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THE BUILDING
The Indianapolis Athletic Club was completed and occupied
in 1922.
City and state officials indicate that neither jurisdiction
had adopted nor
enforced a building code at the time of original construction.’
Notwithstanding the lack of a building code, the design
and construction of
the Athletic Club building appears to have been consistent
with generally
recognized practices of the 1920s. Typical building
features included fireresistive
construction with open stairways, noncontinuous egress
paths,
large air handling shafts without fire or smoke dampers,
an unsupervised
manual fire alarm system, occupant use standpipes
without fire department
hose outlets, and no automatic sprinklers.
The building construction most closely resembles Uniform
Building
Code Type 1 construction or NFPA 220 Type 1 (4,3,3).
Consequently,
the fire caused little structural damage despite its
extensive spread. A
concrete protected steel frame supports concrete floor
decks and
nonbearing masonry exterior walls. Interior partitions
consist of plaster
and lath on wood studs. Vertical shaft enclosures,
including the elevator,
stair, air handling, and plumbing shafts and chases
are generally of
concrete masonry or brick masonry construction.
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