- City:
- Indianapolis, IN
- Site Type:
- Schools, Education and Health
- New Deal Agencies:
- Public Works Administration (PWA), Public Works Funding
- Started:
- 1939
- Completed:
- 1940
- Designer:
- Pierre & Wright
- Quality of Information:
- Very Good
- Marked:
- Unknown
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
Stuart Hall was constructed in 1939-40 with New Deal funding, presumably from the Public Works Administration (PWA) (then under the Federal Works Administration). The building, which is named after Arsenal Tech’s first principal, stands in the center of the 75-acre Arsenal Technical High School campus.
Stuart Hall is a long, four-story brick building with a central bell tower that holds a carillon. It is meant to echo the look of the original Civil War arsenal building on campus, but in the Moderne (Deco) style popular in the 1930s, done by Pierre & Wright architects. The bell tower has three narrow windows separated by thin white columns running from the entry archway up to the cornice of the tower.
Apparently there are artworks in the tower which may be of New Deal origin.
Ms. Betty Bailey (née Hardesty) who attended the school and graduated in 1962 tells us that, “ I felt special attending classes in such a regal structure.” Her 18-year-old father graduated from the school in 1933 and was saved by the CCC. “But for the CCC, I would not be here,” says Ms. Bailey.
Source notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenal_Technical_High_School
National Register of Historic Places nomination form, 1976 https://secure.in.gov/apps/dnr/shaard/r/16113/N/Arsenal_Tech_HS_Marion_Co_Nom.pdf
Site originally submitted by Betty D. Bailey on April 17, 2023.
Additional contributions by Richard Walker.
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