Signature Inn Indianapolis East

aerial imagery courtesy of Bing maps

map graphic courtesy of signature-inns.com at archive.org

Signature Inn Indianapolis East was built in 1985, one of five hotels built that year.  It was one of three in the Indianapolis area for the year and by the end of 1985, there would be five Indianapolis locations.  The sixth wouldn't appear until 1996...but that's a whole new post on down the line.

the hotel as it sat in June 2015

the hotel's canopy

the rear of the building

Like the other Indiana locations built in 1985, this hotel had 101 rooms.  As can be seen in many other aerial views I've posted, this one also had an S-shaped pool on the grounds.  I happened to stop by at just the right time, as there was very little activity outside and I was able to snap a quick photo of the pool:

I don't believe this hotel was part of the chain when many of the others became Jameson Inns.  This particular location disappeared from the website between early 2004 and mid-2006.  The property card I was able to dig up on this property wasn't much help.  Historicaerials.com shows that a renovation was done between 2005 and 2010 when it received its current color scheme.  Google Street View from November 2008 shows this hotel being a Best Western, which it still is to this day.

sources for this post include the Howard County, Indiana, auditor's website, imagery found on historicaerials.com, signature-inns.com archived at archive.org, jamesoninns.com archived at archive.org, and imagery found through Google Maps and Bing Maps.

Photographs not accredited in their captions were taken by me.  These and additional photos can be found here: Formerly Signature Inn by Ryan on Flickr

Signature Inn Indianapolis South

aerial imagery courtesy of Bing maps

maps graphic courtesy of signature-inns.com at archive.org

One of five hotels built in 1985 was the location on the south side of Indianapolis.  Signature Inn Indianapolis South had a total of 101 rooms.

the front of the building

the canopy, which still retains the lights & skylights

Looking at historicaerials.com, this building had the classic Signature Inn look until sometime between 2005 and 2010.  Like other locations that were to be re-branded Jameson Inns, I imagine that the repaint took place around the same time as the name change.

This location became a Jameson Inn sometime between 2004 and 2006 and stayed in the chain until November or December of 2012.  It then became a Baymont Inn & Suites.

sources for this post include the Marion County, Indiana, auditor's website, imagery found on historicaerials.com, signature-inns.com archived at archive.org, and imagery found through Bing Maps.

Photographs not accredited in their captions were taken by me.  These and additional photos can be found here: Formerly Signature Inn by Ryan on Flickr

Signature Inn Indianapolis West

aerial imagery courtesy of Bing maps

map graphic courtesy of signature-inns.com at archive.org

The year 1985 had a total of five new Signature Inns being constructed, the most brought into the chain in a single year.  By the end of the year, Signature Inn would consist of 11 locations.  This post focuses on the Indianapolis West location.

Located on the outer edge of I-465 at 38th St sits this 101-room hotel.  A quick look at historicaerials.com shows the building received a paint job sometime between 2005 and 2010.  I can only surmise that the "freshening up" was done around the time the hotel was converted to a Jameson Inn.

Sometime in the mid-2000s, a lot of Signature Inns were switched over to the Jameson Inn nameplate, this one included.  It would remain a Jameson until sometime in November or December of 2012 when it was sold and became a Baymont Inn & Suites.

sources for this post include the Marion County, Indiana, auditor's website, imagery found on historicaerials.com, signature-inns.com archived at archive.org, and imagery found through Bing Maps.

Photographs not accredited in their captions were taken by me.  These and additional photos can be found here: Formerly Signature Inn by Ryan on Flickr

Signature Inn Cincinnati Northeast

aerial imagery courtesy of Bing maps

map graphic courtesy of signature-inns.com at archive.org

Signature Inn's Cincinnati Northeast location was one of two hotels built in 1984 and represents the chain's entry into the Ohio market.  This was the first of five hotels to be opened in Ohio and two in the Cincinnati area (three if you count Florence, Kentucky - the chain did).  According to Signature Inn's defunct website, this hotel has 97 rooms, making it the second smallest in the chain.

Based solely off of what I know about the buildings, this was heavily renovated at some point in its life.  A quick search of historicaerials.com shows that this would've taken place somewhere between 2004 and 2009.

the front of the hotel

the hotel's canopy

Despite the renovations, it's still fairly easy to tell what this used to be.  Among other improvements made, the skylights in the canopy were removed, though one can still see where they would have been.

This hotel has been under a number of different names in the past.  It was sold in early 2002 - the third hotel sold out of the chain and the first once sold since the Jameson merger.  Google Street View from July 2007 shows the hotel as a Quality Inn; a July 2011 capture shows it as a Clarion, and July 2012 shows it in its current branding as a Red Roof Inn.

sources for this post include the Hamilton County, Ohio, auditor's website, imagery found on historicaerials.com, signature-inns.com archived at archive.org, and imagery found through Google Maps and Bing Maps.

Photographs not accredited in their captions were taken by me.  These and additional photos can be found here: Formerly Signature Inn by Ryan on Flickr

Signature Inn Muncie, Indiana

aerial imagery courtesy of Bing maps

map graphic courtesy of signature-inns.com at archive.org

Signature Inn's Muncie location was one of two built in 1984.  With a total of 101 rooms, it was a little smaller than their average size.  Looking at historicaerials.com, their 1992 version shows the pool as being open-air, while their 1998 map shows it under roof.  Property records show improvements done in 1997, so I'm guessing that's when the enclosure was built.

the hotel

On my June 2015 visit, the exterior of the hotel looked much like it would have when it first opened.  Not that I'm complaining.  It appears that some sort of renovation work was going on at the time.

the front of the hotel

This hotel was sold in November or December 2012 and has been a Baymont Inn & Suites since then.

The ell & pool area

the rear of the building

sources for this post include the Delaware County, Indiana, auditor's website, signature-inns.com archived at archive.org, and imagery found through Bing Maps.

Photographs not accredited in their captions were taken by me.  These and additional photos can be found here: Formerly Signature Inn by Ryan on Flickr

Signature Inn Lafayette, Indiana

aerial imagery courtesy of Bing Maps

map graphic courtesy of signature-inns.com at archive.org

This was one of two locations the company built in 1983 and consists of 121 rooms.  Due to the layout of the lot, the ell meets the rest of the hotel at a greater than 90-degree angle.  The other neat feature I found is the S-shaped sidewalk out front.

the front of the building

The metal cladding that extended down the sides of the other buildings appears to have been removed at some point (if it even existed in the first place) and looking at the Bing photo versus one of mine, the roof was repainted.

the rear of the building

This location was sold out of the chain in mid to late 2011 and became a Clarion.  The hotel then became an Econo Lodge in mid-2014.

another shot of the front of the building

the front

sources for this post include the Tippecanoe County, Indiana, auditor's website, comments on tripadvisor.com (for the approximation of when the hotel switched over to Econo Lodge), signature-inns.com archived at archive.org, and imagery found through Bing Maps.

Photographs not accredited in their captions were taken by me.  These and additional photos can be found here: Formerly Signature Inn by Ryan on Flickr

Signature Inn Indianapolis/Castleton

aerial imagery courtesy of Bing Maps

map graphic courtesy of signature-inns.com at archive.org

Built in 1983, this is one of the next two locations the chain opened.  This location is located on Indianapolis' northeast side in the suburb/city of Castleton.

the hotel in June 2015

With 125 rooms (according to the hotel's now-defunct website), it wasn't the largest, but it was one of the larger locations.

overview of the front of the hotel

zoomed-in on the canopy

The Bing image above shows the hotel as a Jameson Inn.  This was one of the last seven Signature Inn locations owned by Jameson Inns, sold in late 2012.  It became a Quality Inn after that, and still is to this day.  It's neat to see that the canopy still retains the lights and skylights.

sources for this post include the Marion County, Indiana, auditor's website, signature-inns.com archived at archive.org, and imagery found through Bing Maps.

Photographs not accredited in their captions were taken by me.  These and additional photos can be found here: Formerly Signature Inn by Ryan on Flickr

Signature Inn Fort Wayne, IN - Location #2

aerial view courtesy of Bing Maps

map graphic courtesy of signature-inns.com at archive.org

Signature Inn's second location opened in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1982.  It consists of 102 rooms, making it a little smaller than average, compared to the rest of the hotels.  The design of this building would more or less set the stage for how the subsequent locations would look.  The vertical ridge at the peak of the roof covers the entire peak and the ell looks like it belongs with the building instead of looking like an afterthought.

While many other hotels in the chain were re-branded as Jameson Inns in 2006, this is one of the few that kept the Signature Inn name throughout the Jameson days.  The hotel was sold off in August 2007 and became an Econo Lodge (comments on tripadvisor.com confirm this).  It was somewhere between 2008 and 2010 that the hotel became a Quality Inn, which it still is today.

overview of the hotel

The most obvious change to the building from its Signature Inn days is the color.  The building has a metal roof and the same metal cladding extended to down below the second floor windows.  That had been removed in the building's remodel and lights were added to the exterior wall.

In getting photos of this hotel, I was in a race against the clock.  I had left Itasca, IL around 4:00 PM (Eastern; 3 PM their time) and was trying to get the South Bend, Elkhart, and Fort Wayne locations before darkness fell.  I was "lucky" enough to get stuck in some slow-moving Chicago-area traffic, which ate up about an hour of my time.  I hit South Bend around 7 PM and Elkhart 40 minutes later.  It was around 9:15 by the time I rolled into the parking lot here and even though the sun was pretty well down, I had just enough light to take some decent photos.  There was a van parked in the canopy when I arrived; after taking a few shots and then talking to my wife on the phone, I noticed it was loading up getting ready to leave.  In that 15 minutes, the sun sank down even further and I was able to snap a few nighttime shots before heading for home.

sources for this post include the Allen County, Indiana, auditor's website, signature-inns.com archived at archive.org, and imagery found through Bing Maps.

Photographs not accredited in their captions were taken by me.  These and additional photos can be found here: Formerly Signature Inn by Ryan on Flickr

Signature Inn Indianapolis Northwest - Where it all began

aerial view courtesy of Bing Maps

map graphic courtesy of signature-inns.com at archive.org

Signature Inn's first location opened on March 12, 1981 in Indianapolis, Indiana.  This hotel is located on Payne Branch Rd. in the northwestern section of the city.  This was the second largest hotel in the chain, with 137 rooms.  Only Terre Haute has more rooms, but then again, Terre Haute wasn't originally a Signature Inn when it was first built.  I guess I could say that the is the largest hotel the chain constructed.

After looking through various photos and aerial images of the other hotels of the chain, I've found that while this location set the stage for the design of the buildings, there are some notable differences.

2015 view

First, the rectangular part on the ridge of the roof does not run the full length of the roof.  According to what I was able to find on historicaerials.com, it never did.  The second difference I found is that the ell (you can thank all the years I've spent doing crosswords for that word) extended toward the back of the building instead of the front.  It could be something as simple as the way the lot was laid out didn't allow for the ell to come out of the front of the building.

the front of the building

More importantly, the ell appears to have a small hallway connecting it to the main part of the building, making it look almost like an afterthought.  All subsequent locations of this same general design were built to look like one cohesive unit.

the ell that runs toward the back of the building

Finally, when the building was constructed, the pool was open-air.  Judging from historicaerials.com, I cannot be 100% sure that the building had the famous S-shaped pool, but it sure looks like it.  The property card I found shows improvements to the pool in 1997, which must be when it was put under roof.  Historicaerials.com from 1992 shows an outdoor pool; their 1998 imagery shows it was put under roof.

In the research I've done, I've been able to find that sometime between 2004 and 2006 was when the hotel was sold and converted into a Days Inn.

sources for this post include the Marion County, Indiana, auditor's website, signature-inns.com archived at archive.org, and imagery found through both Bing Maps and historicaerials.com.

Photographs not accredited in their captions were taken by me.  These and additional photos can be found here: Formerly Signature Inn by Ryan on Flickr