Old School to Find New Life

The school was the first of its kind in Indianapolis

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A school built in the 1930s to serve students with disabilities will be redeveloped into an apartment complex. Indiana Landmarks says the project resolves "a long struggle" to find a new use for the James E. Roberts School in Indianapolis.

The school was the first of its kind in Indianapolis, featuring an indoor therapy pool and ramp system. It closed in 1986 as students with disabilities gained inclusion in mainstream classrooms. It reopened as the IPS Key School, then was Horizon Middle School before IPS vacated the building in 2006.

Indiana Landmarks calls the building one of the city’s most distinctive twentieth-century landmarks. Core Redevelopment has signed a long-term lease with IPS to transform the building into 30 market rate apartments. Some revenue from the lease will support IPS schools.

The building has lost its original doors and windows, but the organization says the developers are committed to "preserving the character-defining features that survive."