It recently came to our attention that you can visit the viewing area at the top of the Rhodes State Office Tower, so we decided to go check it out! The Rhodes, located near the Ohio Statehouse, is the tallest building in Columbus and is perfect for the purpose. To head to the observation deck, we checked in at the front desk at the lobby where they requested state-issued IDs from all adult members of the party. We received sticker badges and then were directed to the security screening, which was the usual set your bag/keys/phone/etc on the machine and walk through the security screen.
A security guard took us over to the elevator deck (and there are a lot of them, each labeled by a letter of the alphabet) and took us up to the 40th floor. The elevators move quickly so it didn't take long at all. The floor is a working floor, so we were asked to keep the volume down. There are displays that show you a picture of the skyline labeled with locations of interest. The observation deck provides great views of the north, east, and south, in particular. Unfortunately, there is only one small window to peek out towards the west (located in the elevator bay), because that is a great view of the river and the LeVeque Tower. It was also fun to see a falcon fly up and hang out near the observation area - possibly one of the peregrines that like to nest up there? Either way, it was a neat addition to our viewing experience.
Visits do need to take place during typical working hours/days, so we opted for a mid-day visit during the week and everything went quite smoothly. All of the staff were friendly and the security guard who accompanied us was very kind and gave some great info. This is free to do, other than the usual parking fun of downtown. read more