Alabama Judicial Building, Law court complex in Montgomery, United States
The Alabama Judicial Building, also called the Heflin-Torbert Judicial Building, is a neoclassical state court building completed in 1994 in Montgomery. It has six levels, a reinforced concrete and steel frame clad in Indiana limestone, and a pedimented portico with ten Ionic columns. Inside, a rotunda 40 feet tall and 75 feet wide is faced in Carrara marble with eight columns 34 feet high.
Completed in 1994 at a cost of about $35 million, the building was designed by Barganier Davis Sims Architects Associated of Montgomery with Gresham, Smith and Partners of Birmingham. It was the first state court building in the United States to house all three courts under one roof. In 2001 Chief Justice Roy Moore placed a 5,280-pound granite Ten Commandments replica in the rotunda without the other justices' knowledge; it was removed from the rotunda on August 27, 2003, and Moore was removed from office that November.
The rotunda is faced in Carrara marble and holds eight columns 34 feet tall. The Museum of Judicial History is on the ground floor, not in the rotunda. In 2001 Chief Justice Roy Moore placed a 5,280-pound granite Ten Commandments replica in the rotunda without the other justices' knowledge; it was removed in 2003.
The State Law Library sits on the main lobby level, not the first floor, alongside the Appellate Court Clerks' Offices and the two-story rotunda. Visitor parking is in the garage on the ground floor level, where the Museum of Judicial History and the Administrative Office of Courts are also found. The Supreme Court chamber occupies the third, top level, above the rotunda and beneath the dome.
The exterior walls are covered with Indiana limestone and ten monumental Ionic columns support the portico, giving the building a classical appearance. This neoclassical design choice reflects the importance and permanence valued in the judicial system.
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