The HESSLER RD. AND HESSLER COURT HISTORIC DISTRICT was dedicated by Cleveland's Landmarks Commission on 1 Nov. 1975. Hessler Court, the only remaining Cleveland street to have wood block paving, had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places 7 months earlier. The Court's distinctive paving was installed by Emery Hessler for his private use ca. 1916.
Part of UNIV. CIRCLE, Hessler Rd. runs from Ford Dr. east to Hessler Ct., which travels north for 300' to intersect with Bellflower Rd. The dwellings on the red brick paved Hessler Rd. were built between 1907 and 1927, and in the 1940s provided affordable housing for art and graduate students, hospital personnel, and others employed in the Univ. Circle area. A self-contained neighborhood on the edge of the CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIV. campus, Hessler Rd. residents developed a cooperative lifestyle formalized in the late 1960s by the organization of the Hessler Neighborhood Assn. to raise funds for housing renovation and to promote activities enhancing the social and architectural value of the area. In 1976 Hessler residents participated in rent strikes to force UNIV. CIRCLE INC. (UCI) to make needed repairs on the homes it owned on the street, and subsequently the Hessler Housing Cooperative was formed when UCI sold 5 of its properties to the group.
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