A 113-year-old Catholic church building on the former campus of Martin University may survive demolition after the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission voted to designate it a historic site in an emergency meeting Aug. 12.
Commissioners scrambled to save St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church — bought by Eastern Star Church along with other Martin real estate following the university’s abrupt closure last year — after a contractor sought a permit to demolish the building Aug. 7.
Formerly home to a century-old Catholic parish and Indiana’s only predominantly Black university, the building in Martindale Brightwood remains structurally solid and carries great cultural significance, commissioners said. They voted unanimously to stall the demolition by declaring the church site a historic area.
“The church itself is very significant and needs to be taken care of,” said William Browne, president of the commission. “We can’t lose these kinds of assets in our community.”
After buying the former Martin campus this spring, Eastern Star Church announced plans to build a community impact center and affordable housing at the site. Eastern Star leaders did not attend the meeting Aug. 12 or respond to IndyStar’s request for comment on their plans for the old church.
The church will remain standing until the Metropolitan Development Commission, the city’s land use oversight body, votes on whether to approve the historic designation. The MDC could vote on the matter as soon as its Aug. 19 meeting.
If the historic designation receives final approval, Eastern Star Church will need the Historic Preservation Commission’s support to make any significant changes to the building.
St. Francis de Sales was heart of community, educational hub
Built in 1913, St. Francis de Sales housed a Catholic parish founded in 1881 that originally served railroad workers in what was then the Brightwood neighborhood, according to the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. The parish closed in 1983 amid declining membership tied to the construction of Interstate 70 just to the south, the Archdiocese says.
“For more than a century, the parish was a center of community life,” said preservation planner Miriam Burkett, a nonvoting HPC staff member. “It provided a place for worship and the major religious milestones of parishioners’ lives, while also supporting Catholic education through its parochial school.”
Martin University, founded by two Catholic social justice activists to serve mostly Black and lower-income students, acquired and moved into the building in 1987.
When Martin opened a new academic facility in the early 2000s, the school began using the church as a “Gathertorium” for community and campus meetings, according to the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. The street near the old church was later named in honor of the Rev. Boniface Hardin, Martin’s co-founder, who died in 2012.
“The reuse of the property demonstrates the ability of historic religious buildings and campuses to accommodate new civic and educational purposes, without losing their connection to community history,” Burkett said.
Designed by renowned Indianapolis architect George V. Bedell, the church represents an “outstanding” example of Romanesque Revival architecture, Burkett said. Bedell also designed Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Haughville, the Talbott Theater in Herron-Morton and the recently demolished Ritz Theatre in Crown Hill.
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Email Indianapolis City Hall Reporter Jordan Smith at JTSmith@indystar.com. Follow him on X @jordantsmith09 and Bluesky @jordanaccidentally.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indy stalls demolition of 113-year-old church on former Martin campus
Reporting by Jordan Smith, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jordan Smith, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
