What’s old is new again: Anniston, Alabama, officials look forward to opening former federal courthouse as new City Hall
David Arnett, Anniston’s public works director, gives a tour of the City Council’s chambers in the new City Hall. The chambers were once a courtroom. (Bill Wilson / The Anniston Star)
Construction crews are on the home stretch of renovating the former U.S. courthouse on Noble Street in Anniston so that it will once again be a landmark in the public life of the city. Opened in 1906 as the city’s post office and a federal building, the structure is expected to begin serving as Anniston’s City Hall early next year.
City Manager Steven Folks said he expects the city government will move into the building in late January from its interim location at 4309 McClellan Blvd., where for more than five years the city has been leasing space from Consolidated Publishing Co., the parent company of The Anniston Star. The interim City Hall opened in August 2019.
The former City Hall building on Gurnee Avenue was demolished in 2019 to make space for the new Federal Courthouse, which vacated the 12th and Noble building in a land swap with the U.S. government. The city ceremoniously received the keys to the building from the government in August 2022.
David Arnett, Anniston public works director, and Derek Frazier, superintendent with general contractor Bradshaw and Pitts, recently led a small group on a tour that revealed the building’s historic past, which will be on display or in use once the work is complete.
A little history
One of many offices in the new City Hall location. (Bill Wilson / The Anniston Star)
The history of the federal courthouse can be traced back to the spring of 1899 when the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 11214, “An Act for the Erection of a Public Building in Anniston, Ala.” — which called for the federal government to build a “substantial and commodious building, with fireproof vaults for the use and accommodations of the post office, and for other government uses.”
In 1902, the plans for the courthouse arrived, but it was not until fall 1904 when construction began in earnest due to various funding and architectural issues. It was well into 1906 when the building opened for business.
Encompassing approximately 34,000 square feet, the courthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, meaning there are restrictions to the alterations that can be carried out on the building.
More than just a facelift
During the tour, Arnett said the building will be wired for communications between certain departments and council chambers.
David Arnett, Anniston public works director, in the basement of the new City Hall. (Bill Wilson / The Anniston Star)
“We’re going to be completely integrated, which is really cool,” Arnett said, explaining that images and dialogue from City Council work sessions and meetings will be streamed on Facebook. “We’re taking a 1900s building, and we’re modernizing it all the way around.”
All floors of the building have been updated, from the cavernous basement to the third floor. Besides being the new home for building inspection and permits, along with the fire marshal’s office, the basement will have a walk-up window, conference rooms and a maintenance closet.
The basement has a labyrinth of passages that include a cache of old Civil Defense water barrels. Some of the structural artifacts discovered during the renovations will be on display there.
“We’re going to make sure that this is an honored building as well as a functional building,” Arnett said.
Footprints of history
Arnett said one unique feature dates back to when the building was Anniston’s post office (until 1962).
On the floor in the Noble Street lobby there are two shoe-sized grooves in front of what had once been a post office service window. It’s hard to see the indentations just looking at the floor, but upon standing on that spot, one’s shoes “fit” into the stone where untold multitudes of people once stood.
Derek Frazier, superintendent with general contractor Bradshaw and Pitts, points to a safe high up on the wall that has never been opened. (Bill Wilson / The Anniston Star)
That feature along with others are preserved in the lobby that will include a small museum detailing Anniston’s history. The large lobby has 14-foot-high ceilings with decorative dentil molding, rosettes and the original windows.
“We’re trying to preserve every piece of it (that) we can,” Arnett said.
Other preserved features will include the old transoms, doors with their original labels and foot pedal commode flushers. Arnett wanted to preserve those in particular, as he is a master pipefitter and gasfitter by trade.
“For me those were so special,” he said. “I argued with anybody that wanted to take them out.”
The building also has three old safes that will stay. One of them, however, has not been opened and its contents, if any, remain a mystery.
This is Anniston
When asked whether he knew of any other cities in the country that have converted an old federal courthouse into a municipal facility, Arnett said “No.”
“We don’t want to be like anybody else. We’re Anniston and we’re proud of it. We want you to see originality. We want you to see the history of Anniston, the history of our citizens,” he said. “This is Anniston. This isn’t Jacksonville; this isn’t Piedmont; this isn’t D.C.; this isn’t Seattle. This is Anniston, and as y’all know, we have a different history and we’re going to promote it.”
The new council chambers will be situated in the old main courtroom on the second floor. Being a former courtroom, it shares an architectural kinship with the new federal courthouse a block away, which is visible through the large arched windows of the new council chambers.
“Judge (Corey) Maze brought me in here and he told me a story: ‘Look through the window, you see the building across, you see it has the same windows, the same arches. Those are an exact mirror of this room.’ If you go over to the federal courthouse, it is the mirror of this room,” Arnett said. “It is an exact mirror, shorter ceiling because they couldn’t get it through the building code regulations, but the architect made sure that these mirrored as they stared at each other.”
Arnett said the new City Hall is a stand-alone treasure.
“What we’re doing,” he said, “is we’re taking this old building and we’re modernizing it for our citizens and for us.”
This article was originally published by The Anniston Star.
Civil Defense water barrels were discovered in the building’s basement during renovations. (Bill Wilson / The Anniston Star)
