Cultural Arts Center
The Priscilla R. Tyson Cultural Arts Center is a combined art gallery and teaching space for visual artists and crafters in downtown Columbus, Ohio. It covers about 38,500 square feet at 139 West Main Street and is part of the Scioto Mile tourist district. The center includes a ceramics lab in the basement and painting and weaving labs on the upper floors. It offers community arts classes at various levels and is also used as an events venue.
The center sits on a historic site that was once a state penitentiary in 1814. It was demolished and rebuilt in 1861 as the Ohio State Arsenal by prisoner labor and, during the Civil War, housed weapons and horses. Artifacts on site include an eagle-and-shield from the battleship USS Ohio and a bell from the missile cruiser USS Columbus; at one time a proposed flag of Ohio flew over the arsenal.
The arsenal building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 18, 1974. Columbus acquired the building through a 99-year lease for $1 per year and transformed it into an arts center beginning in 1976, with an official opening on June 11, 1978, after a $1.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Before becoming the arts center, the building housed Engine House No. 12 from 1952 to 1978.
In 2023, the building and center were named for Priscilla Tyson, the longest-serving female member of the Columbus City Council.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 08:23 (CET).