1600 East 55th Street
The Richman Brothers Company
A few weekends ago, I was able to spend an hour or two in Cleveland. I had been once before, but I couldn’t explore outside of the downtown core. I plan to journey across new parts of the city, hopefully for longer, on my next trip, but for now, let’s chat about the Richman Brothers.
Founded initially as the Lehman-Richman Co., the Richman Brothers Company was founded in the mid-1800s by Henry Richman in Portsmouth, Ohio. Eventually, he moved his operation to Cleveland, which was a significant step up in terms of the output the company was able to muster.
After the turn of the century, as Cleveland’s population neared half a million, Henry’s sons took over the company. They brought it into the modern era of production and sales. Before their involvement, Richman was a wholesale operation—they sold their clothing to other companies to sell. The boys decided to open retail locations around Cleveland to cut out the middleman. They were one of the first clothiers to do this, and the concept was extraordinarily cost-effective. Eventually, they had stores across the country.
Until the 1910s, the company owned spaces that weren’t built for their operation. They constructed their first structure, pictured here, between 1915 and 1916. It was designed by Christian, Schwarzenberg & Gaede, one of Cleveland’s premier architecture firms of the day. Additions were completed by the same folks in 1924 and 1927, resulting in the behemoth structure pictured here.
The manufacturing facility and warehouse in one has two courtyards. From the air, the eastern portion of the structure, completed in 1916, is shaped like a capital E. The additions jut off to the southwest and are shaped like an A rotated counterclockwise 120 degrees.
According to the Case Western Reserve University Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, the Richman Brothers Company sold “men’s suits, furnishings, and hats.” The page also reported that the management had a tremendous relationship with their employees. They were one of the first firms to offer a 2-week paid vacation to all employees. However, when unionization rolled around, they fought like hell to keep the stewards out of their company. Even if they felt they already had good relations with their employees, that’s a little fishy.
In 1927, the company posted net profits of $2,276,327, or just under $40 million in 2023. The relatives of Henry Richman still owned the company until 1969. In the 1950s, it was one of the largest clothing chains in the midwest. When the family finally did sell, it was to one of their competitors, the F.W. Woolworth Company.
The facility was still manufacturing through the 1980s, as evident by ads in the paper for sewing machine mechanics and quality control garment managers. However, the company was deemed unprofitable and was axed in 1992. At that point, the 1600 E 55th Street facility, which had become a distribution center, closed.
Over the years, various redevelopment plans have been floated, one of which recently stuck. The building is in fine shape—apart from the wear and tear of no large-scale maintenance for the past three decades.
In 2022, the structure was purchased by CMI Developers LLC. In a statement, they said they were “excited to pursue the redevelopment of the Richman Brothers factory building. The building is one of Cleveland's historic treasures, and its rebirth will serve as a catalyst for the revitalization of the city's East Side."
CMI is based in New York City. Their work includes the Clock Tower at 112 Lincoln Avenue in the Bronx, among other projects.
While taking these photographs, I spoke to a man who lives in the neighborhood next to Richman Bros. He was drinking a 25-ounce Busch Light and told me he was one of the first people to get scrap out of the structure. Even considering his past experience with it, he was excited to see it redeveloped.
If the photographs don’t show it, this building is absolutely massive. I don’t know what CMI’s plans for it are, but one thing is for sure; they’ve got room to work with.
