Majestic Building (Indianapolis, Indiana)

 office building, high-rise, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, 1890s construction

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- Built for the Indianapolis Gas Company in 1896, this was the city's first steel-framed skyscraper (10 stories).
- The Majestic Building has an open lightwell above the second floor on the east side of the building.
- Woollen Associates completed an extensive renovation of the Majestic Building in 1980.
- It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
- The building remains the oldest high-rise still standing in Indianapolis.
Source: emporis.com

Its name captured how the public viewed it—the Majestic Building. It was the city’s first skyscraper with its 13 stories and remained the tallest building until the completion of the Merchant’s National Bank Building in 1913. The Majestic was designed by D.A. Bohlen & Son as a headquarters for the Indianapolis Gas Company. In 1980 the building was individually listed in the National Register and rehabilitated.

This ten-story office building of steel frame structure is basically square in plan with an east/west lightwell from second to tenth floor levels cut from the east elevation. The two principal facades are of Bedford limestone, the west facade on South Pennsylvania Street being symmetrical in design, while the south one on East Maryland is asymmetrical; the two other elevations are of common brick. The horizontal division of floors into design units and the three part rhythms of composition mask the verticality of the building. The style relies upon an eclectic interpretation of classical elements. The carved ornamentation of the entrance, spandrels, and attic frieze features delicate garlands, festoons, and a fluttering ribbon motif. All window openings are rectangular, except for the round arches of the entrance ways, the three central bays of the seventh floor, and the arcade corner bays of the ninth floor. The building formerly exhibited a deep bracketed cornice and iron work balconies at the ninth floor’s arcaded bays.