Art and history will be on display at our July SNOOP! at the Darl Center for the Arts in the Broadway Historic District in Slavic Village.

An impressive transformation from derelict building to art museum, the center displays owner Darl Schaaf’s eclectic art collection – over 400 pieces — which he amassed over a lifetime of international travel. About the art, his website states: “Imagine spending over 50 years collecting the things you love, you find beautiful, you receive as a gift from the most interesting people in the world.”

For such a collection, Schaaf needed a unique and imaginative space. He found it in a nearly 120-year-old French Renaissance style decagon-shaped building at the corner of Broadway and E. 55th Street.

The building was Cleveland’s first Carnegie library, dedicated in 1906 and designed by Charles Morris. The interior features distinctive Carnegie library design elements with skylights and a domed lobby surrounded by reading rooms. A theater for library programming was in the basement.

The Cleveland Public Library, Broadway Branch, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. It closed its doors to the public in 1987. In the 1990s, it housed a restaurant and then a small church.

After ten years of severe neglect, the building needed serious rehabilitation when Schaaf purchased it in 2022. His improvements include a new roof, heating system, paint, plaster and new flooring where needed. Much of the original old-growth pine floors remain. Schaaf has also renovated the downstairs theater and offers it as an event space for community groups.

The art center’s mission is to develop relationships with artists and craftspeople, allowing them opportunities, as well as engaging the local community in the understanding and appreciation of the arts.

Come see this remarkable museum in the historic and culturally rich Slavic Village!