Howard M. Metzenbaum U.S. Courthouse
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Old Federal Building and Post Office
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Howard M. Metzenbaum U.S. Courthouse, 1965
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| Location | 201 Superior Ave., NE, Cleveland, Ohio |
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| Coordinates | 41°30′2″N 81°41′33.5″W / 41.50056°N 81.692639°WCoordinates: 41°30′2″N 81°41′33.5″W / 41.50056°N 81.692639°W |
| Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
| Architect | Brunner, Arnold W.; French, Daniel Chester |
| Architectural style | Classical Revival |
| NRHP Reference # | 74001448 |
| Added to NRHP | May 3, 1974 |
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 Power and Poetry: Howard M. Metzenbaum U.S. Courthouse, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. General Services Administration
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The Howard M. Metzenbaum U.S. Courthouse is a historic courthouse and post office building located on Superior Avenue in downtown Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Its west side faces Public Square and its north side faces The Mall. It was formerly the Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse and also known as Old Federal Building and Post Office.
The Howard M. Metzenbaum U.S. Courthouse, also known as the Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, is a monumental anchor to Cleveland's Civic Mall. Fronting the Mall and Public Square, it was the first building erected under Cleveland's 1903 Group Plan, which illustrates the urban planning ideals of the City Beautiful movement.
New York Architect Arnold W. Brunner (1857–1925) designed this imposing building under the direction of Supervising Architect of the Treasury James Knox Taylor (1857–1929). It is one of 35 buildings constructed during Taylor's tenure (1883–1912) that were designed by independent architects commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department under the Tarsney Act. The 1893 Act authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to use private architects, selected through competitions, to design Federal buildings. As a process, it manifested the growing demand for greater architectural standards for public buildings and opened the way for additional appropriations to maintain those standards.
As the first building erected under the Group Plan, the federal building was the model for later structures. The Group Plan proposed that local and federal government buildings be placed around a grand Mall. Embraced from the late 19th century into the first decades of the 20th century, the City Beautiful movement had its beginnings with the monumental planning and predominately classical architectural style of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Celebrated architect Daniel Burnham, who was instrumental in promoting the nationwide adoption of City Beautiful Movement principles, served as a member of the design team that produced the Group Plan. Arnold W. Brunner, working as an independent architect, and John Merven Carrère, of the prominent New York firm of Carrère and Hastings, also served on the team. The Federal Building formed one half of the Mall's termination at Superior Avenue. Cleveland's Public Library (1925), forming the other half of this terminus, emulates the Federal Building in scale, mass, and general overall appearance.
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