Terre Haute House - Overview

Overview

Since being closed in 1970, the Terre Haute House was considered by some as a faded reminder of Terre Haute's somewhat sordid past as a midwestern “Sin City” and, in the years since its closure, it came to be viewed by some in the city as an impediment to downtown revitalization, but it was not always looked upon with such scorn — it was once the social center of the city, the site of numerous formal dances, conventions, parties and other events.

The Renaissance Revival-style 10-story building, located on the northeast corner of Seventh Street and Wabash Avenue (U.S. Highway 40), was the pinnacle of high-class accommodations in its heyday, from the 1920s to the 1950s, a time when Terre Haute's well-known illegal gambling operations and other businesses of ill repute brought the highest of the high rollers to town.