Fenestration and Signage of the Coca Cola Bottling Company, Indianapolis, Indiana

A Garage within the Coca Cola Bottling Company at Indianapolis, Indiana

Fenestration of the Coca Cola Bottling Company, Indianapolis, IndianaEntrance to the Indianapolis S.C.I.P.S. G-2 Area Vehicle Body Repairs of Public Schools, the former Coca Cola Bottling Company, Indianapolis, Indiana

Roadway and Interior Complex View of Coca Cola Bottling Company, Indianapolis, Indiana. Note the Copper Canopies.

858-868 Massachusetts Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana

Within the National Register of Historic Places-Listed Massachusetts Avenue Historic District of Indianapolis, Indiana–one of the great state capitols in America, the “Bus Barn” of the Indianapolis Public Schools is housed in this architectural wonder. The rather well kept resource is a great and unassuming surviver of reuse. And while online opinion seems not to enjoy its current function, the building is more historically a bus barn than a bottling works.

Designed for commercial and/or industrial purposes, the building once housed the Coca Cola Bottling Company–a component of Coca Cola that was widespread in numerous cities throughout the country. Rubush and Hunter designed the art deco style complex for Coca Cola in 1931. Borrowing from Louis Sullivan’s earlier works, the buildings feature facades of white, glazed terra cotta with various architectural features including chevrons, sunbursts, the elaborate spandrels, and the decorative pilasters, as well as copper details including the loading dock canopies. The building is a survivor through reuse–as it was procured by the public school system for use as the bus barn in 1961. We think this a marvelous reuse–although always enjoy private businesses in marvelous buildings–a rare quality of today’s world. However, what’s even rarer is a bus barn with a gleaming terra cotta facade.

This article is dedicated to the wonderful Transportation Director of the Tomball Independent School District–Beverly Beisert–her only folly and need for improvement being the procurement of such a marvelous facility!

Entrance to the Indianapolis S.C.I.P.S. G-2 Area Vehicle Body Repairs of Public Schools, the former Coca Cola Bottling Company, Indianapolis, Indiana

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