Visitor Services: The Court provides tours of the chambers on request.  To schedule a tour, please contact the Clerk's Office at 304-558-2601 between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. For additional information on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, please contact Michelle T. Mensore, Information Services Director, Administrative Office, State Capitol, Room E-316, Charleston, WV 25305; phone: (304) 558-0145; TTY: (304) 558-4219; fax: (304) 558-1212; e-mail: mensom@mail.wvnet.edu.     

         The Court chambers are located on the third floor of the east wing of the West Virginia Capitol. The east wing was erected between July 1926 and December 1927. The chambers are impressive, measuring 40 X 44 feet with a 30-foot ceiling.

        Above the chambers is a rectangular opening of stained glass. Bronze carvings depicting the "Scale and Balance" and the "Book of Law" adorn the sides of the skylight. In the frieze along the top of the walls in the chambers are two quotes. The first quote by Thomas Jefferson is, "The true foundation of republican government is the equal right of every citizen in his person and property and in their management." The second quote by Abraham Lincoln is, "Firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right."

        Columns of white Imperial Danby Vermont marble with bases of black Belgian marble surround the room. The walls are the same white Imperial Danby Vermont marble. Rich burgundy drapes line the sides of the chambers, and the compressed cork floor is covered with dark red carpet. The furnishings are made of American walnut.

        New York City architect Cass Gilbert designed the Court chambers as well as the original West Virginia Capitol. At the time of his commission, Gilbert was a nationally renowned architect who had designed the capitol buildings of Minnesota and Arkansas, and the Woolworth building in New York City, once the tallest building in the world.

        Gilbert took great care in planning the Court chambers, personally designing the decor, the bench, and other furnishings. Gilbert did not include a bar because he wanted to symbolize that there shall be nothing between West Virginia's highest court and her citizens.  After completing West Virginia’s chambers, Gilbert designed the chambers of the Supreme Court of the United States, which was his final achievement before his death.  Gilbert used West Virginia’s chambers as a model for the chambers in the Supreme Court of the United States.       

Picture of the Court Chambers