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Deming was as much a marketer as a real estate developer. His use of
many different marketing media suggests that he understood the importance of
exposure, and the ultimate success of Euclid Golf as a business venture,
rare in real estate development at the time, suggests that his emphasis on
marketing paid off.
Deming’s first advertising consisted of billboards erected throughout Euclid
Golf. Billboards on the outskirts proclaimed the name of the
allotment, and billboards erected at the foot of each street advertised the
features of the lots prospective residents could buy. Individual
construction sites often sported large for sale signs as well.
Deming also
erected attractive offices where prospective purchasers could stop, review
allotment maps and blueprints, and purchase their new home site.
Deming’s first office was on
Coventry
at Fairmount, and the main office was at the corner of Demington and
Fairmount.
Deming utilized print media extensively. The earliest advertisements
appear in The Cleveland Leader and feature allotment maps and long
descriptions of the improvements planned for the allotment.
Later advertisements were far more poetic,
featuring illustrations of picturesque houses typically accompanied by
descriptions of the beauty of Euclid Golf. In Cleveland Town Topics
alone, over one hundred seventy-five such advertisements appear from 1913 to
1928.
Just
six years after Deming began development of Euclid Golf, he referred to
Fairmount Boulevard as “The Euclid Avenue of the Heights”. Again in a
1920 advertisement, Deming expounded upon the idea: “the splendid
neighborhood at Ardleigh Drive and Delamere Drive in Euclid Golf
development, where these beautiful streets intersect with Fairmount
Boulevard, has naturally, by virtue of just its location, become the home
site for many of Cleveland’s first families”.
Was he the first to make this claim? Was the phrase “Euclid Avenue
of the Heights” simply a creation of his marketing department? We may
never know; however, Deming was certainly correct in noting that many
prominent Clevelanders had made their homes in Euclid Golf.
We
know about some of these homeowners from an extensive article about Euclid
Golf in the May 1921 issue of The Architectural Forum. The
article recognizes Euclid Golf as an outstanding example of suburban real
estate development. It praises the B.R. Deming Company and Howell &
Thomas Architects for creating a residential community that was both
architecturally pleasing and financially successful. “To
[Clevelanders],” it says, “[Euclid Golf] signifies a district centering
about a wide curved boulevard, crossed by a dozen or so winding streets of
generous width, an abundance of fine old trees and a sprinkling of
substantial houses which are, as suburban houses go, quite likely in size
and character.”
The
article shows photographs and floor plans for eleven Euclid Golf homes,
designed by Howell & Thomas. Three of the homes are
Fairmount Boulevard
mansions, while the rest are more modest side street domains. The
Fairmount Boulevard homes include those of A.C. Ernst, Esq., founding
partner of Ernst & Ernst Accountants (2540 Fairmount); Mrs. W. C. Scofield,
widow of a sales manager for Lake Erie Iron Company (2602 Fairmount; and Mr.
Fred Nichols, an attorney (2626 Fairmount).
Those
on the side streets include the homes of several prominent businessmen.
Two of these men were involved in Cleveland’s early automobile industry: Mr.
Thomas White, Vice-President of White Motor Company (2335 Delamere) and
Charles A. Forster, President of the Packard Cleveland Motor Company (2231
Delamere). At least two were involved in real estate: Mr. John C.
McNutt, President and Treasurer of the J.C. McNutt Company (2272 Woodmere)
and A.C. Blair, President and Treasurer of the A.C. Blair Company and
Vice-President of Best Realty Company (2248
Woodmere).
The remaining homes are those of Mr. William R. Mitchell, Secretary of
Selicci Products (2346 Woodmere); Mr. Raymond G. Pack, an advertising
executive (2224 Tudor); and Mr. Roland W. White, President of the Colonade
Company and Treasurer of The Fuller Canneries Company (2222 Delamere).
The
extent to which B.R. Deming desired to protect his allotment from
undesirable influences is shown by his purchase of three lots on the South
side of West St. James Parkway from another developer and the design of
pleasing cottage houses to block the unsightly view of “a poor class of
investment houses with no restrictions”.
Mr. Howell designed number 2600 West St. James, Mr. Thomas designed number
2594 West St.
James, and they both designed a double house, number 2580-82 West St. James,
at the boundary of the allotment on
West St. James Parkway.
These three houses, though not technically part of Euclid Golf, are included
in the Historic District because of their high-quality design and
construction and their unique role in protecting Euclid Golf.
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