'The skyscraper of Terre haute' offers view into city's past.
By Karen Grunden
On a humid summer afternoon, Bob Effner yanked at a window blind, exposing a hazy view of church spires, tree tops and roofs below.
"I tell you what's neat," the Terre Haute attorney said, "is watching a storm front moving in."
From the top floor of the Sycamore Building, Effner can watch clouds roll over the Wabash River and cars zip down Third Street.
And not unlike the bankers who first occupied the building 84 years earlier, Effner can use the view to gauge whether he needs to grab an umbrella before heading to the elevator door.
The 12-story structure at 19 S. Sixth St. has the distinction of being the city's tallest business building. For four decades, it also was the tallest structure between Indianapolis and St. Louis.
"It's definitely a landmark," said Bob Bastian, a retired Indiana State University geography professor who has researched small city skyscrapers.
The building dates back to post-World War I America. Around that time, many small Midwestern cities began building in upwards of 10 stories, Bastian said.
In February 1921, Citizens Trust Co. embarked on a half-million-dollar building project on a narrow lot along Sixth Street.
Just more than nine months later- in what was considered record time by Chicago construction firm Hoggson Bros. - the dark red brick and limestone structure opened to great praise.
"Words could not express the surprise of the hundreds at the beauty and grandeur of the building," Harry H. Hamby wrote in the Nov. 21, 1921, edition of the Terre Haute Tribune.
The bank featured marble entryway walls, brass teller cages and second-floor skylights. The building also boasted the city's first uniformed bank police officer.
Law offices, dentist and doctor offices, real estate businesses, coal company headquarters and even a perfume shop occupied the third through 12th floors.
The bank's tenure, however, was short-lived.
The financial institution folded around the time of the Great Depression, according to historical information compiled by Sunset Harbor Inc., the current owners.
Since then, the building has changed hands five times, becoming known as the Sycamore Building during one of the earliest sales. It most recently was bought in 1964 by real-estate development and management firm Sunset Harbor.
Today, it's home to 15 businesses, including law offices, a real estate firm, insurance brokerage, accounting office, investment firm, computer consultant and corporate search consultant, said Sunset Harbor president Gloria Jackson. A shoeshine shop occupies a store front on the first floor.
Although it's now dwarfed by the 15-story Indiana State University Statesman Towers, some still view Terre Haute's original skyscraper as the best.
Bastian calls the Sycamore Building "the skyscraper of Terre Haute."
Jamie Phillippi of Marshall, Ill., won't argue that point.
As she waited in a law office lobby for her boyfriend last week, she peered out one of the building's 12th-floor windows.
Looking down on vehicles that reminded her of matchbox cars, Phillippi grinned as she admired the view.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?"
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Tribune-Star/Bob Poynter |
| High riser: The Sycamore building, Terre Haute's tallest skyscraper, stands on South Sixth Street between Wabash Avenue and Ohio Street. |
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SYCAMORE BUILDING FAST FACTS
-- The Renaissance Revival building was renovated in the mid-1930s and replaced with art deco grill work and hanging lamps. A brass revolving door was installed around that time.
-- In the 1950s, the former bank building served as a memorial. Emma L. Herber bought the building for $105,000, erecting a plaque in front in memory of her late husband, Conrad Herber, a German immigrant who worked as a Terre Haute pharmacist.
Interesting features
-- A 12-story mail chute system remains operational. Each floor contains a drop slot for envelopes and packages, which zip through a tube to a locked box on the first floor. Heavier items drop into the box with a pronounced thud.
-- An original telegraph clock hangs on the wall of the current first-floor business, Sunset Harbor Inc. Four decades ago, it was connected to a Western Union system and made a distinct clicking noise as it adjusted to the correct time twice a day.
-- A round-door vault, which originally housed the bank's funds, now serves as storage for Sunset Harbor files.
Sources: Original building floor plan; past Terre Haute Tribune-Star articles; historical information compiled by Sunset Harbor Inc. and Gloria Jackson, president of Sunset Harbor Inc.