Lakeside Ten Apartments Unveiled – March 1970

Fifty years ago, apartment living was being heavily promoted in the Lorain Journal as a carefree alternative to home ownership. A variety of articles and ads ran over the weekend of Feb. 28 - March 1, 1970.

The most heavily promoted property was the luxurious new Lakeside Ten Apartments in Sheffield Lake right on U. S. Route 6. The ad above ran in the paper on Saturday, Feb. 28th.

A day later, the special article below ran on Sunday.

(I did a "Then & Now” photo treatment of Lakeside Ten here. I also wrote about the groundbreaking of Lakeside Ten back here.)

It’s still amazing to me that Sheffield Lake gave up its lakefront city hall property to develop Lakeside Ten. It was quite forward-thinking and a glimpse of things to come.

Anyway, today the apartments are known as The Perch on Lake (sounds kinda tasty) and are still impressive to see.

Lakeside 10 Ground Breaking – April 11, 1969

Fifty years ago today, the ground breaking ceremony took place for the construction of Lakeside 10 Apartments in Sheffield Lake.

As the above article (which appeared in the Journal on April 11, 1969) notes, getting the high rise apartments off the ground (so to speak) was not an easy task. The process had started in 1962, when plans were unveiled for the property, on which Sheffield Lake’s City Hall was located.

After years of minor stumbling blocks, including rezoning and debate about the number of stories, things finally got moving with the demolition of City Hall in mid-June 1968.

Construction continued into 1970, with the apartments first showing up in the city directories in 1971.

Here's a construction photo of Lakeside 10 Apartments from the August 24, 1969 Lorain Journal.

In the end, the Lakeside 10 Apartments helped propel Sheffield Lake from a sleepy summer cottage community to a modern, progressive city.

Today the complex is known as The Perch on Lake.

Sheffield Lake City Hall Comes Down – June 14, 1968

Back in February 2013, I posted a 1957 article about Sheffield Lake’s original village hall, which stood where The Perch on Lake apartments are located now.

The post included a rare, vintage photo of the village hall, one of the few in existence today (at right). The building was originally a little red schoolhouse (which I wrote about here).

Well, at the top of this blog post you see what may be the only other photo of the Sheffield Lake Village Hall. Unfortunately, the photo is of it being torn down to make way for Lakeside 10 Apartments.

It sure would have been fun to dig around in that pile of rubble and grab some bricks and other souvenirs.

Signs of Change in Sheffield Lake

It looks like change is coming to Sheffield Lake, at least when it comes to some of the city's longtime businesses and commercial strips.

As shown above, the city's lakefront high-rise luxury apartments – formerly Erie Shore Landing – are now The Perch on Lake. Its website lists its newly renovated apartments and Clubhouse as just a few of the amenities. (I still like the original name – Lakeside 10 – best, though. It has that Southern California beachcomber feel to it.)

Over at Duff Corners at the intersection of East Lake and Abbe Roads, a sign is up for Dee's Lakeside Billiards. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find any online mention of it yet. But it would be nice to have something in there at such a high profile intersection, and I hope it works out.

Longtime residents remember the various gas stations that were there, as well as Donutville and Fraam’s Restaurant. I’m still bummed that Sun Hardware is closed next door, as the staff were always friendly and helpful.

Lastly – although it seems to be taking a while – it looks like Amber Oaks (a favorite topic on this blog here and here) is preparing for an eventual reopening.

A message on the sign at the end of last summer (at right) read, “SEE YOU SOON,” as well as “NEW MENU." Work has been going on both on the inside and outside of the restaurant, and the owners have been sprucing it up nicely.

There has also been some chatter about Amber Oaks on the "You know you're from Sheffield or Sheffield Lake if…" Facebook page, mostly speculation about the hours of the restaurant once it reopens.

Here’s hoping that these and all new businesses in Sheffield Lake enjoy much community support, as well as success.

Lakeside 10 Apartments, Then and Now

Keeping the lakefront apartment theme going...

Here's a vintage postcard of the former Lakeside 10 Apartments located right in my town, Sheffield Lake. (The postcard currently is listed on Ebay by Hogan's Postcards and Collectibles.)

The apartment building looks quite nice here and really evokes a feeling of the California lifestyle. But that battered Plain Dealer box in the lower left hand corner kind of wrecks the mood. (I wonder if that qualifies as product placement?)

The advertising slogan back then was "Elegant Living on Lake Erie Shores." Some of the amenities listed on the vintage postcard include a heated outdoor swimming pool, tennis court, putting green, indoor parking, a party house, saunas, whirlpool and exercise room, central air-conditioning and dishwashers.

Anyway, many people may not know that the Lakeside 10 Apartments were built on the site of the old Sheffield Lake City Hall, which was sold to a developer in 1967 for $20,000.

Lakeside 10 Apartments first showed up in the city directory in 1970 as being under construction, and in the 1971 book as its first real listing.

Today the name of the apartment complex is Erie Shore Landing. Here's a link to their website.

And here's the current view. The apartments still look quite impressive and modern.

At least the old Plain Dealer box is gone – but the tree on the right seems to have gone through a rough time since the days of the vintage postcard. The fence isn't looking so great either.