Get to Know Cleveland's Transformer Station

Owned by the Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell Foundation (Bidwell Foundation), Transformer Station was established as a non-profit 501c3 Operating Foundation in 2011. 

The Bidwell Foundation supports artists and regional arts institutions by sponsoring projects, exhibitions, and programs that encourage creativity and innovation.

Over the past two decades, Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell have gathered an exquisite collection of contemporary art that reflects the state of photography today.

Many of the exhibitions produced by Transformer Station feature new acquisitions or site-specific commissions.

As part of its long-term commitment to the arts and culture in the region, the Bidwell Foundation has partnered with the Cleveland Museum of Art to amplify and strengthen its contemporary art offerings.

For six months each year, the Cleveland Museum of Art will have access to the venue for significant new contemporary art projects.

This partnership provides the Cleveland Museum of Art with its first west side footprint and allows for an off-site project space. 

In addition to exhibitions presented by the Bidwell Foundation and the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Transformer Station hosts talks, performances, and events throughout the year.

The building's original facade was built in 1924 and is one of sixteen substations built by Cleveland’s one-time private transit provider, the Cleveland Railway Company.

The substation converted electrical power for the Detroit Avenue Streetcar Line, which carried 19 million riders annually at its peak. The building was used as a transformer station until 1949 when the City of Cleveland offered it for auction. 

From the early 1980s until 2010, the building housed an artist's foundry until later purchased by the Bidwells in 2011. The original building is a brick structure with solid, classical proportions, enhanced with intricate brick detailing.

The smaller "Crane Gallery" boasts soaring twenty-two-foot ceilings and houses a massive horizontal crane, built by Cleveland’s Armington Crane Company, rated to lift fifteen tons!

With the exception of modern environmental controls, the original space has been maintained without major modifications and the original masonry and ironwork have been completely restored.

The completed 7,944 square foot facility features approximately 3,500 square feet of gallery space for the display of painting, photography, sculpture, video, and digital media. 

In 2014 Transformer Station and Mid State Restoration Inc. were awarded the “Award of Merit for Masonry Restoration” by the Cleveland Restoration Society and AIA Cleveland.

This spring 2022, Transformer Station will undergo building improvements both inside and outside, transforming into the FRONT PNC Exhibition Hub for the FRONT 2022 exhibition across Cleveland, Akron, and Oberlin (July 16–October 2, 2022).