Historic Public Buildings

Steve was instrumental in saving the old Elyria Town Hall and developed a plan that was implemented for converting it, an adjoining historic building and new construction into the new city hall.   top saves it initially from demolition, he nominated it to the National Register.   He later was hired by the city to develop the plan, which was implemented by the succeeding administration.  

Steve has a passion for historic courthouses and helped write a book on the subject, "Development of Ohio's Counties and their Historic Courthouses." 

He has done much research on various buildings and helped to secure funding for specific projects.  He has visited nearly every of the state’s 88 counties and their historic courthouses.

Wayne County Courthouse, constructed in 1878 from plans by a Thomas Boyd, is one of the state’s grand Second Empire style courthouses.  Steve oversaw an exterior rehabilitation in the 1980s and worked to design a new courtroom in the 1868 annex, plus helped restore its grand spiral staircase.

As part of DMD Development Group in 2023-24, Steve presented a plan for a $1.2 billion new Cuyahoga County Courts facility that provides modern courts facilities in structures whose exteriors recall the forms of lost Cleveland landmarks.  It received favorable consideration by county officials.   

Steve has long championed the reconstruction of the 1887 Franklin County Courthouse in Columbus, first in 1999 as part of new courts, then in 2020-24 as the city plans a new municipal courts complex on the original site.    

Steve was a 1971 graduate of Elyria High school and discovered an interest in historic buildings in part by attending classes in the 1894 Washington Building.  When plans were proposed for a new high school on the existing site, he was hired by the school board to help develop plans for a new school with the grand Washington Building as its centerpiece.  

Steven McQuillin helped secure $2 million dollars in state preservation tax credits toward its rehabilitation.  In spite of the efforts of preservationists, the courthouse was demolished in 2012.

Through advocacy, Steven McQuillin played a role in shaping the Cleveland Museum of Art's 2002-2010 expansion by his encouraging saving the 1971 Marcel Breuer-designed wing, initially proposed for demolition by architects Cooper Robertson.  Later, he obtained support from national experts to prevent the demolition of the Breuer canopy and helped prevent shifting its main entrance to the east by architect Rafael Vinoly.  

He was unable to prevent Vinoly's massive attachments to the historic 1917 original building or the demolition of the indoor garden court, but the project was improved by these modest preservation changes.   

Steve's early inspiration for saving historic buildings was the Dr. Philip D. Reefy mansion (following Dr. Reefy's death in 1913, his son Dr. Karl Reefy resided there for a number of years).  Then, in 1929, the house was purchased by the Elyria Public Library.  It took 5 years to build at the turn of the last century and was tragically demolished in 1967 by the Methodist church.  Steve as a young teenager advocated its preservation, considered reasons for demolition not valid and left the church over their decision.