Here's where we learned that the Observatory is now abandoned like so many NEO properties:

Nayyir Al Mahdi's dream of turning observatory into home ended with indictment

and if that is not enough indignity for you, here's more:

Cleveland Clinic's request to demolish Art Deco building is tabled by review committee

OCPM’S BUILDING NAMED AMONG CLEVELAND’S “DECO DOZEN”

While some would look at the 75-year-old Carnegie Medical Building as a deteriorating eyesore, there are those who think the eight-story structure at the corner of E. 105th and Carnegie Avenue is a true architectural treasure. Evelyn Theiss is one of those individuals.

Home to OCPM since 1976, the building and its aesthetic exterior features were recently chronicled by Theiss in Cleveland’s Plain Dealer as one of the city’s “Deco Dozen.” According to the writer’s research and observances, “Originally the Carnegie Medical Building, this building is covered in sandstone with metal trim at the windows; convex fluting is a Deco feature, as are the sun-ray motifs found on the trim and the original light fixtures.” “While Cleveland doesn’t have a building as spectacular as New York’s Chrysler Building,” Theiss, a former fashion editor-turned general assignment reporter, wrote in her article appearing in the newspaper’s Arts & Life section on July 28, “Many people know that “Deco” is exemplified in such places as the sculptural pylons on the Lorain-Carnegie (Hope Memorial) Bridge and the interior of Severance Hall.”

“But those avid about the genre also speak of Cleveland’s hidden Art Deco architectural treasures – from an old telephone exchange building on East 55th Street to a union building on Payne Avenue to a former Catholic Slovak organization headquarters near Broadway.” And, of course, the Carnegie Medical Building, designed and built in 1930 by the Austin Company, which, founded in Cleveland in 1878, has grown to become one of the leading firms in the building industry with offices in major cities throughout the United States and in London.

According to Theiss, “the style we now call Art Deco was variously referred to as Modernistic, Moderne, American Perpendicular and Skyscraper Gothic.” “Interestingly,” she wrote, “the term was not really used until the 1960s when newspapers including the Times of London described it as the style of architecture and design that came out of the 1920s, particularly the Paris Exhibition of 1925. It was the L’Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes that brought the new style to the world’s attention.”

In a telephone interview with Theiss conducted by Ashley Crim, contributing editor and secretary, Continuing Education & Alumni Affairs, Theiss said she has always had a keen personal interest in local history, pitched the story idea to her editor, and spent weeks researching and visiting the various sites in Cleveland along with Ted Sande, former executive director of the Western Reserve Historical Society.

Speaking specifically about the Carnegie Medical Building, Theiss said she studied the outside of the building and “found it was still true to its beginning,” meaning that its exterior had remained virtually unchanged through the years. Theiss said she was impressed by the “detail” of the building; “liked the metal work on the trim, the symbols, the recessed windows and the vertical lines.”

 Exterior “still true to its beginning.”

Here's a quote from this very interesting thread at Urban Ohio:

Wow, sweet irony: quote from Toby Cosgrove in today's PD:

"Any time you build a facility, you're saying something about who you are, and that needs to be a very thoughtful message..."  (see whole story)

I can't wait to hear that may-soon-become "old refrain" at the CPC; I think it goes like this, "In Chicago, they would never tear that down."

Does anyone still have those "Just say no to bad ideas" signs?

I believe the Warner Swasey Observatory is located on the Nela Park property proposed for the new Cleveland Metropolitan School District STEM Academy.

In August 1974, The Warner & Swasey Co. deposited in the Special Collections of Case Western Reserve University Libraries the papers described in the following pages.

The Warner and Swasey Collection includes correspondence of both Worcester R. Warner and Ambrose Swasey as well as early corporate and engineering records of the company they founded. The greatest part of the Collection deals with the instruments, especially telescopes and observatories, engineered and built by The Warner & Swasey Co. lt is particularly fitting that this Collection should come to Case Western Reserve University. Both Mr. Warner and Mr. Swasey were keenly interested in and supported the forerunners of the present University. Also, Mr. Swasey's personal correspondences were donated to the University Libraries by Mr. and Mrs. Warren G. Henderson and are now housed with The Warner and Swasey Collection.

The Warner & Swasey Co., in addition to transferring this Collection to the Case Western Reserve University Libraries, generously underwrote the processing and cataloging of the material. Without that support, the Collection would have remained minimally useful to future scholars. lt can now be consulted with ease by any qualified researcher. The University Libraries are grateful to Mr. C. William Bliss, Vice Chairman, Mr. Joseph T. Bailey, Chairman and President, and the Warner & Swasey Co. for their assistance and support in this important project. Steven W. Gelston ably carried out the processing of this Collection.

WORCESTER REED WARNER

b. May 16, 1846, Cummington, Massachusetts

d. June 25, 1929, Eisenach, Saxe-Weimar, Germany

In school, young WARNER showed keen delight in the study of physics and mathematics. At the age of 19, he completed his schooling with a three-month term under G. Stanley Hall, who was then a student at Williams College, and later president of Clark University.

WARNER secured his first employment in the drafting room of the American Safety Steam and Engine Company, Boston, in 1865. When the company moved to Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1866, WARNER moved with it. It was at this time that he met his future partner, AMBROSE SWASEY. In 1869, WARNER and SWASEY decided to start out together, securing positions at the Pratt and Whitney Company in Hartford, Connecticut.

Within two years both had been placed in charge of departments; WARNER was the foreman of the machine-tool-building department. In 1873, at a Boston exhibit, and in 1876, at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, WARNER was in charge of the Pratt and Whitney Company display. In 1878, WARNER made his first trip to Europe on which he first demonstrated his uncanny ability to "get into places".

In 1880, WARNER and SWASEY decided to leave Pratt and Whitney to establish a business of their own in the mid-west. Initially, they settled in Chicago but in 1881 moved to Cleveland. In 1890, WARNER married Cornelia F. Blakemore of Philadelphia. In 1911, he retired from active business, settling in Tarrytown, New York. In addition to his outstanding success as an engineer and manufacturer, WARNER in his 30 years in Cleveland, became one of the leading men in the city in civic and financial affairs. He was Director of the Guardian Trust Company, and the Society for Savings; Trustee of Western Reserve University, and Case School of Applied Science; and one of the early presidents of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. WARNER was a charter member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and its president in 1897, and a member of various astronomical and engineering societies, both in the United States and abroad. Warner contributed liberally to various universities, churches, and other institutions, including the Cleveland Museum of Art; and the towns of Cummington, Massachusetts, and Tarrytown, New York.

AMBROSE SWASEY

b. December 19, 1846, Exeter, New Hampshire

d. June 15, 1937, Exeter, New Hampshire

SWASEY'S formal education was limited to that offered by the elementary school at Exeter. Leaving his father's farm at the age of 19, SWASEY became an apprentice in the Exeter Machine Works. Here, two years later, he met, worked with and for several years lived with, his future partner, WORCESTER R. WARNER. Together in 1869 the friends went, as master machinists, to work for the Pratt and Whitney Company in Hartford, Connecticut. SWASEY was soon placed in charge of the gear-cutting department. SWASEY devised improved methods of manufacturing machine gears, including the first method of generating and cutting teeth of spur gears entirely by mechanical processes. In the spring of 1880, SWASEY and WARNER went west to start a business of their own in Chicago. A year later the company of WARNER & SWASEY was relocated in Cleveland. SWASEY had an intense interest in the advancement of the engineering sciences. He was a charter member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and its president in 1904, and a member of numerous other engineering societies. Through his generous financial support, the Engineering Foundation was established.

He received many honorary degrees, numerous awards and honors including: Chevalier of the Legion of Honor (France), 1901; Officer of the Legion of Honor (France), 1921; The John Fritz Gold Medal, 1924; The City of Cleveland Medal for Public Service, 1930; Gold Medal of the Franklin Institute, 1932; Gold Medal of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 1933; and the Hoover Gold Medal, 1935.

SWASEY was a generous benefactor of several universities, including Denison, Case School of Applied Science, and Nanking University, China; as well as to various churches and other institutions. In 1871, SWASEY married Livonia D, Cummings. She died in 1912.

THE WARNER & SWASEY COMPANY

In 1880, WORCESTER R. WARNER and AMBROSE SWASEY, two New England machinists, decided to establish a machine business of their own in the mid-west. From boyhood days, both WARNER and SWASEY showed a consuming interest in things mechanical. WARNER early developed an interest in astronomy and built a small telescope, and SWASEY was interested in fine mechanisms, later becoming an expert on the subject of gearing. The founding of their own machine tool plant gave them an opportunity to demonstrate these interests in a very practical way. Machine tools are precision instruments.

The equipment, which made machine tools, could therefore make telescopes. Initially the partners settled in Chicago, but in 1881 they relocated the company in Cleveland. Though the company was founded in 1880, it was not incorporated until 1900 and these incorporation papers actually constitute the first written agreement between the founders.

The partnership of these two men was an unusual one in the annals of American business. Each one supplemented the other. It used to be said that WARNER could sell anything that SWASEY could make, and that SWASEY could build anything that WARNER believed he could sell. WARNER had an instinct for business development and skill in dealing with people; SWASEY had a passion for precision, skill, and accuracy. This combination built the WARNER & SWASEY COMPANY.

From the beginning, the WARNER & SWASEY COMPANY has been known in two seemingly unrelated fields, turret lathes and astronomical telescopes. Their principle work was the designing and manufacturing of machine tools of the highest quality: turret lathes, planers, grinding machines, etc., at which they achieved great success; but always they were interested, as a decidedly minor activity, in the designing and constructing the mountings of astronomical instruments. They achieved distinction for their efforts in three separate occasions of designing and building the world's largest telescope: the Lick telescope for the University of California, a 36" object-glass, in 1887; the Yerkes telescope for the University Chicago, a 40" object-glass, in 1897; and the 72" reflecting telescope for the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Vancouver, Canada, in 1916.

_____________________________

This is what we know about these two great men and their company.

We also know that today Cleveland sorely needs their passion and innovation.

We also know that there are a group of young men trying to save this building.

Have they given up? Go here to email them and find out.

Denison University apparently still has their Swasey Observatory, but then they may not be battling light pollution as we are...

Swasey Observatory, 1909  Campus of Denison University

Architect/Designer: J. Milton Dyer Building

Style: Built in Vermont marble

History: The Warner and Swasey Company of which Ambrose Swasey was founder manufactured much of the original astronomical equipment within the observatory. The interior was renovated and the outer dome replaced in 1970. Its 9-inch refracting and two 8-inch reflecting telescopes are fitted for astrophotography. It also houses an astronomy library and dark rooms.

Gift of Ambrose Swasey of Cleveland, trustee, 1897-1937

_________________

Case Western Reserve University -- in the recent past sold the observatory, forgot their name, irritated their alumni, dropped their library science program, almost dropped their dance program, mowed down the neighborhood... what next? Luckily they retain some wonderful collections in the library.

There is no medicine for this disease.  Doctors heal thyself.  You sickos.

  Chris, I know you.  You know me.  Personally, I expect better from you and so should all the people, who put their faith in you.  Don't cater to mediocrity.  Please.  You still live in the city.  Show us that you really believe in US.  (And, I will get Michael to dog you, too).