On July 16, 1903, P.M. Arthur, Grand Chief of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers--the national labor union representing railroad engineers—died suddenly. His designated successor, A. B. Youngson, who was seriously ill at the time of Arthur's death, died two weeks later.
\nThese events led to a required vote by the Grand Officers of the Brotherhood for the purpose of electing a new Grand Chief. They chose a young and dynamic engineer named Warren Stanford Stone, who was an advocate of \"labor capitalism\" (also often referred to as \"shared capitalism\" or \"worker capitalism\"), an economic model in which workers transitioned from solely selling their labor to also becoming financial stakeholders, investors, and owners of the capital to which they sold their labor. Employing that economic model in the ensuing two decades, Stone dramatically changed how his union had operated since its founding in 1863.
\nThe Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers had been headquartered in Cleveland since 1873, renting space over the years in several different office buildings downtown, including the Blackstone Building and the Society for Savings Building. At the Brotherhood's biennial convention in Columbus, Ohio in 1908, representatives from Columbus, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, and a number of other U.S. cities sought to persuade the Brotherhood to move its headquarters to one of their cities. Stone, the labor capitalist, used this information to induce Cleveland's government officials and local industry leaders to support his proposal that the Brotherhood build a skyscraper in downtown Cleveland that would both hold its headquarters but also provide a source of income to the Brotherhood.
\nStone's strategy worked, and, with support from the City of Cleveland and local industry leaders, he was able in less than five months to successfully purchase approximately one-quarter of the block just north of Public Square formed by the streets Rockwell, Ontario, St. Clair, and Park Place (East 2nd), and to hire the architectural firm of Knox & Elliot to design a skyscraper for the site.
\nKnox & Elliot was an excellent architectural firm choice. Wilm Knox, a Scottish immigrant and engineer by trade, and John Elliot, a Toronto native trained in design, met in Chicago while working in the offices of famed architects Burnham & Root. They formed a partnership that initially practiced in Toronto before they moved their firm to Cleveland in 1893.
\nWhile initially they were known for their industrial building designs, in 1904 they designed the Rockefeller Building on West Superior Avenue for John D. Rockefeller, and in 1908 the iconic Hippodrome Building. Warren Stone may have thought to himself, \"If they're good enough for Rockefeller, they're good enough for us.\" The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers voted, on November 25, 1908, to hire Knox & Elliot to design their building in downtown Cleveland.
\nAs they had done with the Rockefeller Building, Knox & Elliot designed the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Building in the Sullivanesque skyscraper style originated in Chicago, rather than in the Beaux-Arts or Renaissance styles then more in vogue. However, unlike the Rockefeller Building, Knox & Elliot designed the north and west sides of the Engineers Building to have terra cotta facades, which professionals had learned better held their original look in grimy industrial cities than did the more traditional brick or stone. Fourteen stories tall, the building was designed with two entrances. The Ontario Street entrance led into a lobby with elevators to the upper floors, while the St. Clair Avenue entrance provided access to a separate foyer leading to the building's first-floor auditorium, a beautifully designed space with seating capacity of 1,200.
\nIn the spring of 1909, work began on the site. The Tabernacle Block, which had stood on the southeast corner of Ontario Street and St. Clair Avenue for just three years was first torn down. It had replaced the People's Tabernacle, the 1876 building which was said by Cleveland journalist W. R. Rose (father of historian William Ganson Rose) to be Cleveland's first permanent auditorium.
\nAfter the Tabernacle Block was torn down, construction of the Brotherhood of Locomotives Building commenced and was completed by May 1910. At the dedication of the new building Ohio's governor, Judson Harmon, called the building \"America's Labor Temple.\" It was also noted at the dedication ceremony that this was the first building in America built for and owned by a labor union.
\nIn 1915, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Building, held the first of its triennial—later, quadrennial—national conventions. The first convention opened on May 12 and was in session for three weeks until the convention closed on June 5. It drew 800 delegates representing the 74,000 members of the union, as well as thousands of non-delegate visitors. Attendees spent a total of $200,000 during their stay in Cleveland, the equivalent of almost $7 million in 2026.
\nIn 1925, under Stone's leadership, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers constructed another building in downtown Cleveland across Ontario Street from the Engineers Building. Known originally as the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Bank Building, it later became the Standard Building, the name by which it is known today. Like the Engineers Building, the Standard Building was built with a terra cotta facade and like the Engineers Building it was built in a \"C\" shape. While the open part of the \"C\" faced south on the Engineers Building, it faces north on the Standard Building. The symmetry between the two buildings on adjacent corners of Ontario Street and St. Clair Avenue made them appear as a gateway to drivers on Ontario Street heading south from Lakeside Avenue.
\nOver the years, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers served as a good steward to both buildings. Regarding the Engineers Building, in 1937 it was remodeled and renovated. Included in the remodeling was a series of murals installed by the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the building's two lobbies. The murals beautifully and dramatically depicted the history of railroads in America. In 1982, the building's beautiful 1200-seat auditorium was carefully and completely renovated. Thereafter, in addition to uses by the Brotherhood, it began to host other events such as music concerts. At the time of the 1982 renovation and for the remainder of the decade, the Engineers Building was nearly always fully occupied. The building was especially popular with law firms that desired offices located near to the Cuyahoga County Courthouse and the Justice Center.
\nAs the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers was renovating its downtown buildings, including the Engineers Building in the early 1980s, the City of Cleveland, led at the time by Mayor George Voinovich, was engaged in a substantial effort to rebuild its downtown area, with the hope of attracting new businesses and national conventions to Cleveland. One of the first of these efforts involved supporting the plan of the Standard Oil Company (today BP) to build a new headquarters building in downtown Cleveland.
\nWhile Sohio, as Standard Oil was known in Ohio, initially in 1981 sought to build its new building on the block upon which the Engineers Building was located, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers declined to sell their building to Sohio, which then instead selected a different block—east, rather than north, of Public Square— to build its skyscraper.
\nSeveral years after the Sohio building went up on Public Square, a significant corporate change occurred at Society Corp., the parent company of Society Bank. In 1986, it merged with Centran, the parent company of Central National Bank, forming a new bank known as Society National Bank. Robert Gillespie was named CEO of the new bank. Almost immediately, he expressed interest in redeveloping the block north of Public Square where the Society for Savings bank building, the Engineers Building, and a third building—the Mall Building (formerly the Card Building)—all stood.
\nIn late 1986, Gillespie took two actions to promote his plan: first, he vacated the historic Society for Savings building on the Square and moved the headquarters of the new Society National Bank to the Superior Building on Superior Avenue near East Ninth Street; and second, he hired the real estate firm of Victor Voinovich, Mayor George Voinovich's brother, to attempt to purchase the other two buildings on the block not owned by Society Bank. While Victor Voinovich was successful in persuading the owner of the Mall Building to sell that building to Society Corp. in December 1986, his efforts to get the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers to sell were not successful, the Brotherhood once again indicating that the Engineers Building was not for sale.
\nAs early as March 1987, historians and preservationists, including Carol Poh Miller, took note of the actions of the president of Society National Bank and warned of the danger its posed to two of downtown Cleveland's historic buildings—the Society for Savings Building and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Building.
\nLater in 1987, the real estate development firm of Jacobs, Visconsi, and Jacobs (JVJ)—later renamed the Richard and David Jacobs Group, and then the Richard E. Jacobs Group— was retained by Society Corps. to conduct a study of the block to determine the feasibility of redeveloping it with a new office building and a hotel, with both the Society for Savings Bank and Engineers Building continuing to stand on the site. While the study conducted by Harry Weese and Associates, a well-respected Chicago architectural firm with extensive experience in landmark buildings, indicated that it could be done, JVJ rejected the study, contending that the Engineers Building could not successfully be incorporated into the new development.
\nJVJ was not the only one to reject Weese's report. The federal and Ohio government agencies providing funding and tax cuts for the project eventually allowed JVJ to proceed even after it had rejected the study that they had required of it as a condition for entitlement to funding, tax cuts and building permits.
\nCleveland Mayor Voinovich's administration was also supportive of JVJ despite the company's refusal to commit to saving the Engineers Building. In 1987, the City of Cleveland was already planning to build an underground parking garage beneath the Mall to provide adequate parking for the Convention center. The JVJ plan to develop an office tower and hotel on the block just west of the Mall was therefore attractive not only to Society Corp. but also to the City of Cleveland, which began to view JVJ as a better choice than its current contractor (Allright Parking, Inc.) to build the garage.
\nAs a result, Mayor Voinovich's economic development director contacted the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers in October 1987 and threatened to use the City's power of eminent domain—a legal process which empowers governments to acquire private property for public purposes—to acquire the Engineers Building for JVJ without the Brotherhood's consent. Shortly thereafter, in January 1988, Society Corp. entered into a contract with JVJ authorizing the latter to build the proposed skyscraper complex on the Society block.
\nFaced with the prospect of an expensive lawsuit that would likely result in its loss of ownership of the Engineers Buildings anyway, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers capitulated to the City's eminent domain threat and sold its building to Society National Bank in July 1988 for a reported $15 million. After the sale, local historians and preservationists, including Carol Poh Miller, Laura A. McShane and Steven J. McQuillan mounted a final attempt to save the Engineers Building in late 1988. Other preservationists, however, including the Cleveland Restoration Society, prioritized saving the Society for Savings Building over the Engineers Building,
\nOne year later, at some time between June and November 1989—the Plain Dealer did not carry a story of the event—the Richard and David Jacobs Group, having obtained all the necessary approvals from all federal, state, and local government agencies involved, tore down the historic Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Building. America's Labor Temple was no more.
","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers was razed in 1989. The site is now occupied by the Cleveland Marriott Downtown Hotel, part of the Key Center complex.","lede":"At the May 14, 1910 dedication of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Building—the first building in America built and financed solely by a labor union—Ohio governor Judson Harmon proudly called it "America's finest Labor Temple." Less than 80 years later, the 14-story building on the southeast corner of Ontario Street and St. Clair Avenue—fully occupied and its elegant auditorium recently restored—was unceremoniously torn down.","website":"","related_resources":["\"3 city panels OK landmark's razing.\" Plain Dealer. February 11, 1989.","\"Block Effort to Move Big Order.\" Plain Dealer. May 3, 1908.","Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.","\"Cleveland Past . . . Engineers Building.\" Plain Dealer. June 25, 1977.","\"Dedicate Building with Great Pomp.\" Plain Dealer. May 15, 1910.","Engineers Building. Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.","\"Engineers May Erect Building.\" Cleveland Press. May 23, 1908.","\"Engineers Union Accepts Plan for its Big Headquarters Building.\" Plain Dealer. November 28, 1908.","\"Fine Structure Near Completed.\" Plain Dealer. January 30, 1910.","Kissling, Catherine L. \"Engineers chief blasts city over plan to take building.'\" Plain Dealer. October 1, 1987.","Kissling, Catherine L. \"Landmark reuse as hotel won't work, city told.\" Plain Dealer. January 6, 1989.","Kissling, Catherine L. \"Landmark's fate uncertain.\" Plain Dealer. December 11, 1988.","Kissling, Catherine L. \"Plans for hotel, offices on Square in early stages.\" Plain Dealer. July 28, 1987.","Kissling, Catherine L. \" Scraping for the Sky.\" Plain Dealer. January 27, 1988.","Kissling, Catherine L. \"Society Center excavation on the horizon.\" Plain Dealer. March 25, 1989.","Kruse, Douglas. L.; Freeman, Richard B.; and Blasi, Joseph R. Shared Capitalism at Work: Employee Ownership, Profit and Gain Sharing, and Broad-based Stock Options. University of Chicago Press, 2010.","Mahoney, Mike. \"Convention Hotel asked for Society Corp. site.\" Plain Dealer. May 2, 1987.","Mahoney, Mike. \"Society's old HQ site sought for hotel, offices.\" Plain Dealer. October 26, 1986.","Mahoney, Mike. \"Top hotel possible for Society block.\" Plain Dealer. January 17, 1987.","McQuillin, Steven J. \"Development Doubts.\" Plain Dealer. Letter to Editor, January 25, 1989.","McShane, Laura A. \"Concerned looks at Public Square.\" Plain Dealer. Letter to Editor, January 16, 1989.","Miller, Carol Poh. \"Engineering Preservation.\" Plain Dealer. Letter to Editor, December 26, 1988.","Miller, Carol Poh. \"'Superblock' Idea is a threat to Engineers labor temple.\" Habitat. March 6/March 12, 1987, at page 8.","Miller, Carol Poh & Wheeler, Robert A. Cleveland: A Concise History, 1796-1996. Bloomington and Indianapollis: Indiana University Press, Second Edition, 1997.","Miller, William F. \"Buried riches - Old Engineers auditorium being Restored.\" Plain Dealer. March 15, 1981.","\"New Murals for Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineeers Building Depict Railroad History.\" Plain Dealer. September 28, 1937.","Orth, Samuel Peter. A History of Cleveland, Ohio. Chicago: S. J. Clark Publishing Co., 1910, at p. 742.","\"Rail Men To Hold First Meet Here.\" Plain Dealer. May 9, 1915.","Rose, W.R. \"In the Old Tabernacle.\" Plain Dealer, January 22, 1915.","The History of the BLET. Published by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen. Cleveland, Ohio (2013).",""],"factoids":["The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Building was designated a Cleveland landmark in March 1977."],"files":{"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/46c3755eeead1e5a2c51e59605be3420.jpg":{"id":13187,"mime-type":"image/tiff","title":"Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Building","description":"Cleveland Public Library, Photograph Collection | 1928","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/46c3755eeead1e5a2c51e59605be3420.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/c7bdbaca5cf3946865d619aa51ed8744.jpg":{"id":13212,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Last Days of the Tabernacle Block","description":"This 1908 photo, which first appeared in the September 12, 1908 edition of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, shows the Tabernacle Block that then stood on the southeast corner of Ontario Street and St. Clair Avenue. It was razed in early 1909 to make room for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Building. | Cleveland Public Library, Photograph Collection | 1908","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/c7bdbaca5cf3946865d619aa51ed8744.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/b34efbc95c2ba0e46733480c3160e368.jpg":{"id":13189,"mime-type":"image/png","title":"Architect's Drawing","description":"The above drawing, one of a number created by the architectural firm of Knox & Elliot for the new Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Building, shows the side of the building on St. Clair Avenue that had the entrance to the auditorium. | Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division | 1909","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/b34efbc95c2ba0e46733480c3160e368.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/8c41540784cc67e8c3620250871f1e46.jpg":{"id":13213,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Building Going Up","description":"This photo was taken early in 1909 shortly after construction had begun on the Engineers Building. In the background to the right can be seen the Society for Savings Building not razed in the Key Tower project. To the left you can see part of the Card Building which, like the Engineers Building, was razed in 1989 to make room for the Key Center complex. | Cleveland Public Library, Photograph Collection | 1909","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/8c41540784cc67e8c3620250871f1e46.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/6992e4df76f86f17b9c3246fa560a604.jpg":{"id":13191,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Earliest photo of completed Building","description":"This photograph of the new Brotherhood of Engineers Building was taken some two years after the building was formally dedicated on May 14, 1910. Note the building across Ontarior Street from the Engineers Building. It would later be razed to make room for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Bank Building, known today as the Standard Building. | Cleveland Public Library, Photograph Collection | circa 1912","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/6992e4df76f86f17b9c3246fa560a604.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/024aad470d1d8b018d243df6300d2786.jpg":{"id":13203,"mime-type":"image/png","title":"Layout of Engineers Building","description":"This image from the 1912 Sanborn Maps shows—outlined in red—the general layout of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Building several years after construction was completed. Note the location of the auditorium on the south (back) side of the building. The entrance to the auditorium was on St. Clair Avenue. This image also shows the historic Chamber of Commerce building (later renamed the Cleveland College building), immediately to the east of the Society for Savings building, which was torn down by that bank in 1964 to create a parking lot. | Cleveland Public Library, Ohio Sanborn Map images | 1912","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/024aad470d1d8b018d243df6300d2786.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/a64ab07f6ca682821bc86e1ac9ccd503.jpg":{"id":13194,"mime-type":"image/png","title":"The Engineers Building Auditorium","description":"This photograph of the Engineers Building's resplendent auditorium was taken in 1928. Note later in this collection the 1989 photograph of the renovated auditorium, taken shortly before the building was razed. | Cleveland Public Library, Photograph Collection | 1928","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/a64ab07f6ca682821bc86e1ac9ccd503.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/69d11e0c38278753e2aad5add7b376f7.jpg":{"id":13195,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Home to Important Causes","description":"In March 1932 the Engineers Building auditorium was the site of a rally sponsored by the International Labor Defense to obtain the release from prisons of two wrongly convicted youths, Ollen Montgomery and Thomas Mooney. Montgomery was one of the nine Scottsboro boys, who, based solely on their race, had been wrongly convicted of raping two white women in Alabama. Their trial has been said to have been the inspiration for Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird. | Cleveland Memory, Michael Schwartz Library Special Collections at Cleveland State University | 1932","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/69d11e0c38278753e2aad5add7b376f7.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/56e75f0e6685e69ff7f18dec1151542d.jpg":{"id":13196,"mime-type":"image/png","title":"Railroad History Murals","description":"In 1937, artist Earl J. Neff, assisted by Leo Nowak and John B. McPhee, designed and installed in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Building a series of fifteen murals (altogether approximately 100 feet in length) which depicted the history of the railroad in the United States. The murals were installed as part of a remodeling of the building that year by the Brotherhood. This pictorial about the murals appeared in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on September 26, 1937. | Cleveland Public Library, Newspaper Collection | 1937 | Earl J. Neff","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/56e75f0e6685e69ff7f18dec1151542d.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/ab29917bb9d7d528cff362c81f5210f6.jpg":{"id":13198,"mime-type":"image/png","title":"Made For Each Other","description":"In this circa 1950s aerial photo of the intersection of Ontario Street and St. Clair avenue, the similarity of Knox & Elliot's Engineers Building and Standard Building is obvious. Not only were both designed to be constructed with terra cotta facades, but, while the Standard Building is taller, the two buildings appear to be "flipped" versions of each other. From above, both appears shaped as the letter "C," with the open side of the "C" facing south on the Engineers Building, and north on the Standard Building. The buildings were not only built by the same union, designed by the same architects, and constructed with the same materials. They were also designed and constructed to be symmetric to one other from across Ontario Street. When the Engineers Building was razed in 1989, this symmetry by design was lost to history. | Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Journal (2015) | ca. 1950s","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/ab29917bb9d7d528cff362c81f5210f6.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/5f0c7f8b3ed87bd42b479e55c3b08cd9.jpg":{"id":13199,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"More Symmetry","description":"This 1977 photo of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Standard buildings, taken from across St. Clair Avenue, also shows the symmetry of the two buildings, and part of what was lost when the Engineers Building was torn down in 1989. | Cleveland Memory, Michael Schwartz Library Special Collections at Cleveland State University | June 22, 1977","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/5f0c7f8b3ed87bd42b479e55c3b08cd9.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/a9991bba519414ec6f7500e77bb87062.jpg":{"id":13200,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Even Its Mailboxes Were Artsy","description":"In its June 22, 1986 edition—just three years before the Engineers Building was torn down—the Plain Dealer presented this photo of a mailbox in that building as a good example of the Beaux Arts style works on or near the Mall in downtown Cleveland. | Cleveland Public Library, Digital Newspaper Collection | 1986","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/a9991bba519414ec6f7500e77bb87062.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/5cec0727fabb954d535fa253c62fbc83.jpg":{"id":13211,"mime-type":"image/png","title":"Skyscraper Announced","description":"The above aerial photograph of the northeast quadrant of Public Square that appeared in the Plain Dealer on January 27, 1988 includes a superimposed image of Architect Cesar Pelli's proposed Society Bank Tower immediately to the east of the historic Society for Savings Building. Missing from the photo is any image of the proposed hotel which would later be built to the north of the Society for Savings Building on the site of the Engineers Building. | Cleveland Public Library, Newspaper Collection","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/5cec0727fabb954d535fa253c62fbc83.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/f54a750cdf36aa6a570264a14eefc2a9.jpg":{"id":13207,"mime-type":"image/png","title":"Preserving Its Memory","description":"in early 1989, the Historic American Building Survey (HABS), hired Jennie Jones and/or Corwin Robinson to take exterior and interior photographs of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Building which was slated for demolition in the Spring of that year. This photograph showing one of the murals in the lobby of the building was one of the 126 photos taken in April and May of that year. | Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division | 1989","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/f54a750cdf36aa6a570264a14eefc2a9.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/ed9c7bd78855e70148e0eb099a7002dd.jpg":{"id":13208,"mime-type":"image/png","title":"Mural in the Lobby Near the Ontario Street Entrance","description":"This photograph is one of those taken of the exterior and interior of the Engineers Building by photographers hired by the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and now part of the Library of Congress Historic Buildings collection. | Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division | 1989","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/ed9c7bd78855e70148e0eb099a7002dd.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/006be9a350de28d9dcbd38ee772c0349.jpg":{"id":13204,"mime-type":"image/png","title":"The Restored Auditorium","description":"This photo of the auditorium in the Engineers Building was taken in the Spring of 1989 by a photographer hired by HABS. Compare it to the earlier photo in the story's array and note how complete and excellent the 1982 restoration of the auditorium was and how tragic it was that this auditorium was destroyed possibly just weeks after this photo was taken. | Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division | 1989","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/006be9a350de28d9dcbd38ee772c0349.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/5c174039380a6c18e8b18a12442ac795.jpg":{"id":13209,"mime-type":"image/png","title":"View of the Rear of the Auditorium","description":"This photograph, also taken by a photographer hired by the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), shows the ornateness of the Engineers Building auditorium which included even the rear of that auditorium. | Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division | 1989","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/5c174039380a6c18e8b18a12442ac795.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/bcdca25b5fb32dd9448c7982bad4a88d.jpg":{"id":13206,"mime-type":"image/png","title":"Ornate Column","description":"This photograph taken by a photographer hired by the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) shows the ornateness of even support columns within the auditorium. | Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Collection | 1989","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/bcdca25b5fb32dd9448c7982bad4a88d.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/d1cd02dd044896396dcbc8f7f3f37ab4.jpg":{"id":13205,"mime-type":"image/png","title":"Last View of the Engineers Building","description":"This photo of the Engineers Building was taken on May 14, 1989, perhaps just weeks before the building was torn down. Unexplainably, the Plain Dealer did not cover the razing of the building, and there is no article in the Plain Dealer that states the date or dates that the building was razed. | Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division | 1989","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/d1cd02dd044896396dcbc8f7f3f37ab4.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/d950f30d52ede6c8ad4a4f0022ff210c.jpg":{"id":13201,"mime-type":"image/png","title":"Tearing Down the Labor Temple","description":"This undated photograph of the Engineers Building partially torn down appeared in a publication of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET). | Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Journal (Winter, 2015): 7 | 1989","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/d950f30d52ede6c8ad4a4f0022ff210c.jpg"}}}