The history of The Bradley started when Alva Bradley commissioned the Cleveland architectural firm of Cudell-Richardson (circa 1883) to design The Bradley Building. Mr. Bradley died in 1885, leaving the uncompleted building to his eldest son, Morris. After the building was completed circa 1886, it was used to house Morris Bradley’s transit companies and real estate firms.
After the decline of Mr. Morris Bradley’s empire, the building was used by the garment industry and later as a printing and typography center until the late 1960’s.
The Bradley Building was the first warehouse between New York City’s Soho District and Chicago’s Printers Row to be renovated for mix use occupancy with the addition of residential loft spaces.
In 1979, the preservation community created a flurry of activity designed to save the district’s The Bradley Building from demolition and restore its historic architecture. By 1983, The Bradley Building reflected a healthy occupancy of artists who were looking to combine their working and living environments.
In 1984, the Bradley Associates acquired the building with the objective of saving it and creating an anchor for a community of residential, commercial, and retail tenants within the Warehouse District.
The Bradley Building now represents an eclectic fabric of tenants that make 1220 West 6th Street a prominent address in Cleveland, Ohio.
The structure represents an intermediate stage of development of the 19th-century commercial buildings. The combination of masonry bearing walls, metal posts, and wooden mill construction epitomizes the transitional nature of American architecture in the 1880’s.
