Lafayette Life Building

Dates:

1918-1919

Location: 300-306 Main Street, Lafayette, Indiana
Architects: J. F. Alexander & Son, of Lafayette, Indiana
Contractor: A. E. Kemmer
Engineer: Wescott Engineering Company of Chicago (steel-reinforced concrete structure)
Elevators: Warner Elevator Company

The Lafayette Life Building is thought to be the last work of the firm of J. F. Alexander & Son. The Lafayette Life Insurance Company had property purchased by January, 1917, and the plans were completed by April 11, 1917 (see The American Architect magazine). Frank Alexander and J. F. Alexander were the principal architects, with F. P. Riedel and T. A. Zink as assistants. Frank Alexander died suddenly on August 20, 1917, just days after the plans were completed. J. F. Alexander seems to have retired at this time. Riedel & Zink succeeded the Alexanders around 1917-1918, and the firm continued under their names into the 1930s.

The Lafayette Life Building is the last of the great skyscrapers built in Lafayette. The first was the Lafayette Loan & Trust Building, also by J. F. Alexander & Son. The Lafayette Life Insurance Co., originally occupants of the top floors, moved to suburban offices in the 1950s and the building was sold. It remains an office building with much of its interior remarkably intact. Hallways feature interior frosted glass windows, hexagonal tile, and marble wainscoting. Sadly, the original windows are being replaced with unsympathetic vinyl sashes.

Site of the Lafayette Life Building, 1917. (Image courtesy of the Herman Berry Collection) Enlargement of sign . (Image courtesy of the Herman Berry Collection)
J. F. Alexander & Son rendering of the Lafayette Life Building, c.1917 View of the building during a parade, c.1918. (Image courtesy of the Herman Berry Collection)
Detail of lower floors (without windows), c.1918. (Image courtesy of the Herman Berry Collection) Lafayette Life Building, c.1925
Lafayette Life Building, 2003 Life Building, 2004