Journal Building, 46-48 Monument Circle, Indianapolis, Marion County, IN

Significance: The Journal Building was built in 1897 and is the second oldest building on Monument Circle, the focal point of the city plan created in 1821. It is the only surviving nineteenth-century commercial building on the Circle, representing the transition of the Circle from a residential and church area into a commercial district. The Journal Building was built as the home of the "Indianapolis Journal" and as the offices of the Indianapolis Light and Power Company. It was originally built in two sections: mechanical (rear) and office (front). Only the exterior walls of the office section remain intact, albeit with alterations, as the interior has been rebuilt and remodeled a number of times. The mechanical section in the rear of the building, facing the north-south alley, Bird Street, was enlarged in 1923 with the addition of three stories. Much of the mechanical section's historic fabric dates from that time.
Survey number: HABS IN-213
Building/structure dates: 1897 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: ca. 1913 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1923 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1954 Subsequent Work