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Margaret McCalla Elementary School
The Margaret McCalla Elementary School building occupies the block between Indiana Avenue and Dunn Street between Ninth and Tenth streets. The original two-story building was designed by Nichols & Son in 1907. In 1928 a two story brick addition designed by Alfred Grindle was added. Another single story addition clad in ashlar limestone and designed by William J. Strain was made around 1955 and comprised a large kindergarten classroom, restrooms, and a multi-purpose room that served as auditorium, gymnasium, and (with the adjoining kitchen) cafeteria.
A brick Free Classic structure in style, the 1907 building has cantilevered rounded bays of windows facing 9th Street. The entrance portico has full classical entablature and a multilight transom. Like the Fairview Elementary addition, the McCalla addition has brick buttresses with limestone capstones.
The school was named for Margaret Hemphill McCalla.
It was decommissioned by the Monroe County Community School Corporation in spring 1973. It served as an alternative high school during the 1974-1977 school years. It is now used by Indiana University's Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts for the teaching of sculpture classes. In 2021, the university's Bicentennial Repair and Rehabilitation Plan addressed years of deferred maintenance. Schmidt Associates designed a two story connecting structure of ashlar limestone and curtain glass between the Nichols and Grindle buildings, replacing the one story connecting hallway built in 1928.
The last principal of McCalla School was Herschell Fuller. An exhibition gallery in the building is called the Fuller Projects in his honor.
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