Terra Cotta
The terra cotta detail on the former State Bank building on Virginia Avenue in Fletcher Place is glazed in a Wedgwood blue color, mimicking the fine pottery produced at England’s famous Josiah Wedgwood Company. The walls of this building are also clad in terra cotta tile. The building was constructed around 1928, just prior to the stock market crash that threw the nation into the Great Depression.
Terra cotta was used on several commercial buildings in Indianapolis in these years. The Union Station train shed is another example. The terra cotta on the Virginia Avenue bank building came from the American Terra Cotta Company, probably from its Indianapolis plant, formerly the Indianapolis Terra Cotta Company. [For more information on the Indianapolis Terra Cotta Company, see this H.I. contributor article from June 4, 2010].
