Bohlen, Meyer, Gibson and Associates (BMG) | |
---|---|
Practice information | |
Founded | 1853 (as D. A. Bohlen, Architect) |
Location | Indianapolis, Indiana |
Bohlen, Meyer, Gibson and Associates, or BMG, is an architectural firm based in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was founded in Indianapolis on April 10, 1853, as D. A. Bohlen, Architect by Diedrich A. Bohlen, German immigrant. In 1884, after Diedrich's son, Oscar D. Bohlen, joined the firm it was renamed D. A. Bohlen and Son. Four successive generations of Bohlen architects have worked at the firm: Diedrich A. Bohlen (its founder), Oscar D. Bohlen (Diedrich's son), August C. Bohlen (Diedrich's grandson), and Robert L. Bohlen (Diedrich's great-grandson). The firm specialized in institutional projects, especially civic, religious, and educational buildings. In 1971 Melvin B. G. Meyer acquired majority interest in the firm, which adopted its name in reference to its founder and its two principal architects, Meyer and John M. Gibson. The architectural firm is among the oldest still operating in the United States. More than twenty of its projects are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Diedrich A. Bohlen, a native of Cadenberge, Kingdom of Hanover, immigrated to the United States around 1851, and founded D. A. Bohlen, Architect, on April 10, 1853, at Indianapolis, Indiana. [1] Bohlen is credited for introducing the German Neo-Gothic style to Indiana. [2] The designs for several of his buildings, including the Indianapolis City Market façade (1886), exhibit the Romanesque Revival architecture style called Rundbogenstil. [3]
More than twenty of the Bohlen firm's projects are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including Morris-Butler House (1864), Indianapolis; [4] Foley Hall (1860, 1897), Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College; [5] Saint John the Evangelist Catholic Church (1871), rectory (1863) and bishop's residence (1878), Indianapolis; [6] Roberts Park Methodist Church (1876), Indianapolis; [7] Crown Hill Cemetery's Gothic Chapel (1877); [8] Indianapolis City Market (1886); [9] Indianapolis's Majestic Building (1896); [10] and the Indianapolis Fire Department headquarters (1913) and municipal garage (1913), [11] among others. [2]
Bohlen's firm is among the oldest architectural firms still operating in the United States. Four successive generation of Bohlen architects have worked at the Indianapolis firm. Diedrich Augustus Bohlen founded the firm in 1853. Oscar Diedrich Bohlen, D. A.'s son, joined the firm around 1882, and became a partner in 1884. August Carl Bohlen, Oscar's son, joined the firm in 1910, and later co-authored Indiana's original building codes. Robert Lesh Bohlen, August's son, joined the firm in 1946. [12] [13]
D. A. Bohlen, Architect, went through several name and ownership changes after Bohlen's descendants, new partners, and associates joined the firm. In 1876 Matthew Roth became D. A. Bohlen's business partner, and for a few years the firm was named Bohlen and Roth. In 1884, after Bohlen's son, Oscar, joined the firm, its name was changed to D. A. Bohlen and Son, Architects. Following D. A. Bohlen's death on June 1, 1890, Oscar continued the family firm on his own until 1910, except for the period between 1897 and 1899, when Hugo Zigrosser was his partner. [1] [14] After Oscar's death in 1936, his son, August, who joined the firm in 1910, and August's son, Robert, continued the family's presence at the architectural firm until the mid-twentieth century. Following Robert's death in 1960, August Bohlen entered into a partnership with David V. Burns. [1] [15]
The firm was renamed Bohlen and Burns Architects in 1961, and incorporated as Bohlen, Burns and Associates in 1967. With August's retirement in 1970, ownership passed from the Bohlen family to Melvin B.G. Meyer and John M. Gibson, the firm's main architects, and Noel Cord, the firm's accountant. Meyer, who joined firm in 1946 as a draftsman, served as its main designer from 1948 to 1990. In 1971 Meyer acquired majority interest in the firm, which adopted the name, Bohlen, Meyer, Gibson and Associates, Inc. in reference to its founder, D. A. Bohlen, and its two principal architects, Meyer and Gibson. Mike Rogers and Hans Megerling, also architects in the firm, replaced Cord as investors in the firm in 1980. Following Meyer's retirement from the firm in 1990, Mr. and Mrs. John V. Schneider of the Schneider Corporation purchased the architectural firm. Although the firm's original location in Indianapolis is not known, its offices were housed in several downtown locations, before moving to more suburban locations, including the Meadows Office Complex (1970–78), Castleton, (1978–91), and North Post Road, (1991– ). [1] [16]
The firm specialized in institutional structures for religious, educational, and civic institutions, although it did design some private residences for well-do-to families, such as the French mansard-style Morris-Butler House (1864) in Indianapolis and the Neo-Jacobean-style Churchman House (1871) on a farm that later became part of Beech Grove, Indiana. [4] [17] [18] The firm did not enter the multi-family housing market until 1993. [1]
Most of the Bohlen firm's early projects were in the Indianapolis area. Notable exceptions include the French Lick Springs Hotel (1898), designed by Oscar Bohlen, in French Lick, Indiana, and numerous buildings for the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana. [19] The firm's architects also designed Oldenburg Convent (1899), Oldenburg Academy (1898), and other buildings for the Sisters of Saint Francis at Oldenburg, Indiana, as well as buildings at The Carmel of Saint Joseph, a Carmelite monastery in Allendale, Indiana. [16] [20]
In 1891 Bohlen's firm submitted a design for a proposed Indiana building to be erected at the World's Columbian Exposition (1893) at Chicago. The selection committee narrowed its choice to two plans, one from the Bohlen firm and the other from Wing and Mahurin of Fort Wayne, Indiana. In a controversial move from the committee's leadership, a design proposed by Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb was recommended to the Indiana Board of World's Fair Managers and built for the exposition, despite protests from the Indiana architects who argued that Cobb's plan arrived after the contest deadline. [21] Although the Bohlen firm did not receive this prestigious commission, it designed other projects built outside of Indiana at Cleveland, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Saint Louis, Missouri. [1]
One of the firm's earliest and long-standing clients was the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. D. A. Bohlen established a relationship with the Sisters of Providence in the 1850s that continued over several decades. Boheln's firm completed "more than sixty projects" for the Sisters. [1]
Providence motherhouse and chapel (1853–4, 1863), Foley Hall (1860), and the Church of the Immaculate Conception (1892) are among Diedrich Bohlen's early renovations and designs for the Sisters of Providence on the grounds of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, a Roman Catholic liberal arts college near Terre Haute, Indiana. [5] [22] [23] A fire destroyed the motherhouse in 1889, and Foley Hall has been demolished, but the Church of the Immaculate Conception is still in use. [24] Construction on the Church of the Immaculate Conception began in 1886. After D. A. Bohlen's death in 1890, Oscar continued his father's legacy as community architect at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. The church's interior decoration was completed in 1907, and it underwent a major renovation in 1987, with Melvin Meyer as the project architect. [25]
The Bohlen firm designed several additional buildings for Sisters of Providence, including an addition to Foley Hall (1897), a new novitiate (1904), Guerin Hall (1913), Saint Cecilia Conservatory of Music (1913), Le Fer Hall (1924), and Blessed Sacrament Chapel (1924). [5] [26] Robert Bohlen, the last of D. A. Bohlen's descendants to design a building for the Sisters of Providence, designed Owens Hall (1960). [27] The firm's president, Melvin B. G. Meyer, designed a new library and chapel in the Providence motherhouse and Providence Center. [16]
Many of the firm's most notable religious, civic, commercial, and residential buildings were erected in Indianapolis. These include buildings designed by the firm's founder, D. A. Bohlen, his descendants, and Melvin B. G. Meyer.
Bohlen's early commissions in the city included the Charles Mayer store façade (1853), the dome for Odd Fellows Grand Lodge (1854), and the Metropolitan (1858), the city's first theater. [2] [28] Indianapolis's German community was another source of early commissions for the firm. D. A. Bohlen was the architect for the city's German-English Independent School (1860) on Maryland Street and the General German Protestant Orphans' Home (1872), later known as Pleasant Run Children's Home, on South State Avenue. [29] [30]
The firm designed several of Indianapolis's notable churches and cemetery structures. D. A. Bohlen designed the United Evangelical Zion Church (1866) on West Ohio Street; his firm also designed its replacement, Zion United Church of Christ (1913), at North and New Jersey Streets. [31] D. A. Bohlen designed Crown Hill Cemetery's Gothic Chapel (1875), and his firm designed an addition to the structure in 1917. [8] Crown Hill's Community Mausoleum, designed by the Bohlen firm, was completed in the early 1950s. In 1960 the firm drew up plans for the cemetery's first garden crypts. [32] [33] [34]
D. A. Bohlen also designed Saint John the Evangelist Catholic Church (1871), the main structure in a cluster of parish buildings on the southwest corner of Georgia Street and Capitol Avenue in Indianapolis that includes a D. A. Bohlen-designed rectory (1863) and bishop's residence (1878). D. A. Bohlen's son, Oscar, designed the twin spires on the two towers that flank the church's main façade and supervised their construction in 1893. [6] [35] [36] Other D. A. Bohlen-designed buildings for the parish include Saint Johns School for Boys (1867), across the alley from the rectory, and the Saint Johns Academy for Girls (1874), on nearby Maryland Street. Both of these buildings were later demolished. [35]
Other notable churches designed by D. A. Bohlen include the Romanesque Revival-style Roberts Park Methodist Church (1876) at Delaware and Vermont Streets; Emmanuel Church (1883), later renamed Lockerbie Square United Methodist Church, at East and New York Streets; and Saint Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church (1883) at McCarty and New Jersey Streets. [7] [36] [37] Oscar Bohlen designed Assumption Catholic Church (1894). Built in West Indianapolis, a city suburb at that time, it is the oldest frame Catholic church in the city in continuous use. Also known as Saint Mary of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church, it was later named Saint Athanasius the Great Byzantine-Ruthenian Catholic Church. [38] Oscar also designed the parish's original school building (1895). [39]
Numerous commercial and several notable civic structures were designed in Indianapolis during Oscar Bohlen's tenure at the firm. D. A. and Oscar Bohlen collaborated on the Indianapolis City Market (1886), [3] still in operation, and Tomlinson Hall (1886), adjacent to the City Market at the corner of Delaware and Market Streets. Tomlinson Hall was destroyed by fire in 1958. Oscar Bohlen's most notable commercial structure was the Majestic Building (1896), a commission from the Indiana Gas Company, at 47 South Pennsylvania Street. The ten-story, steel-skeleton building became the city's first skyscraper. [40] Oscar also designed the Indiana National Bank building (1897), a Neoclassical structure at Three Virginia Avenue. Demolished in 1971, it was among the first fireproof building in Indiana. Oscar's son, August, designed a six-floor addition to the bank's adjacent building. [30] [41]
August Bohlen designed the Stokely Brothers office building (1912) and the Indianapolis Star-News building (1924); however, August and Robert Bohlen's most notable design was the Art Deco-style Empire Life and Accident Insurance Company building (1950). It later became known as the Lilly Endowment building. The firm's other major projects in Indianapolis during the early twentieth century included the Oscar Bohlen-designed Murat Temple (1910) at Massachusetts Avenue and New Jersey and Michigan Streets. He also designed an addition to Indianapolis Union Station (1903) and the Pennway (1909) and Big Four (1929) buildings. [1]
The Bohlen firm designed several buildings for Indianapolis's Saint Vincent Hospital, Methodist Hospital, and Saint Francis Hospital, among others. In 1882 D. A. Bohlen remodeled a vacant seminary building on East Vermont Street for the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul to house Saint Vincent's Infirmary, predecessor to Indianapolis's Saint Vincent Hospital. Oscar Bohlen designed the hospital's second building (1889) on South and Delaware Streets, and after it was destroyed by fire in 1904, the Bohlen firm designed the third Saint Vincent Hospital (1913) building facing Fall Creek Parkway, between Capitol and Illinois Streets. [42] [43] Oscar also designed Methodist Hospital (1901) and Saint Francis Hospital (1903). [2] [44]
During the 1970s and 1980s the firm's Indianapolis clients included Indianapolis Newspapers, Inc.; Saint Vincent Hospital; Methodist Hospital; and the Indiana National Bank, in addition to the Indianapolis Fire Department, the Beveridge Paper Company, the University of Indianapolis (formerly Indiana Central University), and the Diamond Chain Company, among others. [1] Melvin Meyer designed the executive offices for Indianapolis Newspapers, Inc.; the Krannert Pavilion and the Children's Pavilion at Methodist Hospital; the Krannert Library at the University of Indianapolis; and the Kiwanis International headquarters at Indianapolis. [16]
Crown Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located at 700 West 38th Street in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana. The privately owned cemetery was established in 1863 at Strawberry Hill, whose summit was renamed "The Crown", a high point overlooking Indianapolis. It is approximately 2.8 miles (4.5 km) northwest of the city's center. Crown Hill was dedicated on June 1, 1864, and encompasses 555 acres (225 ha), making it the third largest non-governmental cemetery in the United States. Its grounds are based on the landscape designs of Pittsburgh landscape architect and cemetery superintendent John Chislett Sr and Prussian horticulturalist Adolph Strauch. In 1866, the U.S. government authorized a U.S. National Cemetery for Indianapolis. The 1.4-acre (0.57 ha) Crown Hill National Cemetery is located in Sections 9 and 10.
The Archdiocese of Indianapolis is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Indiana in the United States.
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC) is a private Roman Catholic liberal arts college in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, US. Originally a college exclusively for women, it is now coeducational. It is the oldest Catholic college in Indiana and is known for the Mari Hulman George School of Equine Studies.
The Morris–Butler House is a Second Empire-style house built about 1864 in the Old Northside Historic District of Indianapolis, Indiana. Restored as a museum home by Indiana Landmarks between 1964 and 1969, the American Civil War-era residence was the non-profit organization's first preservation project. Restoration work retained some of its original architectural features, and the home was furnished in Victorian and Post-Victorian styles. Its use was changed to a venue for Indiana Landmarks programs, special events, and private rentals following a refurbishment in 2013. Regular daily tours of the property have been discontinued.
Golden Hill is an affluent and historic neighborhood overlooking the White River on the west side of Indianapolis's Center Township, in Marion County, Indiana. The district is bounded on the east by Clifton Street, which is west of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard ; on the west by the White River and the Central Canal; on the south by Thirty-sixth Street; and on the north by Woodstock Country Club, immediately south of Thirty-eighth Street. Golden Hill is noted for its collection of homes designed by several of the city's prominent architects. The estate homes reflect several styles of period revival architecture. The district is known as for its community planning and remains an exclusive enclave for the city's prominent families. Golden Hill was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
Christ Church Cathedral is the cathedral for the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis. Christ Church parish was formally organized in 1837. The present-day church building was erected in 1857 on Monument Circle at the center of downtown Indianapolis to replace the parish's first church built on the same site. Designed by architect William Tinsley, the English Gothic Revival-style structure is the oldest church building in Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, that has remained in continuous use. It is also the oldest building on Monument Circle. Christ Church is known for its music, especially its pipe organs, one of which was donated by Ruth Lilly, and its professional Choir of Men and Boys and Girls' Choir. The parish is also known for its community service, including an annual strawberry festival fundraiser and other charitable work. Christ Church Cathedral was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 10, 1973. It is located in the Washington Street-Monument Circle Historic District.
St. Mary Catholic Church is a parish of the Roman Catholic Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.
The Barnes and Thornburg Building is a high rise in Indianapolis, Indiana originally known as the Merchants National Bank Building. In 1905, the Merchants National Bank and Trust Company engaged the architectural firm of D. H. Burnham & Company of Chicago to design a new bank headquarters on the southeastern corner of the Washington and Meridian streets, the most important intersection in Indianapolis. Initial occupancy of the lower floors took place in 1908, while the upper floors were not completed until 1912.
The Church of the Immaculate Conception on the motherhouse grounds of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods is a large Italian Renaissance Revival-style church constructed of Indiana limestone at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana. The cathedral-like structure, which is the fourth church/chapel of the Sisters of Providence since their arrival at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in 1840. Construction for the church began in 1886; its exterior was completed in 1891 and the interior was completed in 1907. The church was consecrated on October 23, 1907, and continues to serve as a place of daily worship services that are open to the public. The church also houses the shrine and tomb of Saint Mother Théodore Guérin, foundress of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel (1905) was erected in the crypt beneath the church.
The Blessed Sacrament Chapel at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana is on the motherhouse grounds of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. Its primary function is as a location for Eucharistic adoration by the Sisters of Providence and members of the public.
Mother Mary Cecilia Bailly, S.P., was the Superior General of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana from 1856 to 1868, directly succeeding the congregation's foundress Saint Mother Theodore Guerin. During her time in office, she began rebuilding the Academy and sent Sisters of Providence to staff military hospitals in Indianapolis and Vincennes, Indiana during the American Civil War.
Mother Euphrasie Hinkle, S.P. was the Superior General of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, from 1883 to 1889. She was a convert from Methodism. During her term, she established missions of the Sisters of Providence in Chicago, Illinois and Chelsea, Massachusetts. She began building the Church of the Immaculate Conception on the motherhouse grounds in 1886. She died in office August 27, 1889.
Woollen, Molzan and Partners (WMP) is a U.S.-based second-generation architecture, interior design, and planning firm that Evans Woollen III founded in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1955. The firm was previously known as Evans Woollen and Associates and Woollen Associates. It remained in business for more than fifty-five years before closing its doors in 2011. Woollen began by designing mid-century modern residences, but the firm's design projects expanded to include a diverse portfolio of designs for libraries, worship facilities, museums, performing arts centers, private residences, public housing, and correctional facilities, among other projects.
Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral located at Fourteenth and Meridian Streets in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It is the seat of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, and of the Archbishop of Indianapolis, most recently Archbishop Charles C. Thompson. Silas Chatard, the first Bishop of Indianapolis, established the cathedral parish in 1892, and named it after Saint Peter and Saint Paul, two apostles of Christ. The cathedral parish became known for its liturgical celebrations and sacred music performances.
Saint John the Evangelist Catholic Church is a Catholic parish of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The parish's origins date to 1837, when it was first named Holy Cross parish. In 1850 it was renamed Saint John the Evangelist parish, and is the oldest Catholic parish in the city and in Marion County, Indiana. Considered the mother of the Catholic parishes in Indianapolis, it played an important role in development of the Catholic Church in the city. Saint John's Church served as the pro-cathedral of the diocese from 1878 until 1906; its rectory served as the bishop's residence and chancery from 1878 until 1892. In 1900 the church served as the site of first episcopal consecration held in Indianapolis.
The Monastery Immaculate Conception is a monastery in Ferdinand, Indiana. It is home to one of the largest communities of Benedictine women in the United States. It is located approximately fifteen minutes from St. Meinrad Archabbey.
Diedrich Augustus Bohlen a native of Cadenberge, Kingdom of Hanover, immigrated to the United States around 1851 and founded D. A. Bohlen, Architect, in 1853 at Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1971 it became Bohlen, Meyer, Gibson and Associates, and is among the oldest architectural firms in the United States still in operation. Bohlen is best known for introducing the German Neo-Gothic architecture style to Indiana. Bohlen and his firm specialized in institutional projects, especially civic, religious, and educational buildings. More than forty of the firm's projects are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including several of D. A. Bohlen's designs: Morris-Butler House (1864); Saint John the Evangelist Catholic Church (1871), its rectory (1863), and bishop's residence (1878); Indianapolis's Roberts Park Methodist Church (1876) and Crown Hill Cemetery's Gothic Chapel (1877); and in collaboration with his son, Oscar D. Bohlen, the Indianapolis City Market (1886). The combined campus of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College and the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods make up the Saint Mary-of-the-Woods Historic District, the largest cohesive collection of Bohlen buildings. The District is of statewide significance on the National Register of Historic Places, for its contribution to architectural, educational and religious history.
Roberts Park Methodist Episcopal Church, whose present-day name is Roberts Park United Methodist Church, was dedicated on August 27, 1876, making it one of the oldest church remaining in downtown Indianapolis. Diedrich A. Bohlen, a German-born architect who immigrated to Indianapolis in the 1850s, designed this early example of Romanesque Revival architecture. The church is considered one of Bohlen's major works. Constructed of Indiana limestone at Delaware and Vermont Streets, it has a rectangular plan and includes a bell tower on the southwest corner. The church is known for its interior woodwork, especially a pair of black-walnut staircases leading to galleries (balconies) surrounding the interior of three sides of its large sanctuary. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 19, 1982. It is home to one of several Homeless Jesus statues around the world, this one located behind the church on Alabama Street.
General German Protestant Orphans Home, also known as the Pleasant Run Children's Home , is a historic orphanage located in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was designed by architect Diedrich A. Bohlen (1827–1890) and built in 1871–1872. It is a 2+1⁄2-story brick institutional building on a limestone block foundation. It has eclectic German vernacular detailing and varying roof forms.
Meridian Street United Methodist Church, known in its early years as Wesley Chapel, the Meridian Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Meridian Street Methodist Church, is a Methodist church located at 5500 North Meridian Street in Indianapolis, Indiana. The church originated from the first Methodist congregation in Indianapolis that began in a log cabin in 1821–22 with fifty members. The congregation worshipped at several locations and erected four earlier churches on Monument Circle and along Meridian Street in downtown Indianapolis before it merged with the Fifty-first Street Methodists in 1945. The first service at its North Meridian Street location was held on June 29, 1952. Designed by the architectural firm of Russ and Harrison, the Georgian-Colonial-style, red-brick church is noted for its architecture, pipe organ, and formal parlor. The Aldersgate addition on the west side (rear) of the church was consecrated on October 4, 1989.