Columbus City Hall (Ohio)

Columbus City Hall is the city hall of Columbus, Ohio, in the city's downtown Civic Center. It contains the offices of the city's Mayor, Auditor, and Treasurer, and the offices and chambers of Columbus City Council. It was built during a period of extensive construction of a civic center along the city's riverfront, including the building of the American Insurance Union Citadel, now known as the LeVeque Tower, directly to the east across Front Street.

Columbus City Hall
City Hall from the northeast
General information
Architectural styleNeoclassical
Address90 West Broad Street
Columbus, Ohio 43215
CountryUnited States
Coordinates39.962783°N 83.003328°W / 39.962783; -83.003328
GroundbreakingOctober 1926
InauguratedApril 1928
Renovated1936, 1949
City Hall from 1872 to 1921

History

In 1921, a fire destroyed the old City Hall, built in 1872 at East State and Third Streets,[1][2] now the site of the Ohio Theatre.[3] James John Thomas, mayor of Columbus from 1920 to 1931, laid the cornerstone for a new City Hall on October 29, 1926.[4] The building was dedicated on April 18, 1928.

Initially built in three sections surrounding a central courtyard, a fourth section was added on the east side of City Hall in 1936 to enclose the courtyard and provide additional office space. The structure was further renovated in 1949.[5]

City Council chambers, located on the second floor, were fully restored in 1986, and feature Art Deco elements echoing those found throughout the building.[5]

The south patio of City Hall facing Broad Street was named the M. D. Portman Plaza in 1996 after a long-serving City Council member.[6] From 1955 to 2020, the plaza was home to a 20 foot (6.1 m) tall bronze statue of Christopher Columbus by Italian sculptor Edoardo Alfieri.[7] The statue was a gift to the city of Columbus from the citizens of Genoa, Italy, though was removed during the George Floyd protests in the city.[5]

Attributes

The five-story building, constructed of Indiana limestone, was designed by the Allied Architects Association of Columbus in the Neoclassical style and built at a cost of US$1.7 million,[5] equivalent to $25.31 million in 2019.[8] Allied Architects also designed the adjacent Central Police Station building at West Gay Street and Marconi Boulevard, which opened on March 26, 1930, was vacated in 1991 with the opening of a new police headquarters building, and was renovated in 2012 to allow the consolidation of various city government offices.[9][10] City Hall was originally also the venue for the city's Municipal Court, and its proximity to the Police Station building provided for efficient movement of prisoners between the two buildings.

References
  1. Egger, Charles, ed. (1975). Columbus Mayors (PDF). Columbus Citizen-Journal. Columbus, Ohio. p. 44.
  2. Lentz, Ed (2003). Columbus: The Story of a City. Arcadia Publishing. p. 111. ISBN 9780738524290.
  3. Perkins, Michael A. (Dec 17, 2004). Leveque: The First Complete Story of Columbus' Greatest Skyscraper. Author House. p. 10. ISBN 9781468518962.
  4. "Columbus City Hall cornerstone dedication (1926 photo)". OhioMemory.org. December 5, 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  5. "Scioto Riverfront History: City Hall". sciotogreenways.com. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  6. Carmen, Barbara (May 21, 1996). "Columbus City Council names the south patio of City Hall 'M D Portman Plaza' at Portman's last official Council meeting". Columbus Dispatch. p. 2 C.
  7. http://www.dispatch.com/content/blogs/a-look-back/2011/10/uncrating-christopher-columbus-1955.html
  8. http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/consumer-price-index-and-annual-percent-changes-from-1913-to-2008/
  9. "Central Police Station (1945 photo)". Columbus Metropolitan Library Digital Collection. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  10. Lydia Coutré (August 14, 2012). "Columbus wants to consolidate city offices". Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved 23 March 2016.

Further reading
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