Columbus Audio Walking Tour

Highlights

• 
  Nationwide Arena

  Since 2000 the Columbus Blue Jackets have called Nationwide Arena, here in the Arena District, home. This multi-purpose arena, completed in 2000, has served as the home of the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League since that completion.

• 
  LeVeque Tower

  At 555 feet 5 inches, the 47-story LeVeque Tower anchors Downtown Columbus above you. At 555 feet 5 inches it was the city’s tallest building from its completion in 1927 to 1974 and remains the second-tallest today.

• 
  Ohio Statehouse

  Seat of government for the U.S. state of Ohio, the Ohio Statehouse presents its Greek Revival face to you across Capitol Square. This Greek Revival building sits on Capitol Square in downtown Columbus, and it houses the Ohio General Assembly - the House of Representatives and the Senate - as well as the ceremonial offices of the governor, lieutenant governor, state treasurer, and state auditor.

• 
  Columbus Museum of Art

  Locals call it the CMA, and you're facing the building Columbus built here in 1931 after decades of change. This institution began in 1878 as the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts and was the first art museum to register its charter with the state of Ohio.

• 
  Ohio Theatre

  Capitol Square's Ohio Theatre, a 1928 movie palace turned performing arts center and known as the Official Theatre of the State of Ohio, opens its façade to you in Downtown Columbus. This 1928 building was designed by the noted theater architect Thomas W. Lamb, who called this one of his most successful creations.

All 29 stops

• Goodale Park (Victorian Village)

  Picture Victorian Village in 1851, when Columbus received these 37 acres as a gift for a public park.

• Thurber House (Jefferson Avenue Historic District)

  Picture a young James Thurber renting rooms here in Columbus while a New Yorker cartoonist's imagination began to take shape.

• Topiary Park (Discovery District)

  Notice how life-size topiaries recreate every figure from Seurat's 1884 painting across this 9.2-acre garden.

• Columbus Museum of Art (Downtown Columbus)

  Locals call it the CMA, and you're facing the building Columbus built here in 1931 after decades of change.

• Columbus College of Art and Design (downtown Columbus)

  Picture three students and one teacher gathering here in January 1879 for the school's very first class.

• North Market (Downtown Columbus)

  Ohio's second public market has fed Columbus since 1876, and roughly 35 vendors now fill the hall you're entering.

• East Town Street Historic District (Downtown Columbus)

  Look closely: the High Victorian Snowden-Gray House with its cupola has anchored this Ohio street since 1852.

• Kelton House Museum and Garden (Discovery District)

  Fernando and Sophia Kelton built this Greek Revival and Italianate mansion on Town Street in 1852, and it welcomes you today as the Kelton House…

• Ohio Theatre (Capitol Square)

  Capitol Square's Ohio Theatre, a 1928 movie palace turned performing arts center and known as the Official Theatre of the State of Ohio, opens its…

• Palace Theatre (Columbus)

  Vaudeville mogul Edward Albee personally supervised the construction of the Palace Theatre, the restored 2,695-seat movie palace designed and built in 1926 by American architect…

• LeVeque Tower (Downtown Columbus)

  At 555 feet 5 inches, the 47-story LeVeque Tower anchors Downtown Columbus above you.

• U.S. Post Office and Courthouse (Downtown Columbus)

  Tan Berea sandstone faces the United States Post Office and Courthouse in front of you.

• Trinity Episcopal Church (Capitol Square)

  Trinity Episcopal Church has held this spot on Capitol Square in Downtown Columbus, Ohio, since 1866.

• Ohio Statehouse (Capitol Square)

  Seat of government for the U.S. state of Ohio, the Ohio Statehouse presents its Greek Revival face to you across Capitol Square.

• Capitol Square (Downtown Columbus)

  Broad and High Streets, the city's 100 percent corner, frame the 10-acre Capitol Grounds of Capitol Square, the heart of Downtown Columbus, where you're now…

• William McKinley Monument (Downtown Columbus)

  Every day, the story goes, William McKinley waved his handkerchief from this spot, now marked by the William McKinley Monument, also called the McKinley Memorial…

• Peace (Columbus)

  Peace, a 1922 bronze by Bruce Wilder Saville, rises on Capitol Square on the Ohio Statehouse grounds in Columbus, a female figure on a granite…

• The Doughboy (Columbus)

  The Doughboy, also known as the Ohio World War Memorial, is a 1930 bronze soldier by Arthur Ivone, rising about 10 feet tall outside the…

• Christopher Columbus (Capitol Square)

  Nine feet of sheet copper, globe in hand, the Christopher Columbus Discovery Monument by Alfonso Pelzer rises on the Ohio Statehouse grounds in Columbus.

• Genoa Park (Scioto Mile)

  Until 2013 the Main Street Dam kept this stretch of the Scioto River wide and stagnant; today Genoa Park, a 2.07-acre urban park on the…

• Battelle Riverfront Park (Downtown Columbus)

  Named for Gordon Battelle, the 4.1-acre Battelle Riverfront Park spreads along the river near Columbus City Hall in downtown Columbus.

• Bicentennial Park (Downtown Columbus)

  Established on the United States' 200th anniversary in 1976, John W. Galbreath Bicentennial Park covers 4.66 acres at 233 Civic Center Drive in downtown Columbus.

• Main Street Bridge (Franklinton)

  A 700-foot, three-span, inclined tied-arch, the Main Street Bridge spans the Scioto River from Downtown Columbus into Franklinton ahead of you.

• Rich Street Bridge (Franklinton)

  Completed in 2012, the Rich Street Bridge carries U.S. Route 62 and Ohio State Route 3 across the Scioto River, linking downtown's Rich Street with…

• McFerson Commons (Arena District)

  From 1834 to 1998 the Ohio Penitentiary filled this ground; now the 2.2-acre McFerson Commons opens its lawn in Columbus's Arena District.

• Union Station arch (McFerson Commons)

  Daniel Burnham designed the 35 ft (11 m) Beaux-Arts Union Station arch in front of you, the lone survivor of the old station's grand entranceway…

• Nationwide Arena (Arena District)

  Since 2000 the Columbus Blue Jackets have called Nationwide Arena, here in the Arena District, home.

• Scioto Mile (Downtown Columbus)

  Along both banks of the Scioto River, the Scioto Mile — nine parks covering 145 acres — links the Scioto Greenway Trail with downtown Columbus…

• Scioto Audubon Metro Park (Whittier Peninsula)

  Once an industrial site, Scioto Audubon Metro Park is now a public park and nature preserve on the Whittier Peninsula in Columbus, Ohio.

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