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12 | September 2022
Bottleworks Art Deco Past Revived as a One-of-a-Kind Hotel
INNovember of 2019, Santarossa Mosaic and Tile started work on a portion of an exciting project to re- model a Coca-Cola building in Indianapolis, Indiana. The former bottling plant for Coca-Cola was being transformed into a bou- tique hotel and Santarossa was tasked with the job of refurbish- ing 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 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.
Slippery Rock Gazette
The 1930s Bottleworks building in Indianapolis was a former Co- ca-Cola bottling plant where prod- ucts were formulated and shipped throughout the Midwest. Now a 5-star boutique hotel, the restored art-deco interior is filled with cus- tom tile, terrazzo and stone. As Santarossa Mosaic and Tile in- stalled about 70,000 square feet of the original terrazzo – they were a natural choice to help restore the Art Deco interior.
Below: The ornate lobby and sec- ond floor landing and hallway.
Ken Scott
Photos Courtesy Santarossa Mosaic and Tile Company
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 fore- man 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 compli- cated 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 challeng- ing, 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 sec- ond floor, using epoxy terrazzo to match the existing cement terrazzo. Santarossa is one of
the few companies that special- izes 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 vitrifi- cation 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.”
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Intricate terrazzo work runs throughout the building. Ter- razzo compass stars in the lob- by (left) and library (right) after cleaning and restoration. The grand staircase leads to the sec- ond floor and guest rooms.