The area is historically anchored by major skyscrapers that echo Cleveland's industrial past, most notably the Rockefeller Building.

In the late 1970s, the Warehouse District underwent major renovation and revitalizing, with the buildings being repurposed as bars, restaurants, shops, nightclubs, and apartments for people seeking to live downtown, and eventually became a nightlife hotspot for 20-somethings and urban professionals, following a pattern pioneered in Cleveland by the Flats entertainment district, which it ultimately supplanted as the city's premier weekend place-to-be.

[5][6] Smith's spot in the warehouse became a gathering spot for other artists in the building, including S. Judson Wilcox, Melissa Jay Craig (AKA "Field Marshal May Midwest"), Laszlo Gyorki, Ken Nevadomi, Randy Rigutto, Jay Clements, Beth Wolfe and others.

[7] Although more than half of the original eight-block area has been razed and replaced by parking lots, by 2000 the remaining restored buildings were home to many restaurants and clubs.

The ornate Victorian age facades of these historic warehouses are often preserved and restored, while the interiors of the buildings experience complete transformation into contemporary and trendy spaces.