Newton Avenue Historic District

Phil H. Marquard (1868-1942) was one of Cleveland’s most distinguished contractors and developers. The son of an early Cleveland settler, Marquard founded the Marquard Sash and Door Company in 1890. The business had offices and a factory space on the west side of Cleveland on Lorain Avenue, where the old “Marquard” building stands to this day. Marquard’s business specialized in hand-crafted woodworking details like doors, window surrounds, and built-in cabinets.

In 1906, Marquard expanded his enterprise and started the Phil Marquard Real Estate Building Company, which advertised as the builders of “Homes Beautiful.” Newton Avenue (within the Logan subdivision) on Cleveland’s east side was one of the company’s first attempts to develop an entire block of houses. The neighborhood would be unlike anything ever built in Cleveland before or since. The 23 houses on Newton Ave would bear the direct influence of one of the most important architectural innovations of the 20th century—the California Bungalow. These “craftsman” style homes were a departure from the more ornate style of previous generations. California bungalows have simple floor plans accented by hand-crafted exterior and interior wooden elements. Marquard likely realized products from the Door and Sash Company would align well with the bungalow aesthetic.  

Marquard travelled to California and saw new bungalows in Los Angeles and Pasadena for himself. In most advertisements for the new houses, the Marquard Real Estate Company billed themselves as “bungalow specialists.” While the Newton Avenue houses are not perfect imitations of California Bungalows, they do incorporate key features. The houses are densely packed onto the street and occupy small 30’ wide lots. This is similar to bungalow “courts” in California, where several bungalows were built on one sublot, sometimes around a common green area. The Newton Avenue houses are unified by their front porches, another common feature of the California Bungalow. Most notably, the houses feature hand-made wooden decorations. Window surrounds with elaborate pillars and pediments, highly decorative porch pillars, rafter tails, and leaded glass windows decorate many of the houses. The interiors all have built-in china cabinets, buffets, and bookcases, as well as other wood accents on the staircases and walls. All of these were built by Marquard Sash and Door Company. 

The two four-story, brick apartment buildings facing 97th Street were not built by Marquard, and they post-date the single-family houses by a few years. However, they greatly contribute to the historic atmosphere of the street and were included in the historic district boundaries.

Like California bungalows, the Newton Ave houses were intended for owners in middle to upper class jobs. The first homeowners represent a variety of professions in this socio-economic bracket. William Bohnard, a well-known Cleveland architect, lived at 9815 Newton Ave. Accountants, physicians, realtors, and managers also made their home here. 

Newton Avenue and its surrounding streets in the Hough neighborhood suffered severe neglect and deterioration in the mid-twentieth century. Two of the Marquard houses were demolished. Cleveland pianist and property owner, Jerry Maddox (d. 2019) took an interest in the neighborhood. In 1980, he began purchasing properties on Newton Avenue as they became available in order to preserve what was left of the block. As the landlord of seven of the properties, Maddox was instrumental in the effort to designate Newton Avenue as a Cleveland historic district in 1986 and place Newton Avenue on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. Maddox was a fair landlord. He resided in the neighborhood himself and kept rents reasonable to combat gentrification. Over 100 years after the first houses were constructed, Newton Avenue is still a special neighborhood to visit—a surprising and totally unique architectural oasis that provides a glimpse into Cleveland’s past.

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"Newton Avenue Historic District." , National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. (NR listed: August 31st 1988). Cleveland Landmarks Commission Records, File no. 361. Cleveland City Hall, Cleveland, OH.

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Polyzoides, Stefanos. "The Bungalow, the Street and the Court: Traditional Elements of a California Architecture & Urbanism." Old House Journal 30:3. 2002. Accessed July 20th 2020. https://www.mparchitects.com/site/thoughts/bungalow-street-and-court.

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