It is here that you will see doormen working the awning covered sidewalk as they direct guests to the shows as well as cars to the attached parking lots.

The IRT began life in 1927 as Paramount Pictures Public Theatre, the the city’s largest cinema, seating 3,200 people. Before it was extensively remodeled in 1980 to serve the IRT, besides the cinema, it contained other recreational attractions such as a bowling alley, billiard tables, soda fountain and a roof top ballroom.

The ballroom on the 6th floor, now known as the Indiana Ballroom, operating independently of the IRT, is world class, easily on a par with anything in Las Vegas, San Francisco or any of the great cities of Europe. Capable of holding as many as 1,700 people, even the hardwood dance floor itself expresses the attention to elegance that is plainly evident everywhere you look. Instead of wood slats that run vertically or horizontally, each of the ones here were cut in thin enough strips that a great number of them could be bent into the circular shape one sees when he or she looks down. This, as Spanish arched private viewing balconies look out on a room that just looks magic even as an empty space.  

 

 

 

From across the street, you can wonder at the building’s grand facade. At the top of the central arch which looks to be 6-stories tall are medallions of Christopher Columbus, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what all the magic inside  looks like to Cultural Trail users headed for the Monument

Other posts about Indianapolis history Martin Krieg created as he wrote "How Indianapolis Built America" are at this link HERE