Columbus Culture

Columbus’s cultural life runs on the university, the arts district and a strong tradition of preservation.

The Wexner Center

Peter Eisenman’s 1989 building on the Ohio State campus is one of the founding works of deconstructivist architecture — a white scaffolding grid slicing through the campus at an angle to everything around it, with fragments of a demolished armoury reassembled at the entrance. It functions as a contemporary art centre with a serious film and performance programme.

German Village

The restoration of this district from the 1960s, house by house and privately funded, is one of the largest in the country and was an early and influential example of preservation as neighbourhood renewal rather than museum-making.

Music and comedy

A long-established indie music scene around campus and the Short North, and a comedy circuit that has produced a number of national names.

Cartoons

James Thurber grew up here and his house is a museum and literary centre; the university holds one of the world’s largest cartoon and comic art collections.

Theatre and galleries

The restored 1920s Ohio and Palace theatres downtown anchor a touring and resident programme, and the Short North’s galleries have supported a working artist population since the district was cheap in the 1980s. Franklinton has since taken over that role as the Short North has become expensive.

Food

Columbus has an unusually good restaurant scene for its size, helped by the test-market economy and a large student and immigrant population — the Somali community has made the north side one of the best places in the country for East African food, and the North Market gathers a couple of dozen independent kitchens under one roof.

Football

The Ohio State marching band, its script formation and the stadium’s hundred thousand seats are cultural objects in their own right.