Potter Stewart United States Courthouse

Potter Stewart United States Courthouse
The courthouse as it appeared in 1938.
General information
Architectural style	Art Moderne
Location	Cincinnati, Ohio
Address	100 E. Fifth St.
Coordinates	39°6′6″N 84°30′38″W / 39.10167°N 84.51056°W / 39.10167; -84.51056Coordinates: 39°6′6″N 84°30′38″W / 39.10167°N 84.51056°W / 39.10167; -84.51056
Construction started	November 30, 1936
Inaugurated	January 14, 1939
Cost	$3,170,000
Owner	General Services Administration, U.S. Government
Height	116 ft.
Technical details
Floor count	12
Floor area	432,535
Design and construction
Architect	Louis A. Simon
Website
Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse, Cincinnati, Ohio

The Potter Stewart United States Courthouse is a courthouse and federal building of the United States government located in Cincinnati, Ohio, and housing the headquarters of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Completed in 1938, it was renamed for Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart in 1994. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.

The building was designed and constructed in response to the demand for suitable and adequate quarters for the growing services of the Federal Government in Cincinnati. The previous Federal building on the site, completed in 1885, had grown too small. Construction was begun on November 30, 1936, and when dedicated in January 1939, the building housed 51 agencies of the Federal Government.

The existing courthouse was at the time of its construction, Cincinnati's third Federal Building. The site for the first – the southwest corner of Fourth and Vine Streets – was bought in 1851 in response to a general demand in the city that scattered Federal offices be assembled. Construction of that first building took seven years and cost $339,183. Then, after 27 years of use, the site and structure were sold in 1879 for $100,000 to make way for the Merchants' Exchange.

Even before the Government became responsive to the growing city's demand for a larger building and began to take an interest in Fifth Street as a site, the section now embraced by Fountain Square and Government Square had assumed historic importance. Three Presidents – James Monroe, Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams – had visited it. Abraham Lincoln had spoken there. The fountain and esplanade were installed in the early 1870s, becoming leading attractions of the city. It seemed a good place for a Federal Building, then as now. However, business men in the "Bottoms" complained when the move to Fifth Street was proposed. They contended Fifth Street was too far from the business center of the city.