Vern Riffe State Office Tower, State government skyscraper in Capitol Square, Columbus, US
Vern Riffe State Office Tower is a government skyscraper in downtown Columbus, Ohio, with a glass and steel facade rising over 30 floors. It contains offices for several Ohio state agencies as well as a public theater on the ground floor.
The tower was completed in 1988 as one of the main administrative centers for the state of Ohio. It was later named after Vern Riffe, a long-serving Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives who had supported the project.
The Capitol Theatre at the base of the tower is open to the public and hosts concerts, plays, and other live events throughout the year. It draws people who would otherwise have no reason to enter a government building.
The building is in the heart of downtown Columbus and easy to reach on foot from most central points. Most floors are for government staff only, but the ground-floor theater is generally open to the public on event days.
The tower was named after a sitting politician, which is unusual in Ohio. Vern Riffe was still in office when the building received his name, making it one of the few state structures named after someone still active at the time.
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