Shaker Heights Homes: As Developed by the Van Sweringen Company

View the interactive map here

In this map, you can look through pictures of homes taken from real estate catalogs that advertised the different styles of homes in Shaker Heights during the 1920s. These catalogs were produced and distributed by the Van Sweringen Company. The homes featured in this map are from The Heritage of the Shakers, Shaker Village Standards 1928, and Shaker Village Standards 1925, which are available online via Cleveland Memory or in the Shaker Historical Society's Elizabeth Nord Library.

Each slide features the address of a historic home pinned at its location, the date of its building permit or the date construction was finished, the original owner, the architect, a link to a corresponding building card with more information about each house, and the historic image of the house and the image's source.

This map was researched and created in 2023 by Rafiq Sadki, an intern from Case Western Reserve University, with mentorship provided by Shaker Historical Society staff, Brianna Treleven and Krista Albertins. 

Archiving Horseshoe Lake

View the digital exhibition here

The story of Horseshoe Lake has been at the forefront of local history and community discussions over the past year. During summer 2022, Digital Exhibition Assistant Austen Walker completed an SHS archives collections survey related to Horseshoe Lake, digitized priority items, and curated a digital exhibit based on archival findings.

The result is Archiving Horseshoe Lake, a digital exhibit sharing the history of the Horseshoe Lake area from pre-colonization to present that encourages residents to consider the current situation in a broader context.

The Archiving Horseshoe Lake project was made possible through an Ohio Humanities grant matched by a generous donation from SHS member John Barber.

Musings: Drawings from the "Great Pause" — October 7, 2023-February 4, 2024

To keep her art fresh during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nancy Schwartz-Katz began a drawing a day in her sketchbooks. Musings: Drawings from the "Great Pause" features the artist’s everyday reflections through observational sketches with the public as artistic muse and inspiration. From six-foot distancing in a coffee shop to an open cookbook on a counter, these scenes transform the mundane into a symphony of reflections, vividly depicting the pandemic's “great pause.”

With over 30 years of experience as a Judaic artist, Nancy Schwartz-Katz's artistic journey was sparked by her grandfather, an artist himself, who inspired her passion for drawing and storytelling from a young age. A graduate of Parsons School of Design with a major in Illustration, Schwartz-Katz’s talent and hard work have been recognized with numerous honors, including a 2023 Ohio Heritage Arts Fellowship Award from Ohio Arts Council for her dedication and mastery in creating Judaic Art in Northeast Ohio and beyond. Working and residing in Shaker Heights, Schwartz-Katz’ dedication to her craft remains unwavering, even during the pandemic, as she engages in the Drawing A Day project, reflecting her ongoing growth, passion for storytelling, and exceptional artistic skill.

Musings: Drawings from the "Great Pause" will be on view from October 7, 2023 to February 4, 2024. Musings is made possible in part by state tax dollars allocated by the Ohio Legislature to the Ohio Arts Council (OAC). The OAC is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically.