{"id":466,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-11 17:32:25","latitude":41.50061600000000083809936768375337123870849609375,"longitude":-81.61282499999998663042788393795490264892578125,"title":"Tudor Arms Hotel","subtitle":"Originally the Cleveland Club","fullsize":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/b59490fa334baa2a1d6f5c67b384de71.jpg","address":"10660 Carnegie Ave, Cleveland, OH","zoom":14,"creator":["Eleanor Kaiser"],"description":"Constructed in 1926-30, the Tudor Arms opened in 1930 as the swanky, exclusive Cleveland Club. The enormous Gothic Revival structure, designed by Frank Meade (who also designed countless extravagant homes in Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights), was the tallest and grandest in the University Circle area. The twelve-story building boasted ballrooms, a swimming pool, a bowling alley, tall ceilings, huge leaded windows, intricate and expensive detailing including gargoyles and even a sculpture of Moses Cleaveland, whose presence reflects the club&#039;s intent to represent his namesake city. Over the years, the Cleveland Club rented out its ballrooms and also hosted lavish parties and events. But the club could not sustain the building for very long. The tough economy finally forced the Cleveland Club to forfeit its lease on the building in 1939. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nOn July 1, 1939, hotel operator Torrance C. Melrose assumed the lease, opening the Tudor Arms Hotel with rooms on the upper seven floors and sub-leasing existing club spaces to the Cleveland Club. The Tudor Arms soon became a noted entertainment venue. Jazz musicians kept its grand ballroom, the Empress Room, swinging well into the night. The ballroom functioned as a supper club and offered dinner along with the entertainment, which included jazz as well as many types of performances, from the conservative Lawrence Welk to the flamboyant Patrice Wymore. The Plain Dealer described one of Wymore&#039;s performances at the Tudor Arms in the following way: &quot;Patrice Wymore, the singer and dancer [who] beats up no small storm of entertainment performed in the Empress Room. Her rhinestone studded hosiery, by the way, retails at $75 a pair, and on her they&#039;re worth it!&quot; At the time, many frowned upon Wymore&#039;s provocative performance believed such acts at the hotel tarnished the neighborhood&#039;s respectability. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nIn 1960, as racial tensions began to sweep the city&#039;s east side, University Circle institutions regarded the flashy hotel nightclub as an undesirable tenant in the neighborhood. Accordingly, Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology took over the property for use as a graduate student dormitory. They started the process by slowly changing some of the rooms into dormitories, while others continued to be rented nightly. The process was successful, and by 1963 the building had been fully converted for student use. During the conversion, the Tudor Arms got a $500,000 facelift, but it was not an extensive remodel. Eventually, the newly federated Case Western Reserve University leased the building to Cleveland Job Corps, which occupied the Tudor Arms until the building was sold in 2007.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nAfter years of neglect, the Tudor Arms Hotel needed restoration. Minimal updates over the years had kept the building running, but it was a far cry from the glory days of the 1930s. In 2011, four years after Cleveland developers MRN Ltd purchased the property and undertook a $22 million restoration plan, the Tudor Arms reopened as a Doubletree hotel. ","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"At the corner of Carnegie Avenue and Stokes Boulevard stands a baronial fortress of a building that looks as though it would be perfectly at home on Manhattan&#039;s Upper West Side. A closer inspection reveals city founder Moses Cleaveland in bas-relief, his stone likeness peering down on the corner of Carnegie and Stokes. The Cleaveland carving offers a clue to the building&#039;s origin.","website":null,"related_resources":["\"Cleveland Club Hotel Open July 1; Chain Operator Tells Plans for 200-Room Layout.\" <i>Cleveland Plain Dealer</i>. June 15, 1939.","\"Cleveland Club Is One of Notable East End Group.\" <i>Cleveland Plain Dealer</i>. October 20, 1929.","Litt, Steven. \"Tudor Arms Hotel Gleams After a $22 million Renovation as a Hilton Doubletree by MRN Ltd. of Cleveland.\" <i>The Plain Dealer</i>. September 22, 2011.","Peery, Richard M. \"CWRU Grad House Sought by Job Corps.\" <i>The Plain Dealer</i>. August 1, 1971.","Skinner, Ann. \"Colleges Push for Living Space.\" <i>Cleveland Plain Dealer</i>. September 16, 1963.","\"Tudor Arms May Become WRU Dorm.\" <i>Cleveland Plain Dealer</i>. July 29, 1960."],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/b59490fa334baa2a1d6f5c67b384de71.jpg":{"id":11914,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Looking West Toward Tudor Arms","description":"This view shows the hotel as it appears going westbound toward the Cleveland Clinic on Carnegie Avenue.  | <a href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/pasa/29993372285\">Flickr</a>, CC BY 2.0 | September 15, 2016 | Paul Sableman","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/b59490fa334baa2a1d6f5c67b384de71.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/3645777a50b7e02444e0b7701a2626d8.jpg":{"id":10897,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Tudor Arms Under Construction in Distance","description":"This photo of two women at the stop landing at Cedar and Ambleside shows the steel skeleton of the Tudor Arms Hotel under construction in the distance to the west. | Cleveland Parks Department Photograph Albums, Volume 3, Cleveland Public Library | November 22, 1927","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/3645777a50b7e02444e0b7701a2626d8.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/8337e2d753bf19b52d8eaaee24dce52e.jpg":{"id":10898,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Moses Cleaveland in Gothic Relief","description":"The building&#039;s exterior is as exquisite as its interior. This image shows the figure of Moses Cleaveland carved into a corner near the top of the building. | Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections | May 9, 1966 | Frank Aleksandrowicz","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/8337e2d753bf19b52d8eaaee24dce52e.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/636917f851c93a5892fbb695c201a2fc.jpg":{"id":4564,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Hotel of Many Lives","description":"The building, which stands on 10660 Carnegie Avenue, has had many lives. It began as an exclusive men&#039;s athletic club, became a large hotel, a graduate dormitory for WRU, housed the Job Corps, and then became a hotel again. | Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/636917f851c93a5892fbb695c201a2fc.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/2a1804dd335eb862d87632e72b9ba40a.jpg":{"id":4565,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"The Tudor Arms Nightclub","description":"For twenty years the hotel hosted various entertainers and musical performers. This all ended once the nightclub was shut down. | Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/2a1804dd335eb862d87632e72b9ba40a.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/99f46ba384c7c22df95229de12e90280.jpg":{"id":4566,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Indoor Swimming Pool","description":"The Cleveland Club completed the Tudor Arms in 1930. As a private, exclusive athletic club it had sporting facilities on its first few floors, including an indoor swimming pool. | Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/99f46ba384c7c22df95229de12e90280.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/7f1d0897e5e697e2daacf0d62625689f.jpg":{"id":4567,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"The Best Cleveland Venue","description":"Guests of the Tudor Arms hotel dress for a formal event in the 1950s. The hotel was known for its grand events and swanky concerts. | Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/7f1d0897e5e697e2daacf0d62625689f.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/3516bfe7a3eb7f68f5555fbdd5b37723.jpg":{"id":4568,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"From Ballroom to Kitchen","description":"Once one of the glamorous ballrooms, this room was re-purposed into a dining hall for the graduate school students residing in the Tudor Arms. | Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/3516bfe7a3eb7f68f5555fbdd5b37723.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/1a1b7f5d21f3d9337ac23ce1ec594a37.jpg":{"id":4562,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"The Tudor Arms Hotel","description":"During the late 1950s, the building was used as the Tudor Arms Hotel with retail spaces on the first floor. | Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/1a1b7f5d21f3d9337ac23ce1ec594a37.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/610376009c47861d44dcabae86f3b8bb.jpg":{"id":4569,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"From Hotel to Dorm","description":"Western Reserve University acquired the property in 1960. Already set up as a hotel, the University used the building as a graduate dormitory. | Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/610376009c47861d44dcabae86f3b8bb.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/e9a73b020a265bd721dd4a21e96d7d47.jpg":{"id":4570,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Students at the Tudor Arms","description":"Graduate students of all ages were welcome to live in the facility so long as they were not married.  | Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/e9a73b020a265bd721dd4a21e96d7d47.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/7766e73262cb436c7fc5b2b51d0f0bf0.jpg":{"id":4571,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Neglect to Restoration","description":"After years of wear and tear, like this small fire in the 1960s, the building was in dismal shape at the time of its 2007 sale to MRN LTD Development Company. Following a $22 million renovation, the building reopened in 2011 as a luxury hotel. | Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/7766e73262cb436c7fc5b2b51d0f0bf0.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/21dde46e04a15300327ad86ebb549011.jpg":{"id":12723,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Murals in Vestibule","description":"As part of the Tudor Arms renovation, Cleveland artist Nicollete Capuano restored and recreated landscape murals throughout the hotel, including in this vestibule leading from Carnegie Avenue into the hotel lobby. | October 21, 2023 | J. Mark Souther","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/21dde46e04a15300327ad86ebb549011.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/original/3c3c7bbd5db21b8c2be1128f6b512046.mp3":{"id":8548,"mime-type":"audio/mpeg","title":"Duke Ellington","description":"George Havens recalls attending jazz legend Duke Ellington’s concert at the Tudor Arms Hotel. | Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection | George Havens"}}}