The Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center is a state courthouse, office building, and library in Columbus, Ohio, in the city's downtown

Civic Center A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, the ...

. The building is the headquarters of the Supreme Court of Ohio, the state's highest court, as well as the Ohio Court of Claims and Ohio Judicial Conference. The judicial center is named after the court's former chief justice Thomas J. Moyer. The building was designed by Harry Hake in the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style. It was built from 1930 to 1933, known as the Ohio Departments Building, as it first housed Ohio state departments. The building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1990. Beginning in 2001, an extensive renovation restored the building, and set it up to be used for the Supreme Court of Ohio. The building reopened in 2004, marking the first time the court was established in a building solely for the judiciary, and the first time the building was open to the public.

History

The Supreme Court of Ohio was founded in the state constitution, approved in 1802. It was located in the

Ohio Statehouse The Ohio Statehouse is the state capitol building and seat of government for the U.S. state of Ohio. The Greek Revival building is located on Capitol Square in Downtown Columbus. The capitol houses the Ohio General Assembly, consisting of the H ...

beginning in 1857 and moved into the Statehouse Annex in 1901. In the next few decades, Ohio's government added more employees within the statehouse buildings, with multiple departments outgrowing their spaces there. The idea to house these departments was first proposed in 1913. The first consolidation took place in 1921 with multiple departments moving into the Hartman Hotel, with no renovation since its operation as a hotel. Discussion of whether to build a new structure shifted to where to build and how to finance the construction. In 1929, the city of Columbus donated to the state for the offices, spurring further development of the project. Land was cleared at the site in 1930. One of the buildings razed for the new office building was a White Castle restaurant, the first of this chain opened in Columbus. The building, at 49 S. Front Street, opened five months prior, on June 3, 1929. Cincinnati-based architect Harry Hake was hired to design the building. He wrote 292 pages of specifications, a design estimated at $5 million, with $1.5 million of that used to purchase additional property, financed by a statewide property tax. Construction was tumultuous, with Hake having been hired just three months before the start of the Great Depression. The building's construction began in 1930, often delayed by labor disputes. During construction, on April 14, 1932, a gas explosion significantly damaged the building, killing 11 people and injuring 50. Multiple windows were destroyed, along with staircases up to the fifth floor, and the bronze doors on the building's west side were blown off their hinges. Repairs were made promptly, adding a cost of $750,000, bringing the cost to over $6.5 million. The building was completed in 1933. The building was named the Ohio Departments Building, as it housed the Industrial Commission of Ohio, State Library of Ohio, Ohioana Library Association, and the departments of Aeronautics,

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

Commerce Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, nation ...

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

Health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

Highways A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

Public Welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

Public Works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, sc ...

Industrial Relations Industrial relations or employment relations is the multidisciplinary academic field that studies the employment relationship; that is, the complex interrelations between employers and employees, labor/trade unions, employer organizations, ...

and

Taxation A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, o ...

. During

renovations in the early 1990s, the building was also home to the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in Ch ...

. In 1997, the Ohio government set aside funds to move the Supreme Court of Ohio to the Ohio Departments Building; the court had been located in the

Rhodes State Office Tower The James A. Rhodes State Office Tower is a 41-story, skyscraper on Capitol Square in downtown Columbus, Ohio. The Rhodes Tower was completed and occupied in 1974, and is currently the tallest building in Columbus and the fifth tallest in O ...

since 1974. In 1998, the Ohio General Assembly approved renovations to the building which would convert it into the judicial center. Columbus-based architecture firm Schooley Caldwell was hired to make the renovations. Beginning in 2001, the building's detailwork was restored, while its utilities were modernized. The Grand Concourse and original hearing rooms were restored, and the State Library was converted to the Supreme Court Law Library. Completed in 2004, the building reopened on February 17, and the Supreme Court of Ohio became its largest tenant. It marked the first time the court was established in a building solely for the judiciary, and the first time the building was open to the public. Its reopening ceremony was attended by then-U.S. Chief Justice

William Rehnquist William Hubbs Rehnquist ( ; October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American attorney and jurist who served on the U.S. Supreme Court for 33 years, first as an associate justice from 1972 to 1986 and then as the 16th chief justice from ...

, Thomas J. Moyer, and about 170 other judges.

Operations

The building is home to the Supreme Court of Ohio, the state's highest court, as well as the Ohio Court of Claims and Ohio Judicial Conference.

Attributes and design

It is located on South Front St., on the east bank of the

Scioto River The Scioto River ( ) is a river in central and southern Ohio more than in length. It rises in Hardin County just north of Roundhead, Ohio, flows through Columbus, Ohio, where it collects its largest tributary, the Olentangy River, and meets t ...

. The building was carefully planned on the center of the riverfront, with reflecting pools, lawns terraces, trees, and shrubs situated around it. The

Scioto Mile Promenade Scioto is a word of Wyandot origin given to the Scioto River, which flows southwards from north central Ohio to the Ohio River. :Scioto may also refer to: Places In Ohio *Little Scioto River (disambiguation), several flowing watercourses * Scio ...

, completed in 2015, lies directly across from it. The building was designed by Cincinnati-based architect Harry Hake. It has 14 stories, white marble exterior facades, and Art Deco designs detailed with metals, tiles, colored marble, mosaics, and murals. The streamline shape of the building depicts its function through its large exterior mass. Its office space is expressed by its large, unadorned middle shaft, while its public lobbies and hearing rooms are expressed through the projecting stories on its west side. The State Library of Ohio was represented through the large windows at the top of the building, with its stack area in the stepped-back building crown. The building's Civic Center Drive entrance has three sets of heavy bronze doors, sculpted by Alvin Meyer. The doors have bronze cast panels depicting elements of early American history, including Ohio's mounds. The doors are overlaid with large bronze grills silhouetting Native American tribal symbols. The state and federal seals are carved between each door, with their respective flag flying above each. The judicial center features about 170 works of art between its interior, exterior, and grounds. The works, primarily by Ohio artists, were together valued at $935,000 around 2008. The collection includes ''

Gavel A gavel is a small ceremonial mallet commonly made of hardwood, typically fashioned with a handle. It can be used to call for attention or to punctuate rulings and proclamations and is a symbol of the authority and right to act officially in the ...

'', a massive

gavel A gavel is a small ceremonial mallet commonly made of hardwood, typically fashioned with a handle. It can be used to call for attention or to punctuate rulings and proclamations and is a symbol of the authority and right to act officially in the ...

sculpture created in 2008 and installed in the south reflecting pool on the building's grounds. The sculpture is the largest and most expensive at the judicial center.

Interior

The judicial center's first floor holds the Grand Concourse, its courtroom, hearing room, and a meeting room. Its ground floor includes the Civic Center Lobby and Visitor Education Center. The eleventh floor holds the Law Library, including a reading room and art galleries. The courtroom was formerly the building's largest hearing room, while the Law Library was converted from its former use as the State Library of Ohio. The building's Visitor Education Center includes exhibits about the history, role and responsibility of the Ohio court system.

Gallery

File:Ohio State Office Building 01.jpg, West entranceway File:Ohio State Office Building 18.jpg, East entrance File:Ohio State Office Building 11.jpg, South facade File:Ohio State Office Building 24.jpg, At night File:Ohio State Office Building 06.jpg, ''

'' sculpture File:Ohio State Office Building 09.jpg, Mosaic ceilings File:Ohio State Office Building 07.jpg, East doors File:Ohio State Office Building 19.jpg, One of numerous industry murals

References

External links

* {{NRHP in Ohio Art Deco architecture in Ohio Buildings in downtown Columbus, Ohio Government buildings completed in 1933 Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Columbus, Ohio Office buildings completed in 1933 Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Government buildings in Columbus, Ohio