Constitution Hall Park

Alabama Constitution Hall Park celebrates the 2019 Bicentennial of Alabama Statehood. The one-acre site occupies a half city block in downtown Huntsville, on the site where the Alabama Constitution was ratified in 1819. The buildings surrounding the park are replicas of historic structures created over a twenty-year period starting the mid-1970s. Over the years, the site evolved into a fully fenced, historical environment where visitors were required to purchase a ticket to enter. The interior of the site was a maze of irregular concrete paths connecting to agricultural, craft, and domestic life displays that sought to illuminate life in Alabama in the early nineteenth century.

In order to make the site more relevant to the whole community, the architects proposed removal of the perimeter fencing and establishment of the site as a public park with porous edges and entrances on three different streets. Small structures occupying the center of the site were removed or strategically relocated to help define a linear green space. The entire site was terraced and ramped to provide universal access to the park and the surrounding buildings. An existing picnic pavilion was renovated to create a stronger architectural focal point at the east end of the central green. The west end of the green is anchored by a new pavilion featuring the key materials of early nineteenth century construction in Alabama: brick, wood, and limestone.

The park is now a central gathering space in the heart of downtown Huntsville. It plays host to an outdoor concert series and regular public events, and has become a desirable venue for wedding and other private events.