Page 13 - Leisure Living Magazine May 2017

The Ohio Supreme Court’s Visitor Education Center
By Justice Paul Pfeifer, Ohio Supreme Court
In February 2004, the Supreme Court of Ohio moved from the Rhodes Office Tower into its new home on South Front Street in Columbus, marking the first time in its 202-year history that the court had a permanent home completely sep- arate from the other branches of government.
Actually, its “new” home wasn’t new at all – it was the magnificently restored, 15-story Art Deco gem that used to be called the Ohio Departments Building when it first opened in 1933.
It’s no exaggeration to say they don’t build them like this anymore. In the building’s public spaces, the detail and ornate flourishes offer a sur- prise around every corner, and the entire struc- ture is a tribute to Ohio’s history.
The Grand Concourse on the first floor is an architectural delight. Harry Hake, the building’s architect, intended the concourse to be a “hall of fame” for Ohio governmental leaders. The mar- ble-lined walls of the two-story tall concourse run the full length of the building, and feature bronze relief sculptures of Ohio’s eight presidents, nine United States Supreme Court justices, and two speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Ground Floor lobby – with its intricate mosaic ceilings, carved elevator doors, ornate window grills, bow-and-arrow light fixtures, and bronze relief plaques – pays tribute to the great American Indian chiefs who called this land home.
The courtroom – where oral arguments are conducted – is a grand, stately walnut and marble, gold-trimmed feast for the eyes. A series of murals depicting the states that were carved from the Northwest Territory adorn the ceiling, and smaller murals that line the top of the walls depict significant milestones in Ohio history.
Regrettably, in the years following its 1933 opening, the building fell into disrepair. Decades of cigar and cigarette smoke, wear and tear, and benign neglect had dulled the murals and taken the sheen off the glitter; the building was more eyesore than landmark. By the 1990s, it had
Visitor Education Center longtime volunteer Pete Miller speaking to a group of students in the Ohio Supreme Courts Visitor Education Center.
reached a crossroads – it either needed to be torn down or fixed up.
Enter Tom Moyer – Ohio’s chief justice from 1987 to 2010 – who had a vision of what the place could look like fully restored. After years of trying to get others to see what he saw, and then more years of renovation and construction, the grand old building reopened in all of its former glory.
I’ll admit, I was one of those who couldn’t see the beauty in the beast that the building had become. But thank God Moyer did.
Those of us fortunate enough to have worked in the building that now bears Moyer’s name have been the beneficiaries of his determination. Sadly, Chief Justice Moyer died in April 2010, just months shy of completing his final term and heading into retirement. But he saw the resto- ration of this building to its completion. And he experienced the joy of presiding over the dedica- tion ceremony, which featured William H. Rehn- quist, the Chief Justice of the United States, who traveled from Washington for the event.
In addition to seeing what the building could be if restored to its original splendor, Tom also imagined what our new home could mean for telling the story of Ohio’s court system. He envisioned a place where people of all ages, par-
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