The Wicks Building is a historic commercial building on Courthouse Square in downtown Bloomington, Indiana, United States. Built in the early twentieth century in a distinctive style of architecture, it has remained in consistent commercial use throughout its history, and it has been named a historic site because of the importance of its architecture. History A veteran of the Civil War, Colonel W.W. Wicks was a Bloomington businessman who owned one of the area's economically dominant limestone quarries. Because of his prosperity, he decided to diversify his business; as a result, he chose to open a general store and to enter the retail market. Unfortunately for Wicks, the destruction of his property by fire forced him to erect a new structure. Purchasing property at 116 Sixth Street on Courthouse Square, he erected the present building in 1915. One of Bloomington's first department stores, the Wicks Company operated out of the Sixth Street building until its closure in 1976. Architecture Three stories tall, the Wicks Building is a brick structure with a limestone facade. Reflecting its commercial origin, the majority of the facade is glass: the middle and upper stories feature large windows from floor to ceiling, the entirety of the first floor (aside from the entrance) is composed of display windows, and the gap between the first and second stories is filled with a large leaded glass window. Bracing the sides of the building are massive limestone piers; between them, the only non-glass surfaces in the facade are seven smaller limestone piers on the second and third stories, which separate the windows of those floors into eight bays. Below the second story and above the third are prominent horizontal limestone piers: the lower carries large letters proclaiming "The Wicks Company," while the higher lacks written details but is far taller from top to bottom. Large numbers of ornamental details grace the building's exterior. Each of the sixteen large window bays of the second and third stories features five pieces of glass: a single large pane that occupies the vast majority of the bay's area, and four smaller panes (two above the large pane and two below) that divide the small remaining area. Cast ironwork is also common on the facade: a small balustrade of iron has been placed at the bottom of each window, and the space between the second and third story windows is composed of large iron spandrels