Monuments, museums, and skyscrapers: The building and decorative stones of downtown Indianapolis

Abstract

This walking trip examines local and imported stones used for a wide variety of monuments, museums, skyscrapers, and other structures in downtown Indianapolis. These include Christ Church Cathedral, the Indiana War Memorial, the Indiana Statehouse, the Indiana State Museum, the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indian Art, and an assortment of skyscrapers and other buildings of interest because of the local and imported stones used in their construction. Special attention is given to the spectacular use of stone for the Indiana War Memorial, which is patterned after the tomb of Mausoleus. The origin, composition, weathering, and in some cases replacement of stone used for these varied structures built over a span of a century-and-a-half is discussed. Attention is also given to the use of faux stone, use of stone versus glass, weathering and cleaning of stone, bowing of marble, and biocolonization of building stone.