Are skyscrapers simply 'machines for making money' or do they offer up a priceless history lesson? 

In the case of the Cleveland Trust Tower, designed by master modernist Marcel Breuer in 1971, speculation over plans to raze or renovate it reached its penultimate moment this month when the county chose an architectural team that proposed demolition.

A last ditch effort headed by Plain Dealer Art and Architecture critic Steven Litt and prominent members of the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects to save the building had a public airing last night at Levin College.

Panelists argued that saving the tower is not only important for historical value, it's a prudent business decision as well.

Of the three county commissioners, Peter Lawson Jones favors preserving the tower (Tim Hagan is opposed, but Jimmy Dimora might still be open to public sentiment. Only Jones was present.).

An estimated $20 million cost savings figures prominently in Lawson Jones’ decision. Also, not dumping the building in a landfill helps the commissioners reach their goal of achieving a LEED-certified Gold rating for the project.

“A [rejected] proposal from the firm Davis, Brody and Bond suggested that if we preserve the tower and make it part of this complex, we will have done what many have failed to do when they jettison old buildings for new,” Lawson Jones said. “People would want to come to our city to appreciate how we did that.”

A final decision will be made in three to six months. Meanwhile, voters might convince Dimora, who’s up for a new term this election, to make a campaign promise to save the tower, Lawson-Jones suggested.

The 800-pound gorilla in the room is whether the choice of architects seals the fate for the tower, or if their proposal can still be altered by dint of public opinion?

“In our last meeting (Dimora) didn’t take a definitive side one way or the other,” Lawson Jones said. “If you’re serious about saving the tower, I suggest you voice your concerns with facts. And don’t be bashful.”

Moderator Steven Rugare of the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative went on to explain the importance of Breuer’s Bauhaus-inspired style—with its unusual treatments of concrete and granite—in modern history.

“Breuer wanted a more expressive quality for high rises” than the bland glass and steel boxes of his contemporaries, he said.

Reusing the tower is an act of sustainable re-development, said Melanie Kintner, interim executive director of the Cleveland Green Building Coalition. “The intent is to extend the life of the building, preserve historic and cultural resources, reduce waste and conserve energy used in making and transporting new materials.”

The local economic impact of adaptive reuse is fairly significant, added KSU Architecture professor Edwin Robinson. “The labor involved in rehabbing the building puts the money through the local economy. If the building is new, most of the money goes out of the country where they make rolled steel.”

“Skyscrapers are big decisions,” Robinson concluded. “Breuer was a man of thoughtful intelligence, and he designed that way.”