In 1908, the New York architectural firm Hale and Rogers won a design competition for the building, and U.S. Treasury Department officials approved their plans in 1909.

[4] In 1994, the building was renamed to honor John Minor Wisdom, a respected judge who served on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals from 1957 until his death in 1999.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals judges and staff briefly relocated to other cities and towns in the region because of damage and power outages, but returned to the building in December 2005 when the issues were resolved.

[4] The monumental three-story building is faced in white Cherokee, Georgia, marble atop a gray granite base.

Dramatic colonnades with Ionic columns are on the Camp and Magazine street elevations and support a cornice inscribed with the names of past Chief Justices of the Supreme Court.

Other exterior elements typical to the Italian Renaissance Revival style of architecture include classical features such as pediments, triglyphs, and dentils, which are interspersed with foliated and floral designs.

The first floor lobby, known as the Great Hall, is an L-shaped space with marble columns that support an elaborate bronzed castplaster vaulted ceiling.

The ceiling is richly decorated with bas relief floral medallions and motifs, geometric key designs, and allegorical figures.

Distinctive wall sconces that feature large white globes supported by either cast-bronze eagles or snakes illuminate the spaces.

Called the En Banc courtroom, it was designed to seat all of the active judges on the Court of Appeals simultaneously so that they can hear important cases together.