Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Indianapolis Architecture - ?

I actually need a little help with this one; I have tried various sources (mainly Emporis and Indiana Historical Society) to locate data on this building, but with little success. I remember seeing a picture of this building in a street shot dating back to 1912 in a historical Indianapolis book, but there was no information there either.

The building resides on Maryland street, close to Pennsylvania Street and the Majestic Building. If anyone could share any information they might know about this building, I would be greatly appreciative.

The front of the building features a ghost sign of Omega Communications.




The side alley features another ghost sign.


The very back of the building.

8 comments:

bhorg said...

I remember someone having some info on it when Penn Centre was a hot topic on SSC.

It would be awesome to see it get rehabbed.. I wonder what the condition is.

Unknown said...

Thanks, I'll have to go though the archives a see what I can find. It would be awesome to get a peek at the inside; I'll have to start keeping a crowbar as standard issue :)

CorrND said...

I don't know how much digging you're interested in doing, but I bet if you were to probe the IHPC records you'd be able to find the staff report from the Penn Centre hearings. If I remember correctly, they discovered that the building originally had a cornice. The Penn Centre developers had agreed to restore the cornice when they reused the facade on their project.

As for the inside, at least the first floor was still in use up to maybe two years ago. It was a typical modern, open concept office space.

Unknown said...

I don't yet know how much detective work I will be doing on this building, but the solid lead is much appreciated. I will definitely be sure to share any information I find on it.

baikinange said...

Thanks for the heads up on another ghost sign for my collection. My personal favorite is the Jung's beer on Michigan near Belmont: http://tinyurl.com/7lm6xo

I'd love if you would consider doing a ghost ads post. And phone booths, if there are any left in the area.

Unknown said...

That's a great Ghost Ad. A Ghost Ad post would be a pretty cool assignment that would give me another insight into our city's history. I need to take a few more photos before I can call it a collection.

It's interesting you mentioned phone booths; I shot one recently while walking though an east side neighborhood and thought to myself, I remember a time these things were everywhere.

Anonymous said...

It was the Holstein building if I remember correctly. It was part of a much larger building. It was constructed in 1868 and is one of the older downtown buildings. The cornice and storefront are not original and were added in a 1980's renovation. Thanks to the IHPC, this baby was saved.
Interested back though, very intact. Would not be too bad if it was restored either.

Unknown said...

Awesome! Thanks for the info! I had a feeling that this building was one of the oldest; wish they didn't paint it though.