The Garret is one of the oldest and most ornate limestone buildings in Bloomington. It was originally a limestone headquarters for BG Hoadley Quarries.
The building was purchased by the Garrett family in 1974 and filled with their curio collection which included geologic specimens, furniture, fixtures and antiques, some erotica, lots of lamps, and lamp parts.
It’s rumored that the Garretts have several storage sheds full of additional wares that are not open to the public. During the mid-20th-century, this building was an outdoor equipment store, with a better supply of boots, tents and so forth, than most stores in Indiana. Dennis Garrett used to run a lapidary shop in the basement making polished stone lamp shades. He was stricken with dementia around 2002 and has since passed.
His wife now runs the wondrous establishment as an antique shop, selling some of the valued items in the collection.
The Batman house is the most eclectic Queen Anne Victorian home in Bloomington. It was built in 1895 and was designed by architect John Nichols as a grandiose wedding gift to the union of Bloomington’s most prominent families: Batman and Waldron.
