Walking through the well-heeled parts of your city, it can be hard to imagine it any other way.
But cities are always changing and where once were slums now are million pound houses.
Whereas the areas that used to be the exclusive run of the rich can fall from grace, becoming derelict shadows of their former selves.
This was the case for Cleveland's 'Millionaire's Row' - Euclid Avenue.
From 1870 until 1920, the section of the road from East 9th Street to East 55th Street boasted some of the grandest homes in the US, maybe even the world.
Business magnates paid the top architects of the day to build impressive Victorian mansions.
Image:
Getty Images)It drew flattering comparisons to the Champs-Élysées in Paris and titans of industry such as John D. Rockefeller had homes there.
Travel guides dubbed it "The Showplace of America" and recommended European tourists walk the length of the street admiring the grand houses.
But this Millionaire's Row was a victim of its parent city's own success.
A commercial district had sprung up at the lower end of Euclid Avenue which slowly grew and spread like ivy towards the mansions of the wealthy.
Image:
AP/REX/Shutterstock)Soon skyscrapers, grand banks and shopping malls started to overshadow the millionaires' houses and other quieter neighbourhoods began to appear more appealing.
As transport links into the city centre improved all round many rich families moves further out into the developing suburbs especially to the area known as 'The Heights'.
The grand old mansions were divided up into rooming houses, a process which was sped up during the Great Depression.
Poorer families were rammed into the once grand homes and the mansions began to fall apart.
Image:
Planet Observer/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)When the Cleveland's Innerbelt Freeway was built its route cut right through the former 'Millionaire's Row' and there weren't any wealthy families left to protest.
By 1960 Euclid Avenue was a two mile long slum and like in many cities in that era urban decay was deep rooted.
But over the last 50 years things have begun looking up with renewal projects paying off.
Image:
David Maxwell/EPA/REX/Shutterstock)Now few remnants of the street's grandeur still remain.
Only two of the mansions still stand - Parker-Hannifin Hall and Mather Mansion - both of which are used by the lucky students of Cleveland State University
Pretty reminders of the rise and fall of Cleveland's 'Millionaires Row' and maybe even stand as a warning of what can happen to any wealthy area.
