Towering over Kirkwood Avenue and Madison Street, the “Batman House” has been home to a funeral parlor, labor union headquarters and, most recently, Garret Antiques.
The Victorian mansion was sold at auction Dec. 1. It was open to visitors Oct. 31 ahead of its sale, offering locals a chance to see the entire home, not just the sections open to the public as part of Garret Antiques. The house was up for auction through Estate & Downsizing Specialists for a month, selling for $760,000.
While what’s next for the Batman House future is unknown, it has a storied past.
The home, which features two floors, a basement, an attic and turrets, was built in 1895 at 403 W. Kirkwood Ave.
The house was built by John Waldron Sr. to celebrate the marriage of his daughter, Mary, and then-attorney Ira C. Batman. The Batman family lived in the home, which was a few blocks from Batman’s law office at 509 W. Kirkwood Ave., according to the 1920-22 city directory, into the 21st century.
After the house left the Batman family, it became the Weir Funeral Home in the 1920s. E.T. Weir and his wife, Grace Weir, both licensed embalmers, operated the funeral home into the 30s, although it closed before the end of the decade. The Weirs advertised their ambulance and 24-hour phone services in the 1929-30 Bloomington city directory.
Following its time as a funeral home, the Batman house became a labor temple. During the 1940s, it housed the Bloomington Labor Temple Association. From the Journeymen Stone Cutters Association of North America to the International Association of Firefighters, dozens of labor groups could be found along West Kirkwood.
Nancy and Dennis Garrett bought the home in 1974 to be the second location for their antique store, as they had already operated another store in Ellettsville for over a decade. Over time, however, the historic house became the sole location of their business.
The house’s transformation to Garret Antiques was completed in the summer of 1976, opening early in July for the U.S. bicentennial.
“In fact,” Dennis Garrett said to The Herald-Times in 1976, “we’re not really ready to open, but felt it would be appropriate if the house could be reopened at the time Bloomington is joining the country in celebrating the bicentennial.”
After over a century of housing different businesses, families and organizations, the future of the “Batman house” is uncertain, although some aspects of the building won’t change.
Department of Housing and Neighborhood Development Program Manager Noah Sandweiss said the house has both local and national historic preservation status. In 2018, Nancy Garrett applied for local preservation status, which Sandweiss said allows for more local oversight.
“And that means that any external alterations to the building that are subject to view from the public right of way would need to be reviewed by the Bloomington Historic Preservation Commission,” Sandweiss said.
The house is a part of the West Side Historic District, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. The national distinction makes certain tax credits and grants available and can protect structures from federal projects.
In 2023, Nancy Garrett died and Garret Antiques closed, leading to the auctioning of her home and portions of her antique collections. Brian Sample, the owner of auction company EDS, said the new homeowner has already met with a restoration contractor with the goal of maintaining the home’s original state.
“What I think they will do is I think they will modernize as far as the mechanicals and plumbing and restroom facilities, things like that,” Sample said. “So I fully expect it will undergo changes, but I do think that they have an intention of keeping it as much as possible as it was built.”
Sample said that the new owner has yet to decide how to use the home but is not planning to reside in it, which might mean the house could be used as a commercial rental property.
Whatever happens to the “Batman House” next, the exterior of the house visible from the street will remain largely untouched, just like the house’s place in Bloomington history.
