The Athenaeum (Formerly Das Deutsche Haus)
Introduction
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Das Deutsche Haus (presently known as The Athenaeum) was built in 1893 and served as a headquarters and meeting space for for German resident of Indianapolis. This German Romanesque building has been restored and is home to a theater, art gallery, and biergarten . The building is also home to the Rathskeller restaurant. Established in 1894, this is the oldest continuously-operating restaurant for hundreds of miles. It is also home to the Indiana German Heritage Society. This historic structure provided a gymnasium for members, a central part of the uniquely German phenomenon known as the Turnverein Movement that stressed physical and mental well-being through rigorous gymnastic exercise. The building also held meeting rooms, classrooms, a theater and beer hall, and even a bowling alley.
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Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
The building was designed by the architects Vonnegut & Bohn, who chose a German Renaissance Revival for the building. (Interestingly, the architect Vonnegut was the grandfather of novelist Kurt Vonnegut.) While an ongoing restoration project began in the 1990s, the building contains the original theater as well as the original Rathskeller restaurant.
Anti-German sentiment was widespread during and after the two World Wars, During the First World War, when anti-German sentiment was particularly pervasive, the Das Deutsche Has was renamed the Athenaeum. More recently, however, efforts have been made to preserve the site's German heritage.