INDIANAPOLIS — Historic preservation and hip 21st century culture merge on Indiana Landmarks’ Chatham Arch Neighborhood & Bottleworks District Tour on Oct. 5, showing off Indianapolis’s ability to not simply preserve architectural gems but to capitalize on their timeless appeal.
This two-hour walking tour will highlight the decades of preservation work that turned Chatham Arch into one of the city’s most popular neighborhoods, as well as the recent large-scale revitalization of the former Coca-Cola Bottling Plant.
Those who want a deeper look into the renovation of the Art Deco masterpiece can preface the tour with “Glazed Glory: New Life for the Bottleworks Tile,” a Sept. 23 talk by artist Barbara Zech, who will reveal the painstaking work that went into refreshing the landmark’s signature tile designs. Through color-matching, fabricating, and applying multiple layers of glazing, the process helped to bring new luster to tiles in the main building’s grand entry, lobby and lab, with pieces that include subtle motifs like bubbles and bottles.
Taking shape in the mid-nineteenth century as a community of modest cottages, grander homes, apartments, duplexes, churches and commercial buildings, Chatham Arch thrived for decades but fell from favor by the late 20th century, when it was threatened with annihilation. Attendees of the Oct. 5 tour will hear about the efforts that saved the neighborhood, and see inside two private residences, including an artfully enlarged 1860s house on St. Clair Street and a church on Park Avenue recently repurposed as condos.
The tour concludes with a look at one of the area’s most recent preservation triumphs: the Bottleworks District at the repurposed Art Deco-style Coca-Cola Bottling Plant. Tourgoers will see public spaces inside Bottleworks Hotel before wrapping up at The Garage Food Hall in the bottling plant’s former garages, the perfect place to grab a bite after the tour.
Tours last approximately 2 hours and run every 15 minutes starting at 4 p.m. with the final tour concluding at 8 p.m.
“Glazed Glory: A New Life for the Bottleworks Tile” talkl will be held Thursday, Sept. 23 at 6 p.m. at the Indiana Landmarks Center, 1201 Central Ave. and online. The cost is $7 per person (free for Indiana Landmarks members). Register at glazedglorytalk21.eventbrite.com, or by calling 317-639-4534
The Chatham Arch Neighborhood & Bottleworks District Tour will be held Tuesday, Oct. 5, with tours leaving every 15 minutes from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m. The tour lasts approximately two hours. Guided tours begin at the Plaza of the Indianapolis Firefighters Museum and Fallen Firefighters Memorial, 748 Massachusetts Ave. The cost is $20 for adults (ages 12 & up); $15 for members of Indiana Landmarks; $10 for children (ages 6-11). Register at ChathamArchBottleworksDistrictTour.eventbrite.com or by contacting Indiana Landmarks, 317-639-4534, reservations@indianalandmarks.org