Adolf Scherrer

Adolf Scherrer
(Aug. 30, 1847-Feb. 13, 1925)

Adolf Scherrer was an American architect, who not only designed the Waiting Station, but also the current Indiana State Capitol, the Tipton County Courthouse, and Tipton County Jail and Sheriff’s Home, and Maennerchor Hall (a German musical hall in Indianapolis).

He was born in Switzerland and studied in Vienna and Budapest before immigrating to New York City in 1870, arriving in Indianapolis by 1873. He first took a position as a drafter for Edwin May (also buried in Crown Hill), one of Indianapolis’ leading architects. May was commissioned to design the new State Capitol but died before the plan was completed. Scherrer then finished the design and oversaw the construction of the new State House. Not only an architect, he was a community leader, having served on the first Indianapolis Board of Public Works, which hired the city’s first engineer who designed the comprehensive sewage system.