There are a lot of historic places in Columbus.

German Village, Leveque Tower, there are all sorts of interesting places.

Here's one I haven't been to in a while and I really want to learn more about it and that is the Cultural Arts Center on Main Street, just south of Bicentennial Park, right here in Columbus, looking forward to an interesting visit.

Hello, Todd.

Welcome to the Priscilla R. Tyson Cultural Arts Center.

Thanks so much, I've been looking forward to this.

Now I've known about this building for a long time.

It's one of the more historic ones in town.

Tell me some of the story about it.

Sure, so in the late 1800s, this was the armory for the state of Ohio.

It was built on the property where the penitentiary for Columbus was.

And the site was taken down and then moved over to Spring Street is where the Penitentiaries ended up.

And so an armory is, they kept guns here, cannons, that sort of thing?

The story is that there's... There were ammunition and soldiers in this building, and they were on the second floor and also in our lower level.

It's now our jewelry studio.

Well, I assume that's changed now, and it's really the National Guard that is sort of the state-level military force as opposed to something in a, well, it's in a city, but it would have been the state arsenal.

Correct.

But it's where they stored things.

Is that right, pretty much?

That's correct.

They did training.

They did some marching drills out here on the second floor that is now our painting studio.

So tell me about that giant medallion at the corner here.

Jeff, that's the masthead from a decommissioned warship called the USS Ohio and it was brought here, placed on the corner, and recently refurbished about five years ago.

Well, do you know when the military left here and it became available?

It's a city property now, but I think it's part of the Recreation and Parks Department.

That's correct, yes.

We're a division of the arts section of the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department.

And in 1974 is when the renovation began on this building and that was spearheaded by Mel Dodge, who was a visionary during that time.

Mel really was.

It was scheduled to be torn down, this building.

And fortunately, he had the vision to say, you know, we're gonna keep this.

We're gonna turn it into the Cultural Arts Center.

Well, I'd love to see more.

How about a tour?

Let's go inside Jeff, I'll show you around.

Oh yeah, this is showing great promise.

This is a wonderful space.

Really as this is such a unique space for Columbus and one of the premier galleries to show in as an artist.

Well I know it has a good reputation, but look at this amazing structure, all those wood timbers, original material.

And you can see that the floor joists are very substantial.

Boy, they really are.

And really would have been weight-bearing for sure.

I love the cast iron columns with those flared tops and the curved brick around the windows, but it was a functional building, a military building, but they really put some art into it.

They showed, yeah, the design that was put in and the care that was actually the bricks were built by the inmates from Spring Street.

So they came over to the architectural work and build everything right here on site.

Well, you can see with the walls you've installed, what you're doing with the space here, but you've preserved the character and the actual physical material of the building itself, which is really well done.

And the space you have here, obviously you can make changes all the time.

Yeah, this is a space where artists can show their work.

We have about eight exhibitions per year with regional, local artists, and we really try to emphasize art that maybe isn't always for sale.

This is Art for Art's Sake, which is a wonderful addition to the Columbus Arts community.

Well, this is a wonderful space, but I know there's more.

There's a whole lot more, Jeff.

Let's go downstairs and look at the lower level.

Lead the way.

Aha!

There is more.

So look at all this.

Obviously a studio.

Now tell me, did we just step out of the building?

We did.

This was the addition that we're standing in right now, but you can see the outer walls that were originally to the building.

The wall is, but you know, built to last.

It's very thick, but they didn't take into consideration our modern news today of Wi-Fi trying to penetrate those walls.

They hadn't thought of that.

So what are we seeing here?

It's a studio now.

What happened here?

This is our jewelry and metal studio that was once the location where forces and livestock were kept.

There were also cannons and ammunition kept down in this location as well.

The current roof that's on here was not there in the original design.

Okay, all right.

Well, that's apparently as a ground level, like where we came in, but there's a basement I hear still that we haven't yet seen.

Yes.

Shall we head for that?

Let's go.

Oh yes, I knew this would be the good part.

Look at these arches.

Another magical space in this building, Jeff.

They must have planned on lots of people being, stomping around on the upper floor.

That would be the main floor of the building.

I think so, and also with all the weight of the ammunitions and all of the... Firearms and all of that.

Right, right, right.

You can see the big floor timbers too.

This is pretty wonderful.

And at one point in time on the backside here there was a tunnel that went from here over to the state That would have been the steam heating tunnel, because there was a plant somewhere, maybe at the penitentiary, and it fed on the state buildings.

That was long, long ago, but I've heard the tunnels do still exist.

Yes.

In every basement, Jeff, there's always spirits.

Tell the story.

Sure.

We at the Cultural Arts Center have one spirit in particular, Hester Foster, who is one of the most well-known on the Columbus Ghost Tours that we provide here at the center.

Hester foster was the first African-American female that was hung on the corner of 2nd and Mound Street, and she resides here peacefully at the cultural arts finish.

She was a criminal.

Alleged?

Alleged.

And we have two others.

One is a little girl that some of our students have seen on the third floor.

Apparitions.

Yes, and then we have another that is one of our previous instructors that was from the Cultural Arts Center.

Oh, so these aren't just historical, but these are more contemporary.

Well, there's more, I know.

There are upper floors as well as the lower floors.

I think you probably know the way.

There's a lot to see, Jeff, let's go.

Let's go see.

Okay, I can see we're on, what, a third level here.

That's the second level down there, the painting studio, right?

That's correct, Jeff.

This is a great vantage point to see the painting drawing studio.

We also have printmaking down below.

We have weaving right in front of us here, and there's just so much to do here and so many offerings for artists to come and create.

I mean, it's so well equipped here, the investment here is significant, but, boy, judging from what I've been seeing, it is used all the time.

It really is, yes.

We're upwards of 1,000 students this eight-week session and continue that throughout the year.

Now, I can tell from the windows the way this floor cuts them off.

This is an added floor, is that right?

That's correct, yes.

This was added on during the renovation, and so this would not have existed this way.

But what it does is add a lot of extra space for us to have studios.

The space that you see in front of us here used to be the painting studio, and we found an old ditto typewriter form that indicated that before the air conditioning came into this building, they couldn't hold the painting class that day up here because it was 115 degrees.

Now I know a lot of younger people who would never know what a ditto was.

You and I would know.

Of course.

And the smell of the fluid.

But we won't go into that.

Now something I didn't want to ask, I mean this is an effort by really the City of Columbus through its Recreation and Parks Department.

How do we compare to other cities?

Do they have programs like this?

So, Clums... Recreation and Parks Department is the second largest Recreational Parks Department in the country next to Atlanta.

We did some recent surveying around the country and there is nothing that compares to the scope in which we do here at the at the Cultural Arts Center.

That's pretty impressive for a little old Columbus.

Yes.

Come a long way since 1974.

Well, what a great tour.

I've really appreciated it.

Thanks, Jeff.

Appreciate you being here.

But there is one more place that I would like to take you.

Let's do it.

Jeff, this is my favorite place of this whole building.

And see what.

So this staircase was added during the renovation, and there would have had to been some kind of staircase, some kind scaffolding up here because this was a shot tower.

Better explain a shot tower.

So Shot Tower, my understanding, is the place where the soldiers created the shot or the ammunition for the wartime.

So somebody would be at this location, which is about 33 and a half feet off of the ground.

If you look down through the staircase, there would be a bucket of water down there where somebody would up here doing a drop of lead.

It would go down into the bucket and form the perfect It can melt the lead, it would take a ball shape falling through the air, hit the water, cool off, then you have your musket balls.

That's it.

I have known about the Cultural Arts Center for a long time.

You've really deepened my appreciation for it and how important it is to the city.

So I thank you so much for agreeing to it.

Thank you for coming and visiting us and I expect to see you in a class one day.

You'll see me.