The University Courts Historic District is a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

and

neighborhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...

in Bloomington,

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Greek houses

The

Sigma Chi Sigma Chi () International Fraternity is one of the largest North American fraternal literary societies. The fraternity has 244 active (undergraduate) chapters and 152 alumni chapters across the United States and Canada and has initiated more tha ...

house at 601 E. Seventh Street, built in Free Classic style, was enlarged in 1925 by Granger, Lowe & Bollenbacher in a manner sympathetic to the original design. The northeast corner of Indiana Avenue and Eighth Street was originally the site of a Tudor Revival house built by Maude Showers. Situated on three lots and designed by Carlisle Bollenbacher, the house was sold to

Delta Tau Delta Delta Tau Delta () is a United States-based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapters ...

and used for a fraternity until destroyed by fire in February 1935. The fraternity rebuilt on the same site. The new house was designed by Burns & James and retained the same placement on the three lots as the original house. The general contractor was Charles A. Pike."Burns & James" ''Architecture and Design'', 1938-06-01"Fire Razes Fraternity Home" p. 1 ''Bloomington Evening World'', 1935-02-12

Delta Zeta Delta Zeta (, also known as DZ) is an international college sorority founded on October 24, 1902, at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Delta Zeta has 170 collegiate chapters in the United States and Canada, and over 200 alumnae chapters in Cana ...

at 809 East Seventh Street was designed by John Nichols in 1923 in the Classical Revival Style. The general contractor was Charles F. Johnson.

Demolished houses

Before the district was first nominated for the National Register, four houses on the east half of the block bounded by Indiana Avenue, Fess Avenue, Eighth Street and Ninth Street were demolished. Joseph Smith of the Showers Brothers furniture factory engaged John Nichols to build a two-story brick Colonial Revival house at 403 North Fess in 1914. J. Neill was the general contractor. Clarence Neill, general contractor, built a house for Charles F. Johnson at 421 North Fess in 1916. Edwin C. Doeppers and Company were the architects.American Contractor, Vol. XXXVII No. 23, page 97, 1916-06-03 Indiana University's

Mathers Museum of World Cultures Mathers Museum of World Cultures was a museum of ethnography and cultural history that features exhibitions of traditional and folk arts at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. It also offered practicum studies at the university for gradua ...

and the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology now occupy those two lots, among others.Indiana Historic Sites and Structures Inventory. ''City of Bloomington Interim Report''. Bloomington: City of Bloomington, 2004-04.

Table of contributing properties

Appearing in the table below are the buildings included within the boundaries of the city-designated historic district.

References

{{NRHP in Monroe County, Indiana Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana Colonial Revival architecture in Indiana Neoclassical architecture in Indiana Houses in Monroe County, Indiana Buildings and structures in Bloomington, Indiana Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana Historic districts in Monroe County, Indiana National Register of Historic Places in Monroe County, Indiana