Completed 1922 Floor count 22 Opened 1922 Phone +1 216-781-4828 Architecture firm Rapp and Rapp | Roof 83 m (272 ft) Height 83 m Floors 22 | |
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Alternative names B.F. Keith Theatre Building Type Commercial officesTheatre Similar AT&T Huron Road Buil, Guardian Bank Building, Hanna Building, US Bank Centre – Cleveland, The 925 Building | ||
The Keith Building is a skyscraper in downtown Cleveland, Ohio's Theater District. The Keith is 272 feet tall and 21 stories. It is actually not the main office tower of the PlayhouseSquare Foundation, it is rather home to telecommunications companies and business accelerators. The Trust for Public Land which is interested in preserving parks and land for people has their Ohio headquarters in the Keith.
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At the time of its construction in 1922, it was the tallest building in Cleveland, and currently stands as the 25th-tallest. It is also the tallest performing arts related building in Ohio and Cleveland. Additionally, it is the tallest building in the Theater District. Through the 1950s at least, The Keith had the largest electric sign in the world at the time of construction atop its roof, which simply announced it as the B. F. KEITH VAUDEVILLE. In recent years, there has been amble talk advancing the notion of putting this multistory sign back on the building's roof.
History
Owner Edward Albee II named it in memory of B. F. Keith, his former business partner and one of the most important vaudeville theatre circuit owners in the history of American theater. The Keith Building houses the Palace Theater which became the flagship for the Keith vaudeville circuit, Playhouse Square Center's second-largest theater (in seating capacity), and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, simply as the Playhouse Square Group consortium. This in part spurred the city of Cleveland to donate 3.15 million dollars in economic work grants to spear head the starting of the renovation of Playhouse Square as it is known today.
In 1980, the firm of Barber & Hoffman, a consulting in engineering company began to identify several structural problems with the then over 55-year-old building and by 2000 had completed a 3 million dollar restoration of the facade and several cosmetic issues. In early 2015, the K & D Group entered into an agreement to purchase the Keith for what was reported to be 6.3 million dollars in February. However, unlike their other downtown properties, K&D indicated that it will remain an office building and not be converted to apartments any time in the near future. In March, it was announced that K&D did in fact purchase the building but for only 5.2 million instead of 6.3 million as reported in February 2015.
Legacy in community
In 2010, the Keith Building is credited with being one of the biggest donors in Cleveland Thermal's Cleveland Food Bank annual Harvest for Hunger food drive. The Palace Theater is known for presenting children's entertainment for school children in the Greater Cleveland area and for many of these children it is their first taste of professional theater.