1207 Oakridge Circle (1980)

 

Considerable deposits of limestone lie beneath this section of Cleveland Heights and numerous quarries pocketed the neighborhood prior to its development, inspiring names of two roads, Yellowstone and Bluestone. Retaining walls made of stone quarried from these small mines are to be seen throughout.

 

When this white brick home was built in 1938, the quarries were no longer active, but the partial basement had to be blasted from the living rock. Munroe Copper, the architect, accommodated his design to the rocky terrain by dropping the first floor level about three feet.

 

Of particular interest is the stone wall that curves around the back of the house, serving both as a property line and as a border between the natural state of the old quarry and the manicured lawns of the Woodridge Road homes which back up to it.