A Circle Landmark: The Test-Lacy Building on Monument Circle
- Ed Fujawa
- 11 hours ago
- 7 min read
Downtown Indianapolis is replete with parking garages. Everywhere you look, there is a parking garage, or parking deck, sitting adjacent to office buildings and apartments. However, there is one place in the Mile Square where there are no parking garages: Monument Circle. However, this is not exactly true. There are no parking garages facing the Circle; but there is a garage, camouflaged as an office building, with the requisite limestone that is so common on the Circle, as well as various architectural details and features. This building is the Test Building, or as it is sometimes known today, the Test-Lacy Building, located in the southwest quadrant of the Circle, at the corner with Market Street.
The building was the brainchild of the Test family, namely brothers Skiles and Donald, as a way to honor their father, Charles Test, who died in 1910, and had been president of the National Motor Vehicle Company in Indianapolis. The Test name is today most well known for Skiles Test Park on the northwest side of Indianapolis, and the school of the same name. The park was the estate of Skiles, who developed a reputation for eccentricity with his home, large collection of animals, and the "House of Blue Lights" legend.
The building being planned by the Test family was to be located on the site of the Bates Hotel, not to be confused with the nearby Bates House, and was to have six floors. The exterior was to be Bedford limestone, with various carved details, to enable the building to blend into already existing architecture on the Circle, especially the recently completed Guaranty Building, located a short distance away, and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument itself.
The most unique feature of the building was its intended use: as a “auto parking hotel.” This use also required that specialized construction techniques would be needed to contain the auto hotel, or parking garage, within the facade of a modern looking office building, which itself was constructed on a curving lot thanks to its location on the Circle. Auto parking was to be available in the building’s basement levels, a portion of the main floor, and then the five floors above that.
Local architecture firm Bass, Knowlton, & Company was selected to design the building. It was also planned to design the building in a way which would facilitate the conversion of the building to office space should the “auto parking hotel” prove unsuccessful.
Plans for the building were being finalized in early November of 1923, and the Indianapolis News confidently noted on Friday, November 9 that “[a] building permit for the structure is to be issued from the city building commissioner’s office Saturday.” The permit was issued, but a few days later the Board of Public Works stepped in and announced that they would not permit an entrance to the proposed garage where it would cross a sidewalk. The building permit was also revoked. At the same times, it was revealed that other property owners in the area had been circulating a petition in opposition to the auto parking hotel, on the grounds that the garage would be “detrimental to the general welfare of the vicinity because of the probable congestion of traffic...”. Safety of pedestrians crossing the driveways was also cited, as was the need to “preserve the dignity of the surroundings of the memorial to our solider and sailor dead...”.
Litigation ensued, although ultimately the matter was resolved when the design of the building was modified to have the garage entrances located off the Circle on Market Street, with the section fronting the Circle being street level business space. Additionally, three floors were added to the building to accommodate more office space.
Construction began in 1924, and the building was formally opened in February of 1925 at a cost of $200,000. The cornerstone of the building is shown below.
The images below, from the Indiana Historical Society show the basement portion of the garage during construction, and the main level of the garage upon completion.
The building featured a series of limestone carvings around the third floor which depicted various local landmarks, as well as modes of transport. The sculpting was done by Alexander Sangerneb, an Estonian artist who was responsible for interior and exterior ornamentation on many Indianapolis buildings during this time. The carvings are pictured below (use the slider arrows) and depict the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, the statehouse, an automobile (there are two versions of this), an airplane (two versions of this), the old Marion County courthouse, an airship (two versions of this), and finally, a speedboat. Note the prominence of the sun in several of these panels.
The main tenant for the Test Building upon its completion included the Circle Motor Inn, which would operate the parking garage portion of the building. In addition to the garage, the Inn would also offer car wash and mechanic services, and long-term parking, or short-term arrangements for those downtown for shopping or theater events. Finally, fuel was also available at the garage.
Upon opening, the third, fourth, and fifth floors and the back part of the first and second floors, in addition to the basement levels, would be dedicated to parking. The garage’s capacity was nearly 200 cars, along with 20,000 square feet of office space for other businesses. The entry way for the garage was located on Market Street and is still used today, as shown below.
The arched main pedestrian entrance off of the Circle reportedly had a name tablet at its top which read “Test,” as shown below on the left, shortly after the building was completed. However, in 1996 the building was purchased by Lacy Diversified Industries. Unfortunately, instead of incorporating the Lacy name with the “Test” nameplate, it appears a new plate was simply installed over the historic Test name.
Aside from its unique interior design, the building also had a two story tall penthouse on its roof. Also, a miniature golf course was constructed on the roof of the Test Building in 1930. Taking inspiration from a similar course on top of the Hilton Hotel in Chicago, the course was referred to as a “Tom Thumb” course, a chain of franchised miniature golf courses which originated at Lookout Mountain, Tennessee.
The image below is an excerpt of a larger photo taken from the observation deck on the top of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument and shows the golf course on the Test Building. The photo is dated 1927, although considering the course did not open until 1930, the date on the image is likely incorrect
Not long after opening, the golf course was the subject of a unique crime. On September 3, 1930, a man rode the elevator to the roof, and after he “loafed” around the course for a few minutes, proceeded to pull a pistol and rob the employee manning the course, as well as several patrons. The “sky robber,” as he was dubbed by the Indianapolis Star, then calmly rode the elevator down to the ground level and walked south towards Maryland Street to make his getaway.
The robber apparently did not try to hide his identity, because a few weeks later, a victim of the robber from another incident, separate from the Test Building robbery, spotted the suspect at a downtown theater. The person informed a police officer who arrested Jesse Fink, 18 years old, of 1835 North Harding. Fink also admitted to the golf course robbery, among a few others.
The golf course on the roof of the Test Building did not last long. Baxter Rogers, a vice president with the Test Realty Company, which was based in the building, recollected in 1958, that the golf course “went good” for a few years, but then faded to nothing, due to economic hardships during the Great Depression.
The Test Building continued to host its signature parking garage, as well as office space. In 1968, another flare up in the campaign to construct a parking garage on Monument Circle arose, when a proposal was made for a garage to stretch along most of the southwest quadrant of the Circle, including the Test Building, with the entrance to the garage to be on Market Street. Like with the Test Building, concerns were raised about having a garage on the Circle. There had also been discussion about turning the Circle into a pedestrian mall, which raised questions why parking would be needed. “If a mall is proposed for Market Street and the Circe, there is no need for a garage there,” said Harry Berke, who represented a group advocating for the 800 car garage. Burke also noted that if it was constructed, the garage “would have a proper facade in keeping with the atmosphere of the area.”
Thankfully, the strange desire to construct a parking garage on the Circle was resisted, and the idea did not advance, but the Test Building continued to operate its garage, although the Circle Motor Inn would later change hands and operate as a traditional garage. In 1983 the Test Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. As noted above, in 1996, the building was sold and the name changed to the Lacy Building, although many sources still use the “Test” name, or refer to the building as the “Test-Lacy Building.” Today, a variety of businesses are housed in the building. The office space on the ground floor house an Ossip Optometry office, while the garage is still in use.
Sources
Indianapolis Construction Recorder, 1923, https://archive.org/details/isl-ind-const-rec-1923/page/n903/mode/2up?q=Test
Indianapolis Star: November 14, 1923, February 8, 1925, September 3, 1930, September 4, 1930, September 13, 1930, July 15, 1958, March 20, 1964, February 19, 1991, December 19, 1997,
Indianapolis News: November 9, 1923, November 10, 1923, February 5, 1925, June 28, 1930, December 19, 1968, November 17, 1981,
National Register of Historic Places Application, https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/5c725273-9126-424c-9fad-0cd7f2450220
Golf Course on Top of the Test Building, Indiana Historical Society, https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/V0002/id/335/rec/5
Test Building Construction Underway in 1924, Indiana Historical Society, https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/dc012/id/14265/rec/2
Circle Motor Inn office, parking level, Test Building, 1927 Test Building, 1927 (Bass #201015-F), Indiana Historical Society, https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/dc012/id/14285/rec/7