SITTING DIAGONALLY at the intersection of Guilford Avenue and East Westfield Boulevard bordered by tall trees and cozy greenery, Indianapolis Fire Department Station 32—more commonly known as the Broad Ripple Firehouse—has been an icon of the neighborhood for more than a century. Constructed in 1922 in the Tudor revival style, it’s known for its homey appearance, including a steeply pitched roof, walls made of stucco and yellow brick, dormer windows, and an unusual, double-peaked center gable, that recall an Elizabethan country cottage. Its designer, local architect John P. Parrish, wanted the station to be in harmony with the quaint bungalows populating Broad Ripple at the time. The charming design was also in keeping with several other fire stations built in similarly residential styles during the era. Despite the structure’s now-unique appearance, it blends seamlessly with its rather eclectic surroundings, which range from Dad’s Kitchen washed in cheerful sherbet-orange paint on an adjacent corner, to the rows of early 20th-century red brick commercial storefronts along Guilford and Westfield, to the famous Rainbow Bridge crossing the canal behind it. The station was built during the period when the town of Broad Ripple was being annexed by Indianapolis and remains the oldest active IFD station in the city. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001, it will be decommissioned in favor of a nearby modern firehouse being built later this year, leaving it open for other uses.
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