The Brick Street
The 1911–1912 brick-paved stretch of Main Street through the village core.
Historic Downtown Zionsville (Brick Street) · Zionsville, IN
A 1911 brick main street, 19th-century houses, and the tightest lots in Boone County
The Village is the oldest and most design-sensitive part of Zionsville: a brick-paved Main Street laid in 1911–1912, Greek Revival and Italianate houses from the 1840s onward, and small in-town lots where coverage runs out long before buildable area does. This is where the Village Residential district, legal nonconformity, and neighborhood expectation matter more than any suburban setback table.
History & architecture
How Historic Downtown Zionsville (Brick Street) was built
Zionsville was platted in 1852 along the Indianapolis, Cincinnati & Lafayette rail line, and the village core grew as a compact walking town rather than a farm crossroads.
The Main Street brick paving was laid in 1911–1912 and became the town's defining feature.
A grassroots "Save the Bricks" campaign in the 1970s stopped the street from being asphalted over — the origin of the preservation ethic that still governs how change is received here.
The SullivanMunce Cultural Center surveyed the village core in 1983 and again in 2021, documenting the surviving 19th-century building stock.
The Town Council adopted an ordinance establishing a Historic Preservation Commission in 2022, and a village conservation district has been advocated since — the regulatory picture here is still evolving.
- Predominant era
- 1840s–1930s, with careful infill and restorations since
- Styles
- Greek Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, vernacular farmhouse
- Lot pattern
- Small original village lots, frequently under a quarter acre
- Typical district
- R-V, with R-SF-3 and R-SF-1 on the surrounding blocks
Landmarks & shared spaces
Places that anchor Historic Downtown Zionsville (Brick Street)
SullivanMunce Cultural Center
Museum, genealogy library, and the keeper of the village's architectural survey work.
Century Structure Program homes
Locally recognized buildings 100 years or older, including houses dating to the 1890s.
Lincoln Park and the Zionsville Rail Trail
The village's civic green space and the trail spine running alongside the old rail corridor.
Businesses & districts
Where Historic Downtown Zionsville (Brick Street) gathers
Main Street boutiques and cafés
Independent retail occupying 19th-century brick storefronts along the bricks.
Auberge
French restaurant that anchors the village dining scene.
Bub's Burgers and Ice Cream
Long-running village institution on Main Street.
Zoning & overlays
Common zoning codes in Historic Downtown Zionsville (Brick Street)
These are the base districts and overlays we see most often on Historic Downtown Zionsville (Brick Street) lots. Always confirm your parcel's district and overlays on the Metro zoning map before design decisions get expensive.
R-VVillage Residential District
The small-lot district for the historic village core: 8,000 sq ft minimum lot and 35% maximum lot coverage, with shallow front setbacks that match the existing street wall rather than suburban minimums.
R-SF-3Urban Single-Family Residential District
Repealed for new subdivisions as of 1-21-2002, but lots already platted under it keep its standards — 15,000 sq ft minimum, 35 ft front, 20–25% coverage. Older near-village subdivisions are the common case.
R-SF-1Single-Family Residential District
Half-acre average lot per subdivision with a 15,000 sq ft minimum, widths from 80 ft to 150 ft by lot size. Front 35 ft, aggregate side yards 25–45 ft with no single side under 10–20 ft, rear 25 ft primary and 5 ft accessory. 35 ft height, 20% maximum lot coverage.
Overlays that apply here
Floodplain / Eagle Creek
FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area along Eagle Creek and its tributaries
Eagle Creek and the ravines feeding it run through much of Zionsville. Building in a mapped flood hazard area adds a floodplain review, fill and finished-floor requirements, and often an IDNR construction-in-a-floodway approval on top of the town permit.
Permitting path
- 1Village parcels are usually R-V, which is the only Zionsville district built around small lots — 8,000 sq ft minimum and 35% coverage rather than the half-acre suburban pattern.
- 2Every building, addition, or exterior alteration in Zionsville needs an Improvement Location Permit (§ 194.216) from the Planning & Building Department before a building permit issues.
- 3Zionsville's ordinance (§ 194.125) reaches further than most Indiana towns: development plan review by the Plan Commission can be triggered in residential districts and is standard inside the Michigan Road Corridor Overlay, so confirm early whether your project is administrative or a hearing item.
- 4Where the lot sits in a recorded subdivision plat, the platted building line controls over the district minimum. Read the plat before trusting the ordinance table.
- 5Relief from a setback, height, or coverage standard is a development standards variance at the Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals.
- 6The town adopted an ordinance establishing a Historic Preservation Commission in 2022, and a village conservation district has been advocated for the core, but as of this writing there is no blanket certificate-of-appropriateness requirement for private residential exterior work. Confirm current status for any village project.
- 7Accessory dwelling unit standards were still moving through a Chapter 194 text amendment (Plan Commission docket 2025-45-OA) rather than being fully codified — treat an ADU as a question to settle with Planning before design, not a by-right use.
- 8Town approval and HOA approval are separate. Most Zionsville subdivisions have a recorded architectural review committee whose sign-off the town does not check and cannot waive.
Why it matters
Historic Downtown Zionsville (Brick Street)'s place in Zionsville
This is the historic heart of Zionsville and the reason the town reads as a village rather than a subdivision belt.
It holds essentially all of the town's pre-1900 housing stock.
Village design decisions are highly visible and neighbors participate — informal expectation is as real a constraint here as the ordinance.
It is also the town's civic and commercial center, so permit review, hearings, and the businesses are all within a few blocks.
Events & festivals
What happens in Historic Downtown Zionsville (Brick Street)
Zionsville Fall Festival
September
Lions Club festival at Lions Park, the village's largest annual gathering.
Sip, Stroll & Shop
Seasonal evenings
Main Street merchant event along the bricks.
Picnic on the Bricks and Chili Cookoff
Annual
Hosted by the Zionsville Village Residents Association.
Designing here
What this means for your Historic Downtown Zionsville (Brick Street) project
- Coverage, not setback, is the usual binding constraint. At 35% in R-V, a modest addition plus a drive and a detached garage can hit the cap on a village lot.
- Most village houses predate the ordinance and sit on lots narrower than any current minimum. That is legal nonconformity — the addition is judged on setback, height, and coverage, not lot size.
- Front setbacks in the village follow the established street wall. Pushing a porch or addition forward of the neighbors reads wrong long before it reads illegal.
- Rear and side additions, rear-yard accessory structures, and interior reconfigurations are where village houses gain space without fighting the street elevation.
- There is no blanket certificate-of-appropriateness requirement for private exterior work today, but the town has a Historic Preservation Commission and a conservation district has been proposed — confirm the current rule before designing a visible facade change.
- Eagle Creek and its ravines run near the village, so check the flood hazard map before planning a rear addition or a basement.
FAQ
Questions about Historic Downtown Zionsville (Brick Street)
Keep exploring
Other Zionsville neighborhoods
Sources
- Zionsville Zoning Ordinance, Chapter 194 (American Legal)
- Town of Zionsville — Planning & Building Department
- Zoning Classifications by Subdivision (Town of Zionsville)
- Boone County Area Plan Commission (unincorporated areas)
- Zionsville 2021 Village Core Historic District Survey (PDF)
- SullivanMunce — Village Architectural Styles (PDF)
- Main Street Zionsville — Brick by Brick
Start your project
Planning an addition or ADU in Historic Downtown Zionsville (Brick Street)?
Tell us about your lot and what you're hoping to do. We'll write back within one business day.