The present Supreme Court Building was built between 1905 and 1907, using $400,000 of the proceeds from the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair (also known as the Louisiana Purchase Expedition). The site selected for the new court building was a plot of land near the Capitol on which sat the Price mansion, home to the first mayor of Jefferson City, Thomas Lawson Price.

Two young St. Louis architects, Guy C. Mariner and Louis La Beaume, were selected to design the new courthouse. Mariner and La Beaume’s initial plan was that the building be constructed of limestone instead of red brick. The first floor would include offices for the state attorney general as well as the Court’s marshals and clerks; the second floor wouldd have two courtrooms, a library, rooms for court personnel, “assembly rooms for attorneys,” and “judges chambers;” the third floor would include the judges’ private rooms, with each judge having his own “retiring room,” bedroom, and bathroom. The Jefferson City Daily Tribune opened it expected the new building would be the “handsomest structure in the United States.”

The elaborate design for the building turned out to be pricier than expected, and modifications were made. Construction on the new courthouse began Tuesday, October 24, 1905. Ultimately, the building was constructed of red brick, framed with white stone pillars and trim, rather than limestone. Instead of having all seven judges chambers on the third floor, one chamber was moved to the second floor, with the remaining six chambers on the third floor.

The exterior is largely original. While the interior has been updated since 1907, the original layout remains. The building features a grand marble staircase in the lobby, and other exquisite French-Re- naissance-inspired architectural details. The columns in the lobby, designed to keep costs down, are painted to resemble marble. The judges’ benches in the two courtrooms are original.