The Columbus Downtown Commission rejected a request to place three aluminum crosses on the roof of a Capitol Square office building across from the Ohio Statehouse.
In a unanimous vote April 28, the six commission members present denied the request from lobbying group the Center for Christian Virtue to place two 12-foot crosses on either side of one 16-foot cross on top of its building at 62 E. Broad St.
Plans filed with the commission show the center was planning to place the gold metallic crosses with LED lights at the front of the five-story building facing East Broad Street.
Commissioners agreed with city staff’s opinion that the proposed installation was incompatible with the city’s design guidelines for core areas of downtown and the style of the sign along the Broad Street corridor.
Oliver Holtsberry, a representative of DāNite Sign Co., questioned if the crosses should be considered art instead of a graphic. Nolan Harshaw, a senior planner for the city, said that it would be regulated as a graphic according to city code. The sign company was to erect the crosses if they were approved.
Harshaw noted that the center could submit plans for another kind of a sign on the wall or a projection that is more oriented to pedestrians, which would be more compatible with the downtown guidelines.
Nobody else representing the Center for Christian Virtue was present at the meeting.
The organization’s executive director, Aaron Baer, wrote on the social media platform X that the center is “reviewing the commission’s decision and will be reaching out to them to discuss our concerns, and how we can get this done.”
Holtsberry said that people at the center were inspired by The Columbus Dispatch’s historic neon rooftop sign from 1958 at one of the newspaper’s former office buildings on South 3rd Street, now home to the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.
Commission members noted that the Dispatch sign is historic and on a taller building.
State Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, wrote on X that the decision is “discrimination masquerading as plain idiocy.”
The lobbying group purchased the former Dispatch office building on Broad Street in 2023 for $1.1 million.
Note: This story has been updated to include a comment from Aaron Baer and a state representative.
Delaware County and eastern Columbus suburbs reporter Maria DeVito can be reached at mdevito@dispatch.com and @mariadevito13.dispatch.com on Bluesky and @MariaDeVito13 on X.
Regional/suburban trending reporter Anna Lynn Winfrey can be reached at awinfrey@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Center for Christian Virtue’s plan for Downtown roof crosses rebuffed
Reporting by Maria DeVito and Anna Lynn Winfrey, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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