Bill Taft: Let’s return the Old City Hall to its original use

Everyone interested in the vitality of downtown Indianapolis was disappointed when the City of Indianapolis announced that it was withdrawing from the agreement with TWG Development aimed at bringing a 21c Hotel and apartments to the historic Old Indianapolis City Hall.

After several abortive attempts to redevelop this significant building, it is time for the City of Indianapolis to return it to its original use as the ceremonial home for local government.

The Old City Hall is a monumental Indiana limestone building located just a block from the City-County Building, facing the cultural trail on the edge of the Mass Avenue cultural district.

It was constructed in 1909, representing the civic pride of Indy’s golden age of economic and cultural growth.

Renowned architectural firm Robush & Hunter designed the Classical Revival building with exotic stone columns and railings centered on a four-story atrium crowned by a stained-glass skylight.

City leaders vacated the building in 1962 with the opening of the current City-County Building.

Many of us have childhood memories of the Indiana State Museum’s giant pendulum in the atrium of the Old City Hall when it housed the state museum from 1966 to 2001.

My kids got to know the building while it served as the temporary location for the Central Library, and then again as the 2012 Super Bowl Turf arts venue.

For the past 13 years, the city of Indianapolis has paid to maintain the vacant Old City Hall while a series of private developers have proposed redevelopments featuring apartments, condos and offices.

All these ideas have proven infeasible due to the “inefficient” monumental civic design of the building.

Meanwhile, the city has consolidated its operations from leased spaces back into the nearby City-County Building, which is now almost full of city workers.

Sadly, this mid-century office building does not adequately accommodate public meetings or inspire much pride in our citizens.

Now is the time to reclaim the historic Old City Hall as the center of our civic life.

This vacant but beautiful building sits ready to host the ceremonial and community functions of local government in an environment that inspires civic virtue.

Since the city already owns both the historic hall and the adjacent parking lot, it can create a civic complex that is both functional and beautiful.

The parking lot could host a City-County Council chamber atop a new structure that the public would access through the historic atrium after parking in enclosed parking on its lower levels.

Historic Old City Hall can be reclaimed for public-facing functions such as the mayor’s office, committee hearing rooms, and other public-facing offices that require citizens to visit the building.

Local government offices could be complemented with space for civic organizations such as the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee, the Parks Foundation and the Urban League.

It would also host a visitor center that incorporates exhibits on the history and culture of our community in its monumental space.

The time for this is right. Taxpayers are already paying to maintain this vacant historic city hall, so let’s take a step that is both practical and inspirational and return this landmark to its proper use as the civic center of Indianapolis.

The mayor and our City-County Council should commit funding to activate this vacant landmark to serve both civic function and ceremony.

We should all be inspired by the original dedication plaque in its lobby declaring we are “citizens of no mean city” and revive this building as the center of our civic life.•

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Taft is director of Interurban at Indianapolis-based Sagamore Institute. Send comments to [email protected].

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