the Jewish cemetery at 2254 Fulton Rd. at Monroe Ave., will be featured on Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. and the Monroe Street Cemetery, 3207 Monroe Ave., will be featured on Thursdays at 6 p.m. Visit takeahikecleve.com to learn about all the hikes (90 minutes) and strolls (60 minutes) scheduled between now and September 30th.

   Till next month, if you want to refer to any previous Plain Press articles about this historic Old Brooklyn corner, access them on the Plain Press’ website, https://plainpress.blog, or on the HSOB’s website, www.oldbrooklynhistory.org.

SUMMER SOCIAL

   Here is an invitation from the Historical Society of Old Brooklyn to its Summer Social:

   It’s become a Historical Society of Old Brooklyn tradition to gather during the summer, and this year we’ll meet on Friday, July 10, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Cleveland Winery (formerly Vino Veritas), at West 41st Street and Memphis Avenue—the former site of Memphis Elementary School, for those who appreciate a bit of local history.

   In addition to wine, beer, and cocktails, the Winery now offers pizzas and cheese boards for purchase. You’re also welcome to bring a favorite dish or snack to share. Most important of all, bring yourself! This will be a chance to catch up with friends, hear the latest news about our new home at 2221 Broadview Road, and share ideas for future programs and activities.

   Guests are welcome, so please bring a friend. Anyone who joins the Historical Society at the event will receive membership through our next membership year (September–September).

   Planning to join us? We’d appreciate an RSVP at info@oldbrooklynhistory.org so we can plan accordingly.

   We look forward to seeing you there!