Spink Apartment Buildings in Indianapolis

I’m living temporarily at the Renaissance Tower in Indianapolis’ St. Joseph Neighborhood Historic District. At first I was simply interested in finding out when the building was built (1922), but that led to learning much more about the apartments of E.G. Spink Company.

I had a bit of trouble finding historic documents about Renaissance Tower (according to the article it was originally called the Jefferson Apartment Hotel Building) until I found that what is now 9^th Street was then called Pratt Street (changed to 9^thSt in 1975). Once I knew the apartment, when built, was at 230 E. Pratt St., research material was easier to find.

I found that Edgar George Spink built dozens of apartment buildings in Indianapolis, many of them featuring remarkably similar architectural design. Spink was credited for introducing to Indianapolis the idea of the small apartment, essentially a studio apartment with private bathroom and kitchenette. He is credited with the construction of more than sixty apartment buildings in Indianapolis during the 1910s and ‘20s.

I dug a little deeper and found a December, 1923 article in the Indianapolis Star featuring Spink’s company with photos of several of the properties his company built. The article said that by 1923 Spink supplied over one percent of the Indianapolis population with modern living quarters at reasonable prices.

The building where I live had apartments, in 1923, that rented from $45 to $60 per month (they range from $1200-1500 in 2017).

I took an afternoon and went to photograph all of the apartments I could find that were featured in the 1923 newspaper article. Surprisingly nearly all of them survived nearly 100 years later.

Here are photos of a few of Spink-built apartments featured in the 1923 Indianapolis Star article and still in use today.

Dec. 1923 Indianapolis Star feature on Edgar G. Spink

The Spink-Jefferson (now called Renaissance Tower) built in 1922.

The Spink Arms (now The Continental) built in 1922.

Penn Arts Building built in 1924.

Spink Apartments built in 1923.

3707 N Meridian St built in 1919

3525 N. Pennsylvania St. built in 1920.

The Marott built in 1926. E.G Spink partnered with George Marott to build a hotel of luxury and elegance. This was Indianapolis’ leading luxury hotel from the 1920 through the 1950s. Many celebrities and dignitaries stayed at the Marott over the years.