Ohio State Office Building construction photograph   Save
Ohio State Office Building Construction
Description: This photograph shows three workers on the job during construction of the Ohio State Office Building, Columbus, Ohio, ca. 1930-1933. The men are members of a riveting team that is constructing the building’s structural-steel grid. The worker on the far left —the “heater”--operates a coke-fueled forge that heats rivets to a blazing-hot temperature. Using the pair of tongs he holds in his right hand, he tosses a rivet to the "catcher," who catches it in a special bucket (the conical container seen here). The catcher then inserts a rivet into a hole in the beams that are to be connected. The third worker in this image likely is another member of the team. He could be the person who uses a hammer to shape the rivet head and fill the hole. He also could be the “holder,” who keeps the rivet stationary while it is hammered into place. Groundbreaking for the Ohio State Office Building, 65 South Front Street, took place on November 19, 1929. Construction began in October 1930, and the cornerstone was laid on May 16, 1931. An explosion damaged the structure on April 14, 1932, but the building eventually opened on March 27, 1933. The 14-story building was designed by architect Harry Hake, Frank Bail, and Alfred Hahn. It later became the Ohio Judicial Center. In 2011 the state Supreme Court named the center in honor of the late Chief Justice Thomas Moyer, who was the second-longest-serving chief justice in state history at the time of his death in April 2010. The Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center is considered an excellent example of architecture from the Art Deco period. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06922
Subjects: Construction workers; Columbus (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Design and construction; Ohio History--State and Local Government; Ohio Judicial Center (Columbus, Ohio); Construction industry--Ohio
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)