Historic Inns

Indianapolis, Indiana

Historic Hotels & Inns in Indianapolis

Nine historic hotels and inns in Indiana’s capital, from the 1913 Omni Severin facing Union Station to a 1905 Old Northside B&B and a former Army post hospital in Lawrence.

9 historic places to stay · verified October 2026 · by Historic Inns editors

The short answer

Stay downtown for the classic: the Omni Severin opened in 1913 across Jackson Place from Union Station, and at the station itself the Crowne Plaza has rooms in the 1922 train shed, some inside Pullman cars. Near Monument Circle, two office towers are now hotels: the 1915 Fletcher Trust Building, a Hilton Garden Inn, and the 1926 Illinois Building, which opened as the InterContinental in 2025. On Mass Ave, the Bottleworks Hotel fills a 1931 Art Deco Coca-Cola plant; book a Landmark, Gilded or Timeless room to sleep in the original wing. For a B&B, The Looking Glass Inn is a 1905 house in the Old Northside, and for a park setting, the Fort Harrison Inn, 13 miles from downtown in Lawrence, has rooms in the old Fort Benjamin Harrison post hospital. Book months ahead for the Indy 500 in May.

Our top picks

Grand hotel

Omni Severin Hotel

Built 1913

Henry Severin Jr.'s 1913 hotel facing Union Station, built with help from Speedway founders Carl Fisher and James Allison; rear wings date…

Check ratesBook direct

Compare them side by side

InnAreaBuiltRoomsTypePriceHaunted
The Looking Glass InnThe Old Northside19056B&B–Rates
Fort Harrison InnFort Harrison State Parkc. 190628Inn–Rates
Omni Severin HotelWholesale District1913–Grand hotel–Rates
Hilton Garden Inn Indianapolis DowntownMonument Circle1915–Boutique hotel–Rates
Crowne Plaza Indianapolis Downtown Union StationWholesale District1922–Boutique hotel–Rates
InterContinental IndianapolisMonument Circle1926170Boutique hotel–Rates
Le Méridien IndianapolisWholesale District1928–29–Boutique hotel–Rates
Hampton Inn Indianapolis DowntownWholesale District1930–Boutique hotel–Rates
Bottleworks HotelMass Ave1931–Boutique hotel–Rates

Price is a typical nightly rate: $ under $200, $$ $200–349, $$$ $350–549, $$$$ $550+. Rates vary by season; check the inn for exact prices.

Where they are

The neighborhoods

Where to stay, by area

Downtown & the Wholesale District

Visit Indy calls the Wholesale District the heart of downtown, and its historic core is the Indianapolis Union Station–Wholesale District, listed on the National Register in 1982. Skywalks link 4,700 hotel rooms to the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium, so this is the easiest base on foot. Four of the stays are here: the Omni Severin, opened in 1913 as the Hotel Severin across Jackson Place from Union Station; Le Méridien, the 1928–29 Hotel Lockerbie, attached to Circle Centre; the Hampton Inn in the 1929–30 Big Four Building; and the Crowne Plaza in Union Station’s 1922 train shed, where some rooms are inside Pullman cars. Amtrak’s Cardinal still stops beneath the train shed.

Monument Circle & Washington Street

Monument Circle, at the center of Alexander Ralston’s 1821 plat and home to the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, is what Visit Indy calls the physical and spiritual heart of the city. Two stays here are former office towers. The Hilton Garden Inn fills the 16-story Fletcher Trust Building (1915), a hotel since 1996 and a contributing building in the Washington Street–Monument Circle Historic District. The InterContinental Indianapolis is in Rubush & Hunter’s Illinois Building at 17 W. Market St., which IHG says opened as a 170-room hotel in February 2025 after a $120 million restoration. The Wholesale District, the stadiums and Mass Ave are all walkable from here, and IndyGo Route 8 runs along Washington Street to the airport.

Mass Ave

Massachusetts Avenue is one of the four diagonal streets in Ralston’s 1821 plan. Visit Indy calls it the Arts and Theater District and puts it a 20-minute walk from the heart of downtown, and the Cultural Trail runs to its doorsteps. The Bottleworks Hotel (850 Massachusetts Ave.) fills Rubush & Hunter’s 1931 Art Deco Coca-Cola bottling plant at the avenue’s north end, where the Bottleworks District adds The Garage food hall, a cinema and shops; its Landmark, Gilded and Timeless rooms are in the original wing. The hotel charges $48 for overnight valet.

The Old Northside

Just north of downtown, the Old Northside Historic District (National Register, 1978) was a prominent late-19th-century neighborhood where many of the city’s wealthier residents, Benjamin Harrison among them, built Victorian mansions. The Looking Glass Inn (1319 N. New Jersey St.) is a 1905 Free Classic house built for Elizabeth Gates and a B&B since 1999; the inn says it has five guest rooms and a third-floor suite and serves a continental breakfast daily. The inn says the Benjamin Harrison Home and the Morris-Butler House are within the district. The inn’s pages don’t say how guests park.

Fort Harrison State Park (Lawrence)

Fort Harrison State Park covers 1,700 acres in Lawrence, on the northeast side of Indianapolis, on the grounds of the former Fort Benjamin Harrison, which the State acquired in 1995 after the Army closed the post. The Fort Harrison Inn, 13 miles from downtown per the DNR, rents 28 rooms in its main lodge, which the park’s naturalist says was the post hospital when the fort opened in 1906, plus the seven-room Harrison House and former officers’ homes near the Pete Dye–designed Fort golf course. Main-lodge guests get a complimentary continental breakfast. Plan to drive: IndyGo’s Purple Line runs to Lawrence, but we couldn’t confirm how close it stops to the inn.

The inns

1905The Looking Glass Inn

Built 1905 · Free Classic (Queen Anne) · The Old Northside · B&B

The Looking Glass Inn

Why stay Elizabeth Gates's 1905 Free Classic house in the Old Northside, a B&B since 1999 with five guest rooms and a third-floor suite, the inn says.

Good to know No pets

Check ratesFull storyBook direct

Before you book

Planning your stay

Getting around

Indianapolis International Airport is about 15 minutes from downtown by car, Visit Indy says. IndyGo Route 8 runs between the airport and the downtown Transit Center in about 40 minutes for $2.75 (a two-hour pass), and taxis at the baggage-claim curb have a $15 minimum; the Red Line does not serve the airport. Downtown is walkable, Mass Ave is a 20-minute walk from the center, and the 10-mile Cultural Trail carries Pacers Bikeshare. Amtrak’s Cardinal stops at Union Station three days a week. For the Fort Harrison Inn, 13 miles out, plan to drive.

Parking

Visit Indy counts more than 73,000 parking spaces downtown. In February 2025, ParkIndy’s downtown meters went to $2.00 an hour, charged Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.; check the meter for the current rate. The historic hotels mostly valet: the Omni Severin is valet-only at $56–$68 overnight, per its site in October 2026, the Bottleworks Hotel charges $48, and hotels in the downtown Economic Enhancement District add a $1 nightly fee. We couldn’t confirm parking fees at Le Méridien, the two Hilton hotels, the Crowne Plaza or the InterContinental, and The Looking Glass Inn and Fort Harrison Inn don’t state theirs, so ask when you book.

When to go

May is the defining month: the 111th Indianapolis 500 runs Sunday, May 30, 2027, after qualifying (May 22–23), Carb Day (May 28) and Legends Day (May 29), and the 500 Festival fills downtown with the Mini-Marathon and its parade. Summer brings Brickyard Weekend (July 23–25, 2027) and Gen Con (August 5–8, 2027), which fills the Indiana Convention Center, Lucas Oil Stadium and participating hotels. Late fall and winter bring Circle of Lights on Monument Circle (November 27, 2026), the Big Ten Football Championship, held at Lucas Oil Stadium every year since 2011, and the NFL Scouting Combine each February. For a quieter stay, the Fort Harrison Inn takes 25% off Sunday–Thursday stays of two nights or more through November 25, 2026, holidays and special events excluded.

Accessibility

Every IndyGo bus is wheelchair accessible, Red and Purple Line stations have level boarding, and zTrip is the only taxi company with wheelchair-accessible vans (book ahead). The Bottleworks Hotel lists an accessible entrance and public spaces with Braille signage, the Omni Severin lists accessible rooms, and the Fort Harrison Inn has accessible rooms, though its two-story Harrison House has no elevator. We couldn’t confirm accessibility at The Looking Glass Inn or the other five brand hotels, so ask before you book.

Before you book

Plan around two 2027 dates: the Indy 500 on Sunday, May 30, and Gen Con, August 5–8. Multi-night minimums are common on race weekend (for the 100th race in 2016, Visit Indy said downtown hotels required four-night stays, and in 2017 IBJ found many area hotels requiring two), but none of the nine stays has published its 2027 race-weekend minimums or rates, and IMS sends hotel questions to Visit Indy. Gen Con badge holders book through Gen Con’s housing portal, and hotels charge non-refundable deposits once housing closes (July 13 in 2026). The Looking Glass Inn requires full prepayment for stays of three nights or less, makes special-event bookings non-refundable and says events may change its minimum stays.

Questions travelers ask

What is the oldest hotel in Indianapolis?

Of the stays we list, the Omni Severin is the oldest building put up as a hotel and still one: it opened in 1913 across Jackson Place from Union Station, and Visit Indy calls it Indy’s longest-standing Four Diamond property. The oldest buildings on the list are The Looking Glass Inn, a 1905 house that has been a B&B since 1999, and the Fort Harrison Inn’s main lodge, which the park’s naturalist says was the post hospital when Fort Benjamin Harrison opened in 1906. Le Méridien’s Illinois Street site has held a hotel since the Oriental Hotel of 1858, though today’s building dates from 1928–29.

What is the most haunted hotel in Indianapolis?

None of the nine historic stays on our list has published ghost lore that we could find. The city’s ghost-tour and press lists center on places you can’t sleep in, such as Hannah House, Allison Mansion, Central State Hospital, the Rivoli Theater and the Slippery Noodle Inn, a bar. The ‘ghost people’ at the Crowne Plaza Union Station are 28 white fiberglass statues of period travelers, not a haunting.

Should I stay downtown, on Mass Ave or in the Old Northside?

Downtown, meaning the Wholesale District and Monument Circle, is the pick for conventions, games and a first visit: six of the nine stays are there, skywalks link 4,700 hotel rooms to the convention center and Lucas Oil Stadium, and IndyGo Route 8 runs along Washington Street to the airport. Mass Ave, a 20-minute walk from the center, puts restaurants, bars and theaters outside the door of the Bottleworks Hotel, while the Old Northside’s Looking Glass Inn is a six-room B&B among Victorian mansions near the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site.

Where should I stay for the Indy 500?

Book early, and treat downtown as the practical base: IMS sends hotel questions to Visit Indy, and for the 100th race in 2016 Visit Indy reported every downtown room sold by mid-March, with four-night minimums. The 111th race is Sunday, May 30, 2027. IMS has run a race-day shuttle from a downtown lot at 402 Kentucky Ave., but its 2027 terms weren’t posted when we checked, and race-day parking at the Speedway is sold in advance only.

Does Indianapolis have historic bed and breakfasts?

One on our list: The Looking Glass Inn in the Old Northside Historic District, a 1905 house built for Elizabeth Gates and a B&B since February 1999. The inn says it has five guest rooms and a third-floor suite and serves a continental breakfast daily; it allows service animals only and is non-smoking inside and out.

Keep exploring

All of Indiana →

How we chose these inns

Every place on this page is at least 50 years old, holds a credential we can check (National Register listing, a listed historic district, landmark status, or Historic Hotels of America membership), and takes bookings today. We verify each one against primary sources before it goes on the list, and last checked this list in October 2026. Read our criteria.

Planning details on this page (parking, transport, seasons and events) come from: catalog.archives.gov, visitindy.com, en.wikipedia.org, hospitalitynet.org, spokeandsteele.com, islands.com, hotel-scoop.com, lucasoilstadium.com, gainbridgefieldhouse.com, indianapolismotorspeedway.com, in.gov, downtownindy.org, ihgplc.com, indygo.net, bottleworkshotel.com, indyculturaltrail.org, bhpsite.org, thelookingglassinn.com, townepost.com, youarecurrent.com, wrtv.com, ghostcitytours.com, visitindiana.in.gov, ibj.com, nba.com, pacersbikeshare.org, ind.com, amtrak.com, gencon.com.

Sources (18)

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