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501 WEST WASHINGTON HISTORICAL CONTEXT This four-story apartment building known as The Rushton was built in 1906 by John & Edward Rush. Mr. Rush was born in 1860 to John & Rachel Rush. In 1894 he married Gertrude Hamilton and had a daughter, Martha and two sons, John and Gail. Mr. Rush made his living in real estate, he and his brother, Edward, built the Rushton as a family residence and hotel complete with its own cafeteria. John Rush co -owned the building until his death in 1940 at age 80. Edward Rush was born in 1871 and was also into real estate, he was the treasurer of the Fidelity Land Company. Edward retained ownership of the structure until his death in 1944, after which, it was placed in a trust controlled by John's three children. The Rush heirs owned the property until 1972 when it was sold to Dennis Emery who rented out the various units until 2000 when he sold it to the Indiana Land Trust. During the first years of its existence the Rushton was home to various real estate agents, clerks, managers and lawyers. However, by the 1920s the structure saw a decline in professional residence and a drastic increase in the number of single female residence, many of which were elderly widows. This characteristic continued for many years eventually shifting to single women with children and low- income families. Today the Rushton has been vacated at the request of Code Enforcement until needed repairs are complete. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION This is a four-story Neo -Classical style apartment building. It has a rectangular plan, flat roof with metal parapet coping, iron/steel cornice scupper, one over one double -hung wood frame bay windows with simple surrounds, limestone base bay window supported by bracket and simple one over one wood double -hung window units through out with limestone sills. The building has brick masonry walls with limestone quoining, brick dentils and limestone cornice. It has a wood and glass entrance door with decorated surrounds, arch cornice with keystone and concrete steps with the inscription "The Rushton". The porch entrance is supported by decorated brick piers with eyebrow cornice and brackets on each side with concrete step, concrete floor and concrete foundation. RECOMMENDATION Based on the Historic Preservation Commission's Local Landmark Criteria's adopted by the Common Council, the site and structure at 501 W. Washington has been recommended to the Common Council for designation as a Local Landmark by the Historic Preservation Commission. The buildings and sites meet three of the criteria: 1) Its embodiment of elements or architectural design, detail, material or craftsmanship which represents an architectural characteristic or innovation; 2) Its suitability for preservation; 2