Barnett Brothers Mercantile Company

This fine two-story sandstone building with a facade of pressed and butter brick remains one of the most impressive commercial buildings in downtown Batesville. After fire destroyed their building at the corner of 3rd and Main, the three Barnett brothers—Ira, James, and Charles—purchased the 108-foot-wide site across the street and commissioned this building. The store remained in the family until it closed in 1988. The building originally had three front entrances, including one at the corner. In 1916, the brothers added a large stable and stopover facilities to accommodate farm families and others coming long distances to shop and do business. This addition could hold up to seventy horses and mules and thirty buggies and wagons. On the second story the row of fourteen arched windows are united by stone voussoirs that are linked by a continuous stone band. Further unifying the extremely wide facade are stone stringcourses, delicate brick corbeling in the recessed panels above the windows, and a bracketed metal cornice. Inside, a balcony surrounds all four sides of the interior overlooking the main floor, while the second floor housed offices, meeting rooms, and a large warehouse area. The interior preserves its original pressed metal ceiling. On the next block at 347 E. Main is another Barnett Brothers building (1940), a one-story office block in a severe modernist fashion with a marble facade.