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General Services
Administration / Westlake Reed Leskosky / Dick Corporation / Barber & Hoffman,
Inc. / McKay Lodge Fine Arts Conservation Laboratory
Opened in 1910, Cleveland's Metzenbaum US Courthouse was added
to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Since the completion of
a new federal courthouse in Cleveland in 2002, the 1910 courthouse has been
rehabilitated to house the US Bankruptcy Court, meeting new requirements for
function, efficiency, accessibility, sustainability, and security while preserving
the landmark building. Responding to modern security realities the new design
separates public and private circulation, which was previously through a single
corridor on each floor used by judges and federal employees as well as the general
public. Conversion of an open light well into a five-level atrium has allowed
public circulation to move to the center of the building, while judges and federal
employees use the original corridors. The Light Court, spanned by a new skylight,
is the centerpiece of the design, solving the circulation and security requirements
while imbuing the contemporary-but-compatible space with vitality. At the first
floor level, a new vaulted Passage designed in the spirit of the early 1900s
with modern technology and materials links the 1910 lobby and the new Light
Court. Under GSA's Fine Arts Program, 35 murals by American artist Francis Davis
Millet have been conserved, restored, and reinstalled by McKay Lodge Fine Arts
Conservation Laboratory of Oberlin in the original Post Office lobby and the
new Passage, where they can be enjoyed bythe public. Once located in the Office
of the Postmaster on the second floor, they depict the history and development
of Mail Delivery. The $51 million renovation also includes new HVAC, electrical,
safety, and communications systems, as well as access for people with disabilities,
all designed to bring the landmark building up to date while preserving its
historic character.
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