Ken Scott

Photos  Courtesy Santarossa Mosaic and Tile Company

In November of 2019, Santarossa Mosaic and Tile started work on a portion of an exciting project to remodel a Coca-Cola building in Indianapolis, Indiana. The former bottling plant for Coca-Cola was being transformed into a boutique hotel and Santarossa was tasked with the job of refurbishing the terrazzo, tile and other stone work for the project. Little did they know at the time that a pandemic was about to sweep the nation, creating challenges they could not foresee.

The 1930s Bottleworks building in Indianapolis was a former Coca-Cola bottling plant where products were formulated and shipped throughout the Midwest. Now a 5-star boutique hotel, the restored art-deco interior is filled with custom tile, terrazzo and stone. As Santarossa Mosaic and Tile installed about 70,000 square feet of the original terrazzo – they were a natural choice to help restore the Art Deco interior.

The 1930s Bottleworks building in Indianapolis was a former Coca-Cola bottling plant where products were formulated and shipped throughout the Midwest. Now a 5-star boutique hotel, the restored art-deco interior is filled with custom tile, terrazzo and stone. As Santarossa Mosaic and Tile installed about 70,000 square feet of the original terrazzo – they were a natural choice to help restore the Art Deco interior. 

The Bottleworks building, as it is known, was where Coco-Cola products for the Midwest were formulated and bottled. The original building was built in the 1930s, with a second phase added in the 1950s. Through both phases, Santarossa installed more than 70,000 square feet of terrazzo in the building, so they were a logical choice to tap for the remodel.

Shawn Alexander, Santarossa’s Marble and Granite Division Operations Manager, drove by the site for years and always felt sad that the building had been allowed to deteriorate. So when they got the call, he was certain they would be walking into a huge mess. But he was pleasantly surprised when he saw it.

“Even though the building had been completely neglected for decades, the stone was in amazingly good shape,” said Alexander. “It helped that we were starting out with good bones, because we know that stone lasts. It was tedious work, but we put our A Team on it, led by Chris Lechner.”

Lechner was Santarossa’s foreman on the job and he didn’t really know what to expect when it all began. One thing is certain – he did not know the COVID-19 pandemic would happen and bring challenges to a job that proved to be the most complicated of his career thus far.

Today, Lechner serves as Field Superintendent for Santarossa. “This is the coolest project I have ever worked on,” said Lechner. “The COVID part was challenging, mostly due to staffing issues, but we were able to finish our work in November of 2020, a year after we started.”

The first part of the job was to work on the terrazzo in the high profile areas of the lobby on the first floor and the library on the second. They ended up also working on 15 rooms on the second floor, using epoxy terrazzo to match the existing cement terrazzo. Santarossa is one of the few companies that specializes in the vitrification process, which involves grinding down and using chemicals to bring up the shine. The finished product is lustrous and strong. According to the Santarossa website, “First in the industry to use vitrification to restore natural stone flooring, Santarossa has brought light and shine back to many of Indianapolis’s historic landmarks and office buildings. Without the addition of wax or lacquer, our team will clean flooring, statues, and other surfaces creating like-new luster that will last for many more years.”

The ornate lobby and second floor landing and hallway.

Above: The ornate lobby and second floor landing and hallway.


Below: Intricate terrazzo work runs throughout the building. Terrazzo compass stars in the lobby (left) and library (right) after cleaning and restoration. The grand staircase leads to the second floor and guest rooms.
Intricate terrazzo work runs throughout the building. Terrazzo compass stars in the lobby (left) and library (right) after cleaning and restoration. The grand staircase leads to the second floor and guest rooms.
Below: Dal “Diamond Mine” panoramic large format porcelain panels were chosen for the private baths in this beautiful hotel. The Panoramic panels were custom cut into 2 x 2-inch hexagon mosaics for the shower floors,  and the bathroom floors were custom cut to 24 x 24 inch tiles. All of the shower walls were cut to size for each unit to match the veining, and kept in their large panel sizes.
Dal “Diamond Mine” panoramic large format porcelain panels were chosen for the private baths in this beautiful hotel. The Panoramic panels were custom cut into 2 x 2-inch hexagon mosaics for the shower floors, and the bathroom floors were custom cut to 24 x 24 inch tiles. All of the shower walls were cut to size for each unit to match the veining, and kept in their large panel sizes.

Below, Left: Some 400 custom tiles had to be created by hand, including firing in custom colors to match or replace the original installation. This colorful mosaic is in the lobby / tasting room.


Below, Right: This high-ceiling former lab room is on the second floor, and needed extensive replacement, restoration and cleaning of the walls and floor. It’s now used for weddings and events.
Below, Left: Some 400 custom tiles had to be created by hand, including firing in custom colors to match or replace the original installation. This colorful mosaic is in the lobby / tasting room. Below, Right: This high-ceiling former lab room is on the second floor, and needed extensive replacement, restoration and cleaning of the walls and floor. It’s now used for weddings and events.

Besides the terrazzo, there was tile work to be done. The most complicated portion was in the lab, where the Coca-Cola brands were actually formulated and made. Here they needed to replicate 400 4 x 4-inch tiles. Working with a local artist who used regular unglazed tile to match the colors and then fired them in a kiln, they were able to do just that. The same process was done in the lobby as well, with colors ranging from antique white to sea-green to maroon to cyan blue and more. One hundred pieces or more of each color were created for the finished product. 

There were bathroom renovations involving tile, terrazzo and stone that Santarossa was also responsible for. New shower installations made with Calacatta porcelain tile were part of establishing the opulent feel of the guest rooms for the boutique hotel. Working on this area proved difficult because the building had to adhere to strict codes to preserve its historical status. Alexander said that nothing was square and they were required to keep their caulk joints to no more than a sixteenth of an inch anywhere.

Another challenge they had was matching marble for the windowsills in the club room that had been damaged, again due mainly to neglect. Alexander said that they were lucky enough to find marble to match the windowsills in their own yard. “This is not the first time that our yard yielded exactly what the job called for,” said Alexander. “Who knows? It could even have been left over from the original. Being able to find that for this legacy project was truly awesome.”

Santarossa Mosaic and Tile Company will celebrate its centennial in 2024.  Located in central Indiana, the company was founded by Italian immigrant Domenic M. Santarossa. Leaving Italy at age 13 to study the terrazzo and mosaic trade in Germany, Domenic arrived in the United States at age 20 to build a future for himself and his family. Santarossa started out as a traveling company, but in 1921, Domenic and his partner moved into the building that they still occupy today. The company was officially incorporated in 1924. Today, four members of the Santarossa family are still with the company, making three generations involved in the business. 

The Bottleworks Hotel website tells the history of the building. Built by brothers Lee and James Yuncker, the building features unique art-deco architecture. The factory located on Mass Ave was able to produce more than 2 million bottles of soda per week at its peak. But in 1964, the factory moved to Speedway, IN after being purchased by Tony Hulman. The plant stayed empty until 1969 when the Indianapolis Public Schools bought the property. It was the home of the IPS Service Center until 2016. That’s when Hendricks Commercial Properties purchased the property for its current development.  The rest, as they say, is history.


For more information, visit www.bottleworkshotel.com and www.Santarossa.com .