Abandoned Structures of
Gary, Indiana
Ambassador and Mahencha Apartments
Pictures by Barbara Seibert
How sad that, in this era of supposedly widespread homelessness,
spacious apartment buildings like these should lie vacant.
Mahencha Apartments
Some time ago, the author of this website
received the following email:
I just recently became interested in the beautiful
buildings in Gary, and have spent hours driving around looking
at them. There is a lovely old apt building on the corner of
5th Ave and Arthur Street that I spent about an hour looking
at yesterday, too. This building is falling apart and seemed
to beg me to stop and take a look. From the outside it looks
like perhaps 35-40 units with all the windows broken. The beautiful
tile roof now falling into the forth floor. The buildings around
it are still well maintained but this poor baby has been left
to the elements.
I've enjoyed every minute that I've spent
looking through your web site. I surely hope others will, too.
The past couple days I've been trying to imagine what I can do...
I understand there are some plans for the Methodist Church.
This email was from Barbara Seibert, a nurse
from the Chicago Suburbs, who has taken an active interest in
Gary, Indiana and its people. She is the founder of Live Up
Art, Inc., located in Gary.
The building Barbara was referring to was
the Mahencha Building at 1900 W. 5th Ave. This 31-unit building
is on the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Arthur St., across
from Horace Mann high-school. Former Gary Mayor Richard G. Hatcher
owned this building, and at least for a time, owed $20,923 in
back taxes on it, according to an Oct 1990 Post Tribune
article. The building is vacant and boarded up. Broken glass
and bottles litter the grounds. Hatcher had purchased the property
in 1978.
It is an imposing building, clad in red brick
with white terra cotta trim, canvas awnings (at one time) and
wrought iron balconies. It is asymmetrical with a tower-like
structure off on one side.
A Crown Point architect says it is a combination
of styles. The curved, red clay roof tiles show a southwest influence
and the low-pitched hipped roof, square tower and center stairway
with an "eyebrow" above it are some elements of the
Italianate style.
At the time of the Oct 1990 article, there
was a public protest about the building, but as is usual with
Gary, nothing was done about it--Hatcher claimed it would cost
over $1 million to renovate it. At the time of the article it
was being used as a dope den, trash dumpster and flophouse for
the homeless. Very sad.
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