Tan Berea sandstone faces the United States Post Office and Courthouse in front of you. Built from 1884 to 1887 as the city's main post office, this three-and-a-half-story structure also served as a courthouse of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio from its completion in 1887 until 1934, when the court moved to the Joseph P. Kinneary United States Courthouse. Between 1907 and 1912 it was tripled in size in a careful expansion that unified old and new in the High Victorian Gothic style; the architect of record for that work was James Knox Taylor.
The original design was Romanesque Revival by John T. Harris. Look closely and you will read the stone: tan, rock-faced Berea sandstone with smooth sandstone trim, round-arched windows topped with heavy hoodmolds, and projecting stone bands that mark the elevations. In 1986 the building was rehabilitated for use as the Bricker & Eckler law offices, and today it still houses that same law firm.
It was honored with listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and on the Columbus Register of Historic Properties in 1982. Notice the round arches, heavy hoodmolds, and stone bands still cut into this sandstone facade.