Inspiration for Super Friends' Hall of Justice

The exterior of the Justice League of America's "Hall of Justice," seen on the Super Friends cartoon, was based on Union Terminal, a gorgeous Art Deco railroad built in 1933 in my hometown of Cincinnati. Hanna-Barbera, creators of Super Friends, was sold in 1967 to Cincinnati-based Taft Broadcasting Co. Apparently, Hanna-Barbera folks would visit the city where they would have seen Union Terminal. From the Cincinnati Enquirer:

When creating "Super Friends," the producers wanted a grand headquarters for their heroes.

The job was given to Al Gmuer, background supervisor for Hanna-Barbera for more than 30 years. Using his knowledge of architecture, he sketched out a building that almost resembled the finished product.

"Mine had more windows," Gmuer said.

The drawing was then given to the network, including Joe Barbera, where it was turned into the Union Terminal look-a-like that's known today, he said.

Gmuer isn't sure why they redesigned his building to look like Union Terminal. He doesn't give the Hall of Justice much thought today.

"In the long run, I hated that building," he said. "The way it's designed, it was not easy to draw. I had nightmares about that damn building."

"Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice ..." (Thanks, Gil Kaufman!)

[#1 posted by GregLondon , March 25, 2009 9:10 AM]

wondertwin powers... Activate!

[#2 posted by Anonymous , March 25, 2009 9:11 AM]

Wonder if the architect sued for copyright infringement by a derivative work. [/sarcasm]

[#3 posted by LB , March 25, 2009 9:11 AM]

The Old Navy on 34th Street in Manhattan (between 6th & 7th) looks just like the Hall of Justice. It's always cracked me up.

[#4 posted by MrJM , March 25, 2009 9:17 AM]

The design of the DuPage County Courthouse has always struck me as an overt homage to the Hall of Justice -- http://DuPageHallOfJustice.notlong.com

[#5 posted by gobo , March 25, 2009 9:29 AM]

I love taking friends to the Hall of Justice in Cincinnati. Union Terminal is a fantastic building, inside and out, and currently home to three great museums and an Omnimax theatre. One of my favorite things about my hometown.

[#6 posted by SweetCuppinCakes , March 25, 2009 9:29 AM]

I find the railway station in Helsinki to be quite Hall of Justicey. Note the ominous guards flanking the entrance, holding giant orbs.

http://images.google.co.kr/images?hl=ko&rlz=1T4GGLL_koFI315FI316&um=1&newwindow=1&q=helsingin+rautatieasema

[#7 posted by Shawn Wolfe , March 25, 2009 9:32 AM]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3150/2880708748_9a9c588d4d.jpg?v=0

[#8 posted by retrojoe , March 25, 2009 9:33 AM]

I've taken a train from there. The "station" aspect of it is now just a small room towards the back. The schedule is posted on an old magnet board. To get to a train you have to walk down service corridors and board at the back of the building.

[#9 posted by thenson , March 25, 2009 9:52 AM]

Here's another building that I always thought looked like the Hall of Justice!

The American Airlines Center in Dallas:

http://epa.gov/region6/6xa/jpg/aa_center.jpg

[#10 posted by David Pescovitz , March 25, 2009 9:54 AM]

SHAWN_WOLFE @6, Is that a grocery store in San Francisco? Looks familiar.

[#11 posted by Rick. , March 25, 2009 9:57 AM]

The first and last time I was in Cincinnati, I saw this building and had flashbacks of my youth rushing home from school to watch the Super-Friends. I always wondered if the Hall of Justice was inspired by this building.

[#12 posted by Anonymous , March 25, 2009 10:08 AM]

I live up on a hill towards the side and every morning I can see this building...the downside is that everything surrounding it is crumbling due to neglect...

[#13 posted by strider_mt2k , March 25, 2009 10:08 AM]

I just did my Jury Duty in Camden, NJ at the Hall of Justice.

I can never get Ted Knight out of my head when I'm walking up to the building.

[#14 posted by Mojave , March 25, 2009 10:11 AM]

My one and only time in Cincinnatti I went to this gorgeous building and the thing I recall most is that it was the first time I had ever seen a "whispering wall" something about the acoustics of a curving wall that carry a whisper over a distance. Very cool. The same effect can be found in St. Paul's in London.

[#15 posted by Church , March 25, 2009 10:13 AM]

If they did that today, there'd be a lawsuit.

[#16 posted by Anonymous , March 25, 2009 10:17 AM]

Every summer vacation we would drive through Cincinnatti on our way to Florida from Toronto and my sister and I couldn't wait to be the first one to spot "The Hall of Justice". I guess we were right all along.

[#17 posted by mrong , March 25, 2009 10:35 AM]

A while back I was making my way to Union Terminal to check out some moving robotic dinosaur exhibit, I turned the wrong way and ended up at the warehouse right next to UT. Inside this warehouse was some sort of underground sweater sale, where people of all types were buying boxes of sweaters at a time. The entire place didn't have a single light on, and it was about a trillion degrees (it was July) inside. I did get a nice v-neck for like four dollars. The Dinosaurs where pretty awesome too.

[#18 posted by bender00 , March 25, 2009 10:49 AM]

I love that Cincy makes its way into Boing Boing from time to time.

Union Terminal is hands-down my kids' favorite local attraction.

[#19 posted by Brainspore , March 25, 2009 10:53 AM]

Right, like Batman would be caught dead taking public transportation.

[#20 posted by Nycteris , March 25, 2009 11:16 AM]

Oh ha, I've been there several times and never noticed! That is a WONDERFUL museum.

[#21 posted by Steaming Pile , March 25, 2009 11:17 AM]

Hard to draw? If H/B was operating efficiently, it would only need to have been drawn once.

[#22 posted by Shawn Wolfe , March 25, 2009 12:21 PM]

#10 Not sure David. I just Googled "60s supermarket" and came up with that link.

[#23 posted by Anonymous , March 25, 2009 12:48 PM]

They are currently repainting the Warner Bros mural in Burbank. Looking around the plastic covering you can see it's the Hall of Justice being painted.

[#24 posted by retrojoe , March 25, 2009 3:38 PM]

@ Shawn_Wolf and #10> That looks like an old Kohl's Grocery store. They were very common in the Milwaukee area until the early 90s. It was the same family that started Kohl's department store (the parents of WI Senator Herb Kohl). They're all out of business now but a few of the buildings remain.

http://www.cruisecloseouts.com/K%20Pics/Kohls%20Food%20Emporium%2001.jpg

[#25 posted by paul567 , March 25, 2009 4:08 PM]

This was on TotallyLooksLike.com a few days ago:

http://totallylookslike.com/2009/02/09/union-terminal-totally-looks-like-hall-of-justice/

[#26 posted by jworick , March 25, 2009 4:12 PM]

Fr t. Th rgnl nn Trmnl s grgs, nd th Hll f Jstc ws kck-ss clbhs fr th cstmd sprhrs. wndr f thr ws ntrl sprng pl n th bsmnt fr qmn?

http://thngswnttpnchnthfc.blgspt.cm

[#27 posted by Antinous / Moderator , March 25, 2009 4:15 PM]

jworick,

You've been suspended for blogwhoring. Contact me if you want to reinstate your account.

[#28 posted by cfJeff , March 25, 2009 5:56 PM]

@ GregLondon

Shape of.... An Eagle !

[#29 posted by Anonymous , March 26, 2009 7:12 AM]

actually there is a little know museum in union terminal in addition to the children natural and history museum there is a small train museum in a top tower overlooking the train yard

[#30 posted by Adam Stanhope , March 26, 2009 10:33 AM]

See also Hualamphong train station in Bangkok:

http://tinyurl.com/hualamphong

[#31 posted by Trevour , March 27, 2009 3:49 AM]

Haven't been to the UT in Cincy in over 8 years. Time I go back! Beautiful inside, and I remember they had a really awesome scale model of the entire city.

[#32 posted by Anonymous , April 1, 2009 3:18 PM]

Well, here in Buenos Aires we have the inspiration for the Hall of Evil of the SuperFriends show:
http://soncosasmias.blogspot.com/2009/03/avivagiles-de-donde-salio-la.html