Occidental Building (Commercial Building), 41-47 West Washington Street, Indianapolis, Marion County, IN

Significance: The Occidental Building is the work of one of Indianapolis' most famous and prolific architectural firms, Rubush & Hunter. Founded in 1905, the firm mastered the office and commercial building form until the firm's dissolution in 1938. The Occidental was designed in 1913 and constructed the following year. It was one of a series of skyscrapers constructed in post-Victorian downtown Indianapolis in an era of unbridled growth and construction terminated by the Great Depression. The Occidental Building is typical of the period with its Renaissance Revival detailing and terra cotta cladding. It contributed to the commercial streetscape of West Washington Street with its many commercial tenants from 1914 to 1945 and as the home of L. Strauss & Company, the city's oldest retail clothier, from 1945 until 1985.
Survey number: HABS IN-211
Building/structure dates: 1914 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1945 Subsequent Work