Tenants have begun moving into the former Zipper Building, now known as The Broadbent Building. Occupants will include real
estate firm Broadbent Co. and Brazilian Steakhouse Fogo de Chão. What do you think of the new look?
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I mean atleast its classic, I would have hated to see some post-modern trash there. The stone work is fantastic I must say.
I personally think that classic styles are becoming more popular, so maybe in the near future they can rebuild the gem demolished for the zipper building?
I don't know why people hated the zipper building. I thought it was an interesting piece of mid-century modernism. The contrived pseudo-classic look isn't an improvement.
This building is tacky, tacky, tacky.
post-modern trash at its worst, suburban tract office space at its worst.
The barrel vault skylight is completely of of proportion with the rest of the
building - just to start...
At least the zipper facade had a distinct point of view that could have been
modernized and accentuated.
Not surprised by the design though - its the
HQ for Broadbent Development.
When was this designed 1982?
Where are design police when you need them!
If they were able to afford all this, then I am sure they could have afforded to put some work into the facade. The street level is alot nicer then the Zipper building and the new structure will atleast age decently.
I've got some pictures of the building that stood on this site before the Zipper Building. Scroll to the bottom of this post:
http://dig-b.blogspot.com/search/label/Broadbent%20Building
This one is understated yet has classic elements. The arched glass entry is reminiscent of the arcade that existied on Washington Street.
That said, I'm not proclaiming to be a fan of the facade it's replacing either.
The sad thing is that the building would have looked half way decent with a simple brick facade. The street level windows look good and overall, the building has good fenestration.
I wonder if those awful off-the-shelf concrete columns were added last minute by the owner. I can’t imagine any self respecting, architect including those without being strong-armed by their client.
Do you really expect architectural self-respect from the Broadbent Company?? Visit their website and you will see that mostly all they do is develop strip shopping malls.
From a business standpoint, I mean no disrespect to Broadbent. They have picked a niche and they excel in it.
Kudos to Broadbent for making the decision to locate downtown and rehabbing a junk building, no less. They could have easily stayed in the burbs and far less cost.
To those people who hate the building...architecturally you are correct but at the same time give Broadbent some credit and get it through your heads that this is Indianapolis, after all. Just be thankful that someone actually secured financing to build something entirely new downtown.
Even the windows looks cheap - the glass is so thin that it is actually oil-canning, almost as if someone used Visqueen or Saran Wrap instead of glass. Maybe the shortcomings can be hidden with awnings and signage.
There are complaints about how this new design is an 'eyesore.' What about the old Roslyn Bakery on the opposite corner and the other run down buildings just west of that? THOSE are the eyesores. I agree with Shane regarding this area of downtown. It has been a dump, like most of inner city Indianapolis, for far too long. At least someone is willing to start cleaning it up.
Also, the Broadbent Company has been downtown for many years. Their previous office was in the Capitol Towers at Illinois and Ohio.
Whatever everyone thinks, they obviously did something right if Fogo De Chao is moving in.
A couple of those bolted onto the facade does not a classical structure make. This is not a classical structure in any way shape or form.
http://images.indianahistory.org/cgi-bin/getimage.exe?CISOROOT=/dc012&CISOPTR=3533&DMSCALE=100.00000&DMWIDTH=600&DMHEIGHT=600&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=%20virginia%20avenue&REC=3&DMTHUMB=1&DMROTATE=0
I think that the Marion county courthouse would be great to rebuild, though very ornate I think it could be done through private funding and perhaps different materials.
Helen, preservationists aren't big on faux-historic structures that are reconstructions using new materials. IHPC won't allow fiber-cement siding on historic houses to replace wood, for example. Their stance is (greatly simplified) that any building should reflect the design aesthetic and materials of its own time.
Which takes us right back to these press-on columns and the paddlewheel window. Maybe they do reflect the current design aesthetic, and maybe they are perfectly appropriate for this building.
Just sayin'...
The IHPC can't stop people from using timeless designs or ornate details and if they do thats a little bit well stupid but it wouldn't be the first stupid thing the IHPC did.