Rusch Building (Indianapolis, Indiana)

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This first generation wholesale house was an investment of Westphalian-born Frederick Paul Rusch. He had immigrated to the U.S. in 1853 at age 19 and dealt in flour, feed, and garden seeds. By the autumn of 1857, he had amplified the scope of his business through the buying and shipping of grain to become a leading produce and commission dealer on West Washington Street. Rusch purchased the lot and erected this building during 1867-68 as an investment; his enterprise never occupied it.

The choice of a stone facade for a brick wholesale building was unusual in Indianapolis in the 1880s; its survival to the present day renders the Rusch Building a rarity. The structure is a typical three stories high, six bays wide, with a brick load-bearing wall dividing the building into a "double." Today, the building is home to several nightclubs.