Columbus is home to a superb collection of remarkable architecture- it almost has to be to live up to its nickname, “the Athens of the Prairie!” Standout architects like I.M. Pei, Elder and Eero Saarinen, Kevin Roche, and Harry Weese all contributed to the city’s inventive skyline, but Isaac Hodgson got there first: His Bartholomew County Courthouse was hailed as the “finest in the West¹” when it was completed in 1874.