Warner and Swasey Observatory

The Current State of the Observatory...

The Exterior

For the last decade East Cleveland has had a difficult problem with the dumping of trash on private property. The Warner and Swasey Observatory bears the same problem. All around the perimeter of the building lies piles and piles of garbage. The rear gated area houses several dilapidated cable trucks that remain from its TBA cable company past. The owner who ran the cable company is now the owner of the observatory, which may explain the trucks and cable supplies rotting behind the fence.

Almost all of the accessible windows have been boarded up. This has come just recently due to the windows being broken by vandals.

Any wall that is well hidden from the main streets has been spray-painted and vandalized. With the Observatory being built of brick and stone, no other exterior damage has been done by vandals.

The building from outside appears to be in sound shape. The only area of minor decay can be found in the original 1920 entrance to the building, where the decorative stone facade is starting to crack and chip away.

The Interior

Not much is known about the state of the interior of the building. It has been many years since the owner has let anyone view the inside. He would not let the initial group (Matt, Tim, Tony) view the inside back in 2002.

From images and accounts of the building's past, the interior is as remarkable as the exterior. With its art deco woodwork, beautifully mosaic floor tiling, and hallways marked with backlit displays, the interior is defining for its era and rich in detail. However, little is known about how much of that has survived.

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