Preservation

The statues from the demolished Marion County Courthouse

It’s been gone since about 1963, but there used to be a grand Marion County Courthouse in Downtown Indianapolis. It was razed after the current City-County Building was built right behind it. This 1963 photo shows the courthouse, its cupola already removed, in front of the skyscraper that replaced it.

Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission photo

A group of eight statues used to stand high on the building, overlooking the city. They represented commerce, law, justice, agriculture, the north, the south, the east, and the west. Someone photographed six of them after they had been removed.

Courtesy The Indiana Album; source page here

Remarkably, several of them still exist. Two are at Holliday Park in Indianapolis, flanking The Ruins near the front center of the park. The first I’ve photographed over and over; it’s one of my favorite subjects. She lost her head somewhere along the way. She’s second from the left in the photo above.

Here’s the other one, which I seem to have only ever photographed in black and white. She’s the fifth statue from the left in the photo above.

I found two more at Crown Hill Cemetery, although I’ve heard there are three there. This one is third from the left in the photo above. You’ll find her near the bridge that carries 38th Street over a lane in the cemetery.

I found the fourth on the way up the hill to the James Whitcomb Riley gravesite. Riley is buried at the highest elevation in the city, and signs point the way. She’s the leftmost statue in the photo above.

If you’d like to know more about the Marion County Courthouse and the City-County Building, check out Ted Shideler’s fantastic articles about them on his Courthousery site here and here.

To get Down the Road in your inbox or reader six days a week, click here to subscribe!
To get my newsletter with previews of what I’m working on, click here to subscribe!

Show me some leg
Olympus OM-2n
50mm f/3.5 Zuiko Auto Macro
Ilford Delta 400
LegacyPro L110 B
2021

Before the Marion County Courthouse was torn down in downtown Indianapolis, statues of six Greek goddesses stood in that building’s tower. Someone decided the statues were worth saving. I know where three of them ended up: one in Crown Hill Cemetery and two in Holliday Park, flanking The Ruins. This is a detail of one of the statues at The Ruins.

This statue lost its head at some point; see the whole thing here.

If you’d like to get more of my photography in your inbox or reader, click here to subscribe.

Film Photography

single frame: Show me some leg

Detail of a statue of a Greek goddess that used to stand in the former Marion County Courthouse.

Contemplating boy
Yashica-12
Fujifilm Velvia (expired 8-2006)

Inside Crown Hill Cemetery, as you go up what turns out to be the highest hill in Indianapolis, you find the graves of some of our city’s most prominent and wealthy citizens. The markers can be elaborate, sometimes even gaudy.

This statue of a kneeling boy sits on a concrete bench marked “Home Sweet Home.” No name is given. It’s unusual for this part of the cemetery. I’ve always wondered this statue’s story.

If you’d like to get more of my photography in your inbox or reader, click here to subscribe.

Film Photography

single frame: Contemplating boy

Squinting statue
Yashica-12
Kodak T-Max 100
2019

Here’s another photo from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. I used to drive over here all the time when testing new-to-me old cameras. There’s all sorts of interesting scenes to photograph here, and it was five minutes from my old house. When I had some business not too far from here the other day I made sure to bring my Yashica-12 along, as I was finishing up a roll of T-Max 100 I’d spooled inside.

I have no idea who this statuesque fellow is, but I’ve always wondered what he’s squinting at.

I developed this at home in Rodinal, at 1+50 dilution. My bathroom was a perfect 68 degrees so I didn’t have to adjust developing time for temperature.

If you’d like to get more of my photography in your inbox or reader, click here to subscribe.

Film Photography

single frame: Squinting statue

Angel guiding the way
Yashica-12
Kodak T-Max 100
2019

As I’ve been learning how to develop black-and-white film at home, I’ve stuck to 120 film and have mostly used my Yashica-12 TLR. The more I use the 12, the more I enjoy it.

I took half an afternoon off because of personal business that found me on Indianapolis’s Far Northside. I brought the 12 along and stopped at a couple favorite places I don’t visit much since I moved to Zionsville. One of them is St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, which has lots of lovely scenes to photograph.

I love this little statue of the angel lighting the way and have photographed it several times. The TLR with its peer-down viewfinder easily let me get right down onto its level for a straight-on shot.

I processed this film at home in Rodinal. Everybody says Rodinal brings out the grain, but this looks plenty smooth to me.

If you’d like to get more of my photography in your inbox or reader, click here to subscribe.

Film Photography

single frame: Angel guiding the way

Film Photography

Industry, agriculture, literature, justice

The Birch Bayh Federal Building and Courthouse in Indianapolis, completed in 1905, features four allegorical statues by John Massey Rhind: Industry, Agriculture, Literature, and Justice.