Jennifer Coleman

 

Architect and Chair of the
Cleveland Landmarks Commission

 

by Joshua Whitney, crew 6

 

 

Jennifer Coleman is an architect and the chair of Cleveland’s Landmarks Commission. She created the City Prowl digital walking tours of Cleveland. These tours are free and last about a half hour. The tours use the latest personal communications technology and combine it with a classic way to view the city. “I am fortunate to be a practicing architect in Cleveland during one of the city’s most fertile growth eras,” said Jennifer Coleman.  She is also an expert on historical buildings and other landmarks all around Cleveland.

 

Jennifer Coleman always solves problems and challenges and that is why she works with Cleveland Landmarks Commission. The problems and challenges she faces are to make progress in educating people about the historic structures in Cleveland and preserving them. She is passionate about Cleveland. As an architect she also works to restore old buildings and add new buildings to Cleveland. Ms. Coleman said, “That’s why I’m an architect in order to create great spaces and buildings for the city.” This is why she is in the Cleveland Landmarks Commission.

One of the main things she enjoys about her job is getting to preserve the beautiful buildings and houses of Cleveland. When she first started working downtown, she saw things that she had never noticed before and learned new things. Also, she said, “Cleveland buildings are something that we should value and realize are unique to the city.” She is passionate about both protecting these buildings and sharing them with others.

 

Jennifer Coleman has many responsibilities at the Cleveland Landmarks Commission. She is responsible for helping to determine whether building sites or historic districts are useable to distinguish as landmarks. The Landmarks Commission conducts a continuing survey of historic things in the city of Cleveland. Also, the Landmarks Commission acts like a certified local government.  This means that they act in coordination with the State Historic Preservation Office in cases involving Section 106/Environment Reviews and National Register of Historic Places designations. “The Cleveland Landmarks Commission is a department, a commission of the city of hall that administers any type of work on buildings and houses that are designated as landmarks in the city, so if people want to nominate any buildings, they come to us first,” said Jennifer Coleman. While she has many responsibilities at her job, she enjoys learning more about the city and its historic buildings each day.

 

Ms. Coleman believes that architecture is significant because it says something about us as people. She says that landmarks and buildings tie to our childhood or important things in our lives. Shelter is something people care about and it ties to history, family, and loved ones. “What we build is a reflection of how we feel about ourselves,” said Jennifer Coleman. Also, she said, “Even with schools, there’s a lot of pride; people have an emotional attachment to where they grew up.” She thinks it is important to protect these structures in Cleveland because they represent more than just buildings.

 

In the Cleveland Landmarks Commission Jennifer Coleman also seeks to make way for new buildings in the city. There are buildings in the downtown area that the owners have asked to be tear down so new things can be built. Sometimes this can be challenging.  For example, one of the buildings that the commission was trying to replace was on Ontario. It was in terrible shape and hadn’t been occupied for at least 20 years. The owners were a family of 20 different people who were squabbling amongst themselves about what to do. Nothing happened to it, they kept fighting, and the casino built a parking lot around it. While this wasn’t a perfect solution, the building was at least absorbed by something useful.

 

Jennifer Coleman is an architect and the chair of Cleveland’s Landmarks Commission. Her job is mostly about solving problems. She protects the buildings that the Cleveland Landmarks Commission determines as historically significant. Also, she takes tours with people to view the Landmarks of Cleveland. She says that “My cause really is to be passionate about cities and specifically Cleveland.” She cares about her job because Cleveland is a city that has gone through many phases, and she thinks that protecting its historic buildings and creating good new ones will help the city to see a new phase of growth. To sum up what Jennifer says is “That’s why I’m an architect, in order to create great spaces and buildings for the city.”