Agriculture and Horticulture Building
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Prizes for the best examples of farm or garden produce were a long tradition at the Indiana State Fair when the Fair Board decided to replace the old Agriculture Building with this one.
Architects Rubush and Hunter won the contract to design the building. A leading firm in town, Rubush and Hunter had designed Indianapolis City Hall (the former State Museum, now Interim Central Library) as well as many other public buildings and large homes (including the State Deaf School, behind the Fair Grounds).
The classical style of this building has a different twist, its tiled roof and stuccoed walls imitated Italian style buildings, or, generically, architecture of the Mediterranean area. The later buildings of the 1920s, the Poultry Building, the Cattle Barn and the Swine Barn were similar to this building, but less exotic looking. Despite the traditional front, the steel frame of the building allows for many large industrial style windows for light and ventilation.