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One of the Westfield’s oldest buildings will have a new home next year after it was temporarily relocated from the spot where it was constructed nearly 190 years ago.
The Westfield Board of Public Works on Wednesday approved a $2.293 million contract with Indianapolis-based Brandt Construction to relocate and restore the “Green Building,” which was initially relocated to make way for the Indiana Department of Transportation’s State Road 32 reconstruction project.
In July 2024, the Green Building was moved from 102 S. Union St. to the parcel directly east of the site where it was built in 1837. Once Duke Energy completes underground utility relocation, the building will be moved about three blocks north in early 2026 to its new location on North Union Street, just south of the Basile Westfield Playhouse.
“As we move toward Westfield’s bright future, we cannot forget where we came from,” Mayor Scott Willis said in written remarks. “This project completes the preservation work started by the previous administration and protects this piece of our history for generations to come.”
As part of the State Road 32 project, INDOT will cover 50% of the project cost to move and rehabilitate the building. While the Green Building is being restored, the city will issue a request for proposals to determine its future use as a commercial building.
The Green Building was advertised as “The Old Corner Drug Store” in 1861 and 1862, and it served as Westfield’s post office from 1873 to 1877, according to the city. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the building also operated as Patterson’s Store, Hetherington’s Store and Funderburgh’s Grocery.
One of Westfield’s longest-running restaurants, Pickett’s Cafeteria, operated in the building from 1958 to 2002. The building later housed other restaurants, including Erika’s Place, which closed in 2020. The Green Building’s most recent tenant was Dance Innovations.
Westfield and the INDOT are teaming on a $21.7 million reconstruction of State Road 32 through downtown to improve traffic flow—a project that has been on the books since 2018 when the cost estimate was $15 million.
The city and state are splitting the cost. Westfield has control over project design, while INDOT is paying for land acquisition, utility relocation and construction. Major construction to expand State Road 32 from two lanes to four from Poplar Street to Timberbrook Run has been ongoing since April. The project is expected to be completed sometime next year.
INDOT is overseeing the $80 million project that will widen the road to four lanes and build seven roundabouts for five miles between Westfield and Noblesville.
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I love that they are moving and restoring this historic building, but why is INDOT paying for half of this project?
I believe the reason it needed to be moved at all was the State Road 32 work INDOT was doing. Otherwise it would have to have been demolished. Given INDOT compensates land/building owners for having to take their land/remove structures, contributing to the relocation/restoration seems reasonable.
Westfield / INDOT destroying what’s left of the actual townsite to let drivers drive a little faster, and calling it “historic preservation”? I’ll pass.
Who would be inconvenienced if we just decided to destroy it and save a couple million dollars? I honestly haven’t heard anyone in Westfield (where I live) mention they care about that building being saved. It has history, but that building has zero uniqueness in design or architecture, so really not sure why we’re paying that type of money to save/move it.
This is a Civil War era building. It has a rich history in our little city. How many of these do we have in Westfield? While it does not have any distinctive architecture it does represent the culture of that era. Plain, simple, functional. There is a message for us in this building.
Nothing like holding onto some nostalgia to remind people of the good old days that are never quite as a good or “great” as they seem to imagine them being.
So it was the Old Corner Drug Store at one point. Are people 150-200 years from how going to maintain strip malls in the name of “historic preservation”? What would that message be?