Ohio · Architect seal requirements
Ohio Architect seal requirements: size, wording, and the rule that sets them
As of
Architects in Ohio seal under OAC 4703-3-01 (Seal requirements), administered by the Ohio Architects Board. The seal reads “Registered Architect”. Circular and two inches in diameter, with a concentric inner circle of one and three-eighths inches.
Ohio's rule prescribes the legend but not a diameter. Sizes quoted around the web for Ohio come from stamp vendors' catalogues, not from the Administrative Code.
Ohio Architect seal
- Seal rule
- OAC 4703-3-01 (Seal requirements)
- Legend
- “Registered Architect”
- Diameter
- Circular and two inches in diameter, with a concentric inner circle of one and three-eighths inches.
- Expiration date
- Not on the seal face — the seal itself carries only "state of Ohio", "registered architect", the architect's name and registration number. The imprint required for filing is the seal applied "above the architect's printed name, license number, and expiration date of the architect's license, and an ink or electronic signature". Ohio is therefore a second Illinois: the license expiration date must appear with the seal on the title or first sheet of drawings, on the title page of bound specifications, and on other documents filed with building permit agencies.(OAC 4703-3-01(A) and (B))
- Signature date
- Paragraph (B) itemises exactly what accompanies the seal — printed name, license number, expiration date and an ink or electronic signature — and does not include a date of signing; ORC 4703.12 requires only that the documents be imprinted with the seal. Note the contrast with Ohio engineers and surveyors, whose rule under a different board does require the document to be signed and dated.(OAC 4703-3-01(B); ORC 4703.12)
- City on seal
- Paragraph (A) prescribes the seal face exhaustively: "state of Ohio" at the top and "registered architect" at the bottom of the annular space, with the architect's name and registration number horizontally inside the inner circle. No city or place of business.(OAC 4703-3-01(A))
- "State of Ohio" sits at the top of the annular space and "registered architect" at the bottom; the architect's name and registration number go horizontally inside the inner circle.(OAC 4703-3-01)
- An individual embossing seal, a rubber stamp seal, an electronically generated seal or another reproducible facsimile all satisfy the rule.(OAC 4703-3-01)
- The seal goes above your printed name, license number and license expiration date, with an ink or electronic signature — on the title or first sheet of bound drawings, the title page of bound specifications, and other documents filed with building permit agencies.(OAC 4703-3-01; ORC 4703.12)
- For an electronic or digital document the signature is an authentication process attached to or logically associated with it, unique to you, under your sole control, verifiable, and invalidated if any data on the document changes.(OAC 4703-3-01)
Ohio architect seal questions
How big is an Ohio architect's seal?▾
Exactly two inches, with a second circle inside it. The rule makes the seal circular and two inches in diameter, and concentric with the outside of the seal there must be a circle one and three-eighths inches in diameter. The widely repeated line that Ohio prescribes no seal size is true of engineers and surveyors, whose rule is written by a different board and gives no dimension at all; it is not true of architects, who have both circles fixed for them and no tolerance in either. (OAC 4703-3-01(A); cf. OAC 4733-23-01)
Does an Ohio architect's license expiration date go on the seal?▾
It goes next to the seal, not on it. Paragraph (A) prescribes the face exhaustively — "state of Ohio" at the top of the annular space, "registered architect" at the bottom, and the architect's name and registration number placed horizontally within the inner circle — with no room for an expiry. Paragraph (B) then requires the seal to be applied above the architect's printed name, license number and expiration date of the license, together with an ink or electronic signature, on the title or first sheet of bound sets of drawings, the title page of bound specifications, and other documents filed with building permit agencies. Ohio is a second Illinois on this point. (OAC 4703-3-01(A) and (B))
Does an Ohio architect have to date a sealed document?▾
The architect's rule does not ask for a date of signing. Paragraph (B) itemizes what accompanies the seal — the printed name, the license number, the expiration date of the license, and an ink or electronic signature — and a date of signing is not among them; ORC 4703.12 requires only that the documents be imprinted with the seal. Ohio engineers and surveyors, under a different board, must have their work product signed and dated. So the date an architect must show beside the seal is the license expiration date, not the day the drawing was signed. (OAC 4703-3-01(B); ORC 4703.12; cf. ORC 4733.14)
Does an Ohio architect's seal say "Licensed Architect"?▾
No. The annular space carries "state of Ohio" at the top and "registered architect" at the bottom, and the inner circle carries the architect's name and registration number. The rule uses the licensing vocabulary a few lines later — paragraph (B) speaks of the "license number" and the "expiration date of the architect's license" — so both words appear in the same rule and only one of them belongs on the seal face. (OAC 4703-3-01(A) and (B))
Generate a Ohio Architect seal to this specification
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