MURAL MAGIC: Downtown rooftop patio mural to be completed this summer

 

PHOTOS BY HEATHER IMMLER AND CHRISTINA McCUNE | BGNN

Kavé Coffee Bar manager Ryan Struckel’s vision is coming to life at the rooftop patio to pay tribute to local history and educate and remind people of all ages about buildings and individuals who have shaped the Magic City. Artist Curtis Goldstein designed the completed mural, and Arris Cohen and his wife, AlannaMarie, painted the mural and will finish the mural on the adjacent wall this summer.

By CHRISTINA McCUNE
BGNN managing editor

BARBERTON The next time you travel through downtown – look up. Especially as you go past – or before you enter – Kavé Coffee Bar, 584 W Tuscarawas Ave.

Ryan Struckel, a Barberton High School graduate who has been Kavé’s manager since 2021, has loved local history ever since he was a child.

Struckel has combined a love for both history and art and for the past few years has been forming a vision in his mind that is finally coming to life.

Struckel, 30, has researched, filled out grant applications, received a donation of paint, and found talented artists to design and paint above the popular upscale coffee house a mural depicting local history.

“It’s been so rewarding and it is such a passion project because I grew up here, I love the city of Barberton, and I never expected that I would be able to give back in this way,” he said.

About a third of the way complete, the mural so far shows the south gatehouse, which is how the public would have entered city founder O.C. Barber’s Anna Dean Farm grounds. The colorful eye-catching painting was designed thanks to a famous artist that Struckel discovered while he was in Hilliard, Ohio, visiting his friend, Alex, who also works at Kavé.

When Struckel saw a mural in Hilliard done in a mosaic tile style he reached out to well-known artist Curtis Goldstein who was happy to take on the project. He began designing the mural but unfortunately passed away from an illness. A colleague of Goldstein’s, Arris Cohen, and his wife, AlannaMarie, is completing the design and painting.

“Originally, I wanted to do the Barber Inn because it was right across the street,” Struckel said. “We switched gears and did the mansion instead because it’s been missing from our history for so long.”

The completed mural will be along the outside of buildings belonging to Daly’s Appliance and Lake 8 Movies. Part of the mural can be seen from the sidewalk and street and once it’s complete, people at Lake Anna will be able to see the mural.

Up on the rooftop, viewers studying the mural can delight in some details and historical tie-ins such as the Barber mansion’s wallpaper pattern is represented as well as mums and swan feathers.

The rest of the mural includes O.C. Barber’s mansion and Barn No. 2, which both have been demolished, as well as shows some history about A. O. Austin, who Struckel is trying to shine a light on.

“Most people know O.C. Barber but we wanted to focus more on the mansion and the history of the building than Barber himself,” Struckel said. “A.O. Austin owned that mansion for three times the amount of time that Barber did but nobody knows Austin’s history.”

Construction on the mansion was completed in 1910 and Barber lived there until he died in 1920. Austin lived in the mansion for decades following Barber’s death. The mansion was torn down in 1965.

“Austin lived there a lot longer,” Struckel said. “He was an electrical engineer. Did a lot for Ohio Brass out of Akron. A lot of the experiments he did on the Barber estate are the reasons that radio communication works so well today and why airplanes don’t get struck by lighting. Really cool stuff that happened on that property that nobody knows about.”

The mansion will take up the middle of the mural, Struckel said, and the right hand side will focus on Austin with his electrical engineering and the plane he did experiments on and Barn No. 2 where experiments took place.

“Austin is a really interesting piece of Barberton history that so many people don’t know about,” Struckel said.

Struckel has been consulting with the Barberton Historical Society, Barberton Public Library and A. O. Austin’s grandson Dr. Douglas Gormley for information. Struckel said he learned Austin’s favorite part of the mansion grounds was the rose garden so roses were added into the design.

“We have the opportunity to educate so much on Barberton history, to highlight individuals who history has forgotten and create a stunning experience,” he said.

At one point the Barber mansion was called by the New York Times “the finest mansion between New York and Chicago,” he said.

Struckel shared a fun fact that the mansion had 15 fireplaces and even though Barber developed the Diamond Match Company, he feared fire and never lit a fire in any of the fireplaces. Austin enjoyed the fireplaces when he lived there.

Struckel said they plan to have a QR code with an informational section on the website. He has rough drafts for informational posters that will be installed on the coffee house wall on the rooftop with information explaining and showing pictures of the buildings in the mural as well as other buildings on the Anna Dean Farm.

The coffee shop has a history all its own. A bowling alley was once in the basement. The space was once eight different storefronts with a variety of businesses and the building also housed a couple different restaurants. An art gallery and wine bar transitioned into Kavé Coffee Bar and art continues to be featured as well as live music and other special events.

A rooftop patio was installed in 2017 and Struckel has been eyeing for a few years the brick walls surrounding two sides of the patio which seemed to call out to him to serve as blank canvases.

“I always wanted to put something up there,” Struckel said.

He remembers as a kid attending the Anna Dean Farm walking tours put on by the Barberton Historical Society. Growing up, his grandmother bought him books printed by the historical society.

The mural will cost about $20,000 and the mural as well as other patio improvements and an unveiling event are all paid for thanks to grants awarded to the project.

Struckel applied for and received grants to make the mural and upgrades to the patio area possible. The Barberton Community Foundation awarded an $18,000 grant to the project and Akron/Summit County Visitors Bureau awarded a grant for patio improvements. ArtsNow provided a grant for lighting and the unveiling event. PPG donated paint for the mural which completed will be 28-by-100 feet.

The patio is open typically spring, summer and fall when the weather is nice. Struckel said the plan is to put 47 artificial Christmas trees on the rooftop and add some wooden tables for a Christmas tree farm vibe. Customers may have an opportunity to bundle up and visit the patio and enjoy the mural with warm with beverages in hand on chilly days as well.

Struckel’s main goal is to make sure history is not forgotten and especially significant aspects of the history of the city he loves.

The Cohens will be working on the rest of the mural consistently this summer and Struckel said they likely will be working on it during the Arts and Music festival June 13. Struckel said they hope the mural will be complete by late July or August and they would like to have an unveiling event afterward. Excitement has been building as customers, residents and visitors and Kavé Coffee Bar staff have enjoyed watching the process, he said.

“It’s really a true community project, which is really awesome,” Struckel said.