
University Hall photograph Save

Description: Caption reads; "Students in front of University Hall, Ohio State University, Columbus Ohio." Opened in 1873, this building housed classrooms, laboratories, a museum, a chapel and living and dining facilities for both students and staff. The original building cost just over $110,000 and was not well-constructed. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F04D_011_1
Subjects: Ohio State University--Pictorial works; Historic buildings--Ohio--Columbus--Pictorial works;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F04D_011_1
Subjects: Ohio State University--Pictorial works; Historic buildings--Ohio--Columbus--Pictorial works;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
Ohio State School for the Blind Save

Description: This photograph of the Ohio State School for the Blind was taken from behind the school in the 600th block of Bryden Alley. The school stood at 240 Parsons Avenue and was built in 1839 as the nation's first public school for the visually impaired. After the school moved to its current location at 5220 N. High St, the Ohio State Highway Patrol was stationed at the building. Currently the facility is the location of the Columbus Health Department.
The Ohio State Institution for the Education of the Blind was established in April of 1837 and by July of 1837 began instruction in rented rooms. The first school building was built in 1839, and could accommodate sixty students.This photograph, ca. 1935-1943 shows the four story sandstone structure in the Second Roman style of architeture with a Mansard roof. It is located on the corner of Parsons Avenue, and East Main Street in Columbus, Ohio and first opened it's doors on May 21, 1874. The building has undergone several renovations, and once had a central tower reached an additional three stories, and pointed spires on the north and south ends. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B01F10_014
Subjects: Ohio State School for the Blind; Historic buildings--Ohio--Columbus--Pictorial works.
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
Image ID: SA1039AV_B01F10_014
Subjects: Ohio State School for the Blind; Historic buildings--Ohio--Columbus--Pictorial works.
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
Wilberforce University, Mitchell Hall, photograph Save

Description: This photograph shows S.T. Mitchell Hall, C. N. & I. Wilberforce University, a structure designed by Frank Packard and erected in 1912. (C.N.&I. refers to "Combined Normal and Industrial" department.) As seen in this photo, Mitchell Hall is a three-story building situated on an expanse of lawn with a few young trees. The building was used as a residence hall for 75 girls, an office, a kitchen and dining room, and a small laundry. Six employees lived on the premises. This image is part of the data gathered from an inventory of physical properties owned by the state, ca. 1931. The inventory was conducted by the Ohio Department of Finance in 1931.
In 1856, the Methodist Episcopal Church established Wilberforce University near Xenia, Ohio, to provide African American access to a college education. The university was the first private black college in the United States. Its founders named the institution after William Wilberforce, a prominent eighteenth-century abolitionist. A number of African-American Ohioans attended the school during its early years. During the American Civil War, attendance declined as many students enlisted in the Union army. Wilberforce University closed in 1862.
In 1863, the African Methodist Episcopal Church acquired ownership of the university. Under the direction of Daniel Payne, a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, John Mitchell, the principal of a school in Cincinnati, and James Shorter, an African Methodist Episcopal pastor from Zanesville, Ohio, Wilberforce reopened its doors. The institution operated as a private university serving the African-American community for the next twenty-four years. In 1887, the State of Ohio began to provide Wilberforce with funds to help finance the institution, brought to an end the university's exclusively private status. The state also helped the university create a Normal and Industrial Department that eventually evolved into Central State University.
Wilberforce University has experienced steady growth throughout the twentieth century. During the last decades of the twentieth century, the institution built a new residence hall, a student health center, a recreation and sports facility, and an administrative center. The university offers more than twenty degree programs and has exchange programs with universities around the world. In 2003, enrollment was more than 1,200 students. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05851
Subjects: Cultural Ohio--Education; Wilberforce University; Historical Black Colleges and Universities; Education, Higher--Ohio--History; Historic buildings--Ohio--Columbus--Pictorial works; Xenia (Ohio)
Places: Wilberforce (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)
Image ID: AL05851
Subjects: Cultural Ohio--Education; Wilberforce University; Historical Black Colleges and Universities; Education, Higher--Ohio--History; Historic buildings--Ohio--Columbus--Pictorial works; Xenia (Ohio)
Places: Wilberforce (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)
Ohio State Office Building and LeVeque Tower photograph Save

Description: View of the State Office Building and the LeVeque Tower on the bank of the Olentangy River, Columbus, Ohio, ca. 1933. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02864
Subjects: Columbus (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Historic buildings--Ohio--Columbus--Pictorial works
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
Image ID: AL02864
Subjects: Columbus (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Historic buildings--Ohio--Columbus--Pictorial works
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
Chittenden Hotel fire damage Save

Description: Photo depicts the aftermath of a massive fire that burned down the Chittenden Hotel, Chittenden Hall, Chittenden Park, and the Henrietta Theaters in Columbus, Ohio on November 4th, 1893. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F04C_010_1
Subjects: Historic buildings--Ohio--Columbus--Pictorial works; Theaters--Ohio--Columbus--History;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F04C_010_1
Subjects: Historic buildings--Ohio--Columbus--Pictorial works; Theaters--Ohio--Columbus--History;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
American Insurance Union Citadel Building and Peace Statue Save

Description: Dated ca. 1930-1939, this photograph was taken from Capitol Square, outside the north end of the Ohio Statehouse, shows the Peace Statue and the American Insurance Union Citadel Building in the background. Ohio State University faculty member Bruce Wilder Saville was commissioned by The Women’s Relief Corps, an auxiliary of the Grand Army of the Republic, to make the statue, which was unveiled in 1923. The inscription on the front reads: “PEACE. Commemorating the heroic sacrifices of Ohio’s Soldiers of the Civil War 1861 – 65 and the loyal women of that period. Erected by the Women’s Relief Corps, Department of Ohio, 1923.”
The American Insurance Union Citadel, located at 50 West Broad Street at the corner of Front Street, was designed by architect C. Howard Crane in the Art Deco style, with touches of a more modern version of Byzantine architectural and decorative elements. The 47-story tall skyscraper, designed mainly as office space, rises to an elevation of 555.5 feet, and was built to be 6 inches taller than the Washington Monument. Two 18-story wings flank the building; on the east, the 4,000 seat Keith-Albee Theater (now the Palace Theater), and on the west the 600 room Deshler-Wallick Hotel. The steel-frame building, completed in 1927 at a cost of $7,800,000, was the first building in Ohio to be erected on a caisson foundation. It was the fifth tallest building in the world for a time, and the tallest building in the city until 1974.
Due to the Great Depression the American Insurance Union went bankrupt, and sold the building. The tower was purchased by John Lincoln and Leslie L. LeVeque in 1945. LeVeque was the designer of an automatic pinsetter for bowling which became known as the Columbus pinsetter. The Lincoln-LeVeque Tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and in 1977, the name was officially changed to the LeVeque Tower. The building changed hands to Lennar Properties in 2004, and then again to the new owners Finsilver/Friedman Management, a Michigan based regional developer and property manager.
This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939.
View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F04A_021_1
Subjects: Columbus (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works; Municipal buildings--United States; MacMorris, Leroy Daniel, 1893-1981; Leveque Tower (Columbus, Ohio); Crane, C. Howard (Charles Howard), 1885-1952; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F04A_021_1
Subjects: Columbus (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works; Municipal buildings--United States; MacMorris, Leroy Daniel, 1893-1981; Leveque Tower (Columbus, Ohio); Crane, C. Howard (Charles Howard), 1885-1952; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
American Insurance Union Citadel photograph Save

Description: Dated ca. 1930-1939, this photograph shows the American Insurance Union Citadel, located at 50 West Broad Street at the corner of Front Street, was designed by architect C. Howard Crane in the Art Deco style with touches of a more modern version of the Byzantine. The 47-story tall skyscraper, designed mainly as office space, rises to an elevation of 555.5 feet, and was built to be 6 inches taller than the Washington Monument. Two 18-story wings flank the building; on the east, the 4,000 seat Keith-Albee Theater (now the Palace Theater), and on the west the 600 room Deshler-Wallick Hotel. The steel-frame building, completed in 1927 at a cost of $7,800,000, was the first building in Ohio to be erected on a caisson foundation. It was the fifth tallest building in the world for a time, and the tallest building in the city until 1974.
Due to the Great Depression the American Insurance Union went bankrupt, and sold the building. The tower was purchased by John Lincoln and Leslie L. LeVeque in 1945. LeVeque was the designer of an automatic pinsetter for bowling which became known as the Columbus pinsetter.
The Lincoln-LeVeque Tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and in 1977, the name was officially changed to the LeVeque Tower. The building changed hands to Lennar Properties in 2004, and then again to the new owners Finsilver/Friedman Management, a Michigan based regional developer and property manager. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939.
View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B11F12_021_001
Subjects: Columbus (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works; Municipal buildings--United States; MacMorris, Leroy Daniel, 1893-1981; Leveque Tower (Columbus, Ohio); Crane, C. Howard (Charles Howard), 1885-1952; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
Image ID: SA1039AV_B11F12_021_001
Subjects: Columbus (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works; Municipal buildings--United States; MacMorris, Leroy Daniel, 1893-1981; Leveque Tower (Columbus, Ohio); Crane, C. Howard (Charles Howard), 1885-1952; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
American Insurance Union Citadel and Ohio State offices photograph Save

Description: This photograph shows the American Insurance Union Citadel, Ohio State offices, and Scioto River in Columbus, Ohio, in Franklin County. The American Insurance Union Citadel, located at 50 West Broad Street at the corner of Front Street, was designed by architect C. Howard Crane in the Art Deco style with touches of a more modern version of the Byzantine. The 47-story tall skyscraper, designed mainly as office space, rises to an elevation of 555.5 feet, and was built to be 6 inches taller than the Washington Monument. Two 18-story wings flank the building; on the east, the 4,000 seat Keith-Albee Theater (now the Palace Theater), and on the west the 600 room Deshler-Wallick Hotel. The steel-frame building, completed in 1927 at a cost of $7,800,000, was the first building in Ohio to be erected on a caisson foundation. It was the fifth tallest building in the world for a time, and the tallest building in the city until 1974. Due to the Great Depression the American Insurance Union went bankrupt, and sold the building. The tower was purchased by John Lincoln and Leslie L. LeVeque in 1945. LeVeque was the designer of an automatic pinsetter for bowling which became known as the Columbus pinsetter. The Lincoln-LeVeque Tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and in 1977, the name was officially changed to the LeVeque Tower. The building changed hands to Lennar Properties in 2004, and then again to the new owners Finsilver/Friedman Management, a Michigan based regional developer and property manager. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F04A_009_1
Subjects: Columbus (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works; Municipal buildings--United States; MacMorris, Leroy Daniel, 1893-1981; Leveque Tower (Columbus, Ohio); Crane, C. Howard (Charles Howard), 1885-1952; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F04A_009_1
Subjects: Columbus (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works; Municipal buildings--United States; MacMorris, Leroy Daniel, 1893-1981; Leveque Tower (Columbus, Ohio); Crane, C. Howard (Charles Howard), 1885-1952; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
American Insurance Union Citadel and Ohio State office building photograph Save

Description: This photograph shows the American Insurance Union Citadel (LeVeque Tower) and the Ohio State Office Building (now Ohio Judicial Center) as seen from across the Scioto River. The Ohio State Office Building, located at 65 South Front Street was eventually renamed the Ohio Departments of State building, for a time, before becoming home to the Supreme Court of Ohio. It was designed by Henry Hake of Cincinnati in the Art Moderne style, a combination of the Modernistic style with Art Deco decoration. Groundbreaking took place on November 19, 1929 and construction began just after the collapse of the stock market, so delays were frequent. The building was completed in 1933 at a cost exceeding $6,500,000. Just before construction was complete, 11 people were killed and 50 injured during a natural gas explosion on April 14, 1932, which damaged the building all the way up to the 5th floor. Repairs cost an additional $750,000. The 14-story building is of Georgia marble, luxuriously decorated with metals, tiling, colored marbles, mosaics and numerous murals. The building initially housed the departments of: Aeronautics, Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Health, Highways, Public Welfare, Public Works, Industrial Relations, Taxation and the Industrial Commission. The Ohio State Library was located on the 11th floor and one of the largest of its kind in the country. The library and several of the hearing rooms, used as assembly halls, are adorned with panel murals of historical character, outstanding among them being works of John F. Holmer and H.H. Wessel of Cincinnati as well as Leroy Daniel MacMorris of and Rudolph Sheffler of New York. The building was used by the Ohio House of Representatives during the renovation of the Statehouse in the 1990's. In 1998, the Ohio General Assembly voted to bear the cost of the building's renovation. Renovation began in 2001 and was completed in January of 2004. The Ohio State Office Building was renamed the Ohio Judicial Center and was officially opened on February 17, 2004, winning several awards due to its superior architecture.
The Ohio State Office Building, located at 65 South Front Street was eventually renamed the Ohio Departments of State building, for a time, before becoming home to the Supreme Court of Ohio. It was designed by Henry Hake of Cincinnati in the Art Moderne style, a combination of the Modernistic style with Art Deco decoration. Groundbreaking took place on November 19, 1929 and construction began just after the collapse of the stock market, so delays were frequent. The building was completed in 1933 at a cost exceeding $6,500,000. Just before construction was complete, 11 people were killed and 50 injured during a natural gas explosion on April 14, 1932, which damaged the building all the way up to the 5th floor. Repairs cost an additional $750,000. The 14-story building is of Georgia marble, luxuriously decorated with metals, tiling, colored marbles, mosaics and numerous murals. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939.
View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F04A_011_1
Subjects: Columbus (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works; Municipal buildings--United States; MacMorris, Leroy Daniel, 1893-1981; Leveque Tower (Columbus, Ohio); Crane, C. Howard (Charles Howard), 1885-1952; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F04A_011_1
Subjects: Columbus (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works; Municipal buildings--United States; MacMorris, Leroy Daniel, 1893-1981; Leveque Tower (Columbus, Ohio); Crane, C. Howard (Charles Howard), 1885-1952; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
American Insurance Union Citadel photograph Save

Description: This photograph shows the American Insurance Union Citadel (LeVeque Tower) and the Ohio State Office Building (now Ohio Judicial Center). The Ohio State Office Building, located at 65 South Front Street was eventually renamed the Ohio Departments of State building, for a time, before becoming home to the Supreme Court of Ohio. It was designed by Henry Hake of Cincinnati in the Art Moderne style, a combination of the Modernistic style with Art Deco decoration. Groundbreaking took place on November 19, 1929 and construction began just after the collapse of the stock market, so delays were frequent. The building was completed in 1933 at a cost exceeding $6,500,000. Just before construction was complete, 11 people were killed and 50 injured during a natural gas explosion on April 14, 1932, which damaged the building all the way up to the 5th floor. Repairs cost an additional $750,000. The 14-story building is of Georgia marble, lu View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F04A_018_1
Subjects: Columbus (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works; Municipal buildings--United States; MacMorris, Leroy Daniel, 1893-1981; Leveque Tower (Columbus, Ohio); Crane, C. Howard (Charles Howard), 1885-1952; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F04A_018_1
Subjects: Columbus (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works; Municipal buildings--United States; MacMorris, Leroy Daniel, 1893-1981; Leveque Tower (Columbus, Ohio); Crane, C. Howard (Charles Howard), 1885-1952; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
American Insurance Union Citadel photograph Save

Description: This photograph shows the American Insurance Union Citadel (LeVeque Tower) and the Ohio State Office Building (now Ohio Judicial Center) as seen from the Ohio State Capitol. The Ohio State Office Building, located at 65 South Front Street was eventually renamed the Ohio Departments of State building, for a time, before becoming home to the Supreme Court of Ohio. It was designed by Henry Hake of Cincinnati in the Art Moderne style, a combination of the Modernistic style with Art Deco decoration. Groundbreaking took place on November 19, 1929 and construction began just after the collapse of the stock market, so delays were frequent. The building was completed in 1933 at a cost exceeding $6,500,000. Just before construction was complete, 11 people were killed and 50 injured during a natural gas explosion on April 14, 1932, which damaged the building all the way up to the 5th floor. Repairs cost an additional $750,000. The 14-story building is of Georgia marble, lu View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F04A_013_1
Subjects: Columbus (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works; Municipal buildings--United States; MacMorris, Leroy Daniel, 1893-1981; Leveque Tower (Columbus, Ohio); Crane, C. Howard (Charles Howard), 1885-1952; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F04A_013_1
Subjects: Columbus (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works; Municipal buildings--United States; MacMorris, Leroy Daniel, 1893-1981; Leveque Tower (Columbus, Ohio); Crane, C. Howard (Charles Howard), 1885-1952; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
Columbus skyline at night from Scioto River Save

Description: Caption reads: "Columbus Civic Center, Columbus, Ohio."
Shown in the photograph, from left to right is; City Hall, the LeVeque-Lincoln Tower and the Ohio State Office Building as seen from across the Scioto River.
The City Hall, located 90 West Broad Street, bounded by Gay, Front, and Broad Sts., and Riverside Drive, occupies, with its park, and entire block in the heart of the civic center. The 5-story structure of Indiana limestone, in Greco-Roman style, was designed by the Allied Architects Association of Columbus and cost $1,700,000. Three of the four sections of the building, which surround a court, were completed in 1928, and the fourth was dedicated in 1936. The hall houses various municipal departments and contains a city council chamber that originally sat more than 400 people. At night multi-colored lights played upon a fountain before the Broad Street entrance
The American Insurance Union Citadel, located at 50 West Broad Street at the corner of Front Street, was designed by architect C. Howard Crane in the Art Deco style with touches of a more modern version of the Byzantine. The 47-story tall skyscraper, designed mainly as office space, rises to an elevation of 555.5 feet, and was built to be 6 inches taller than the Washington Monument. Two 18-story wings flank the building; on the east, the 4,000 seat Keith-Albee Theater (now the Palace Theater), and on the west the 600 room Deshler-Wallick Hotel. The steel-frame building, completed in 1927 at a cost of $7,800,000, was the first building in Ohio to be erected on a caisson foundation. It was the fifth tallest building in the world for a time, and the tallest building in the city until 1974.
Faced with cream colored, oak bark textured terra-cotta, AIU Citadel, as it was known, bears huge ornamentations of the same material on the tower. Four large eagles, with a wing span of 22 feet stood sentry on the 36th floor, at each of the four corners, but have since been removed. A 26 foot high bearded giant embracing two children could be found on each side at the 40th floor, but were removed by Mr. LeVeque to allow for a view from his office. The spaces left by the departed sculpture serve as the bases for lights used to illuminate the tower. These and other exterior ornamentations were executed by Fritz Albert, of Chicago, from models by Carl H. Keck, New York sculptor, including the helmeted guardians below the dome topped balistraria. Throughout the building’s history praise has been give for the bright and elaborate lighting of its tower. Signal lights on the four turrets of the tower served as beacons in the night for aviators. Since the 1980s the tower has had the capability of being lit in a variety of colors. It is normally lit in white, but color is added frequently for special occasion. An observation deck was operated through the 1960s where visitors could travel to the top of the tower for a small fee. The deck was closed with the addition of antennas to the top of the tower and the space was converted into a luxury penthouse apartment.
The public areas of the interior are made of Belgian and Italian marbles, bronze and mosaics were used extensively throughout. In the marble floor of the lobby is a bronze plaque bearing the horoscope of the building, which shows the position of the planets when the cornerstone of the building was laid, February 13, 1926. The Hall of Mirrors, on the second floor, is an outstanding show place. Its large, gold-tinted mirrors, inlaid with panel work, vaulted ceiling, and other features were copied from the original Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles.
Due to the Great Depression the American Insurance Union went bankrupt, and sold the building. The tower was purchased by John Lincoln and Leslie L. LeVeque in 1945. LeVeque was the designer of an automatic pinsetter for bowling which became known as the Columbus pinsetter.
The Lincoln-LeVeque Tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and in 1977, the name was officially changed to the LeVeque Tower. The building changed hands to Lennar Properties in 2004, and then again to the new owners Finsilver/Friedman Management, a Michigan based regional developer and property manager
The Ohio State Office Building, located at 65 South Front Street was eventually renamed the Ohio Departments building, for a time, before becoming the Supreme Court of Ohio. Designed by Henry Hake of Cincinnati, it was completed in 1933 at a cost exceeding $6,500,000. When it was nearing completion, on April 14, 1932, the structure was badly damaged by a gas explosion that killed 11 workmen and injured more than 50. Repairs cost an additional $750,000. The 14-story building is of Georgia marble, luxuriously decorated with metals, tiling, colored marbles, mosaics and numerous murals. It housed many State departments and on the 11th floor the Ohio State Library, one of the largest of its kind in the country. The library and several of the hearing rooms, used as assembly halls, are adorned with panel murals of historical character, outstanding among them being works of John F. Holmer and H.H. Wessel of Cincinnati as well as Leroy Daniel MacMorris of and Rudolph Sheffler of New York.
In 1998, the Ohio General Assembly voted to bear the cost of the building's renovation. Renovation began in 2001 and was completed in January of 2004. The Ohio State Office Building was renamed the Ohio Judicial Center and was officially opened on February 17, 2004, winning several awards due to its superior architecture. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F04A_012_1
Subjects: Columbus (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works; Municipal buildings--United States; City halls--United States; Allied Architects Association (Columbus, Ohio); Skyscrapers--United States--Pictorial works; Office buildings--Ohio; Theaters--Ohio--Columbus--History; Leveque Tower (Columbu
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F04A_012_1
Subjects: Columbus (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works; Municipal buildings--United States; City halls--United States; Allied Architects Association (Columbus, Ohio); Skyscrapers--United States--Pictorial works; Office buildings--Ohio; Theaters--Ohio--Columbus--History; Leveque Tower (Columbu
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)