Architectural Tours

• Courthouse Square   Historic District
   --Courthouse Interior
   --East Side Square
   --East Main Street
   --South Side Square 
   --West Side Square
   --North Side Square

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Delphi Courthouse Square Historic District: East Main Street

107-111 East Main Street. Delphi's first I.O.O.F. Lodge, No. 174, is located at 107-109 E. Main Street. Built in 1874, this 3-story Italianate is characterized by its triangular sheet metal pediment capping the entrance. The cornice brackets and decorations are also pressed tin. Currently it is home to Bradshaw Insurance, which has operated continuously since 1851. The Hanrahan Block on the alley was built about 1876 as a saloon and is a 2-story brick Italianate structure.
113-121 East Main Street.
The Carll Bros. Centennial Block was built in 1878 by George and John Carll. A saloon was on the ground floor until the early 1900s and the Carll Bros. Opera House was on the third floor. This was one of three Opera Houses in Delphi around the turn of the century. The building shows the increasing ornamentation of later Italianate buildings, as does its neighbor at 117-119 E. Main Street. Built by A. H. Bowen in the late 1870s, this building has excellent examples of pressed tin window hoods and cornice brackets. Delphi residents might remember this as home to the Bythe Furniture or the Sugar Shack. Currently it is the home of J. D. Young's Culligan Service.

222 East Main Street.
The Delphi Public Library is neo-classical revival brick and limestone building dating to 1905. Carnegie donated $10,000 for the construction after the City purchased the site for $2,000. The Oracle Club, formed in 1886, was instrumental in its construction. Prior to that time, the library collection was housed in the high school and then in the Bowen Bank building. A tasteful addition in 1990 blends with the historic building and nearly doubles its space.
201 South Union Street.
Italian Renaissance and Romanesque styling are featured in the handsome brick and limestone facade of the Armory and City Building Annex built between 1926 and 1929.

114-124 East Main Street.
A handsome tinwork frieze adorns the circa-1890 2-story Italianate building once housing the Journal and later Broadlick's Bakery. Next door at 118-122 East Main Street is the Ren Julien building constructed in 1911 as a veterinary building. Clawson Chevrolet was here from the 1930s and now the NAPA Auto Parts store. On the corner is the Niewerth building dating from 1874; Hamling's Tavern was here for many years. It was also the former home of Times Past Antiques and currently houses the Stone House Restaurant.
124 East Main Street.
Built by Frederick Niewerth in 1874, this fine Italianate structure was home its early years to saloons and boarding rooms. The Hamling Tavern was there was many years. Delphi residents remember Times Past Antiques being here before moving to the Masonic Temple building on South Washington Street. The Niewerth building was separately listed on the National Register in 1984 and has fine examples of Italianate styling, including the arched windows and the oculus window over the entryway.

124 East Main Street.
Broadlick's Bakery was a fixture in this building until 1930 when it was sold to the Delphi Journal. The Journal signboard was repainted in a 2007 restoration of the building's facade. The details of the pressed metal frieze board were also brought out by the choice of colors and painting applications.
102-112 East Main Street.
The Sandwich Shop is located at 112 E. Main Street in the oldest brick building on this side of the street dating to the late 1850s or early 1860s. It has been the Snack Shack and then Sandwich Shop for as long as current residents can remember. West at 108-110 E. Main is a 2-story, 2-bay brick with some Craftsman-style influences in the brick facing added in 1911. Now home to Q Graphics, it housed the Welcome Inn before that restaurant moved to West Main Street in the 1940s. The building at 106 E. Main is notable only in that it once was a three-story building. On the corner is I.O.O.F., Lodge No. 28 built in 1880. It's style is Second Empire although the mansard roof and cupola that once distinguished it were destroyed in a January 2, 1955 fire. It remains a handsome structure with limestone quoins on its corners and with sheet-metal window hoods. The Odd Fellows still own the building and hold meetings here. The Clifford Model Clothing Store was here for many years; now it houses the Flower Shoppe II.

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