More than forty of the firm's projects are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including several of D. A. Bohlen's designs: Morris-Butler House (1864); Saint John the Evangelist Catholic Church (1871), its rectory (1863), and bishop's residence (1878); Indianapolis's Roberts Park Methodist Church (1876) and Crown Hill Cemetery's Gothic Chapel (1877); and in collaboration with his son, Oscar D. Bohlen, the Indianapolis City Market (1886).
[2] The District is of statewide significance on the National Register of Historic Places, for its contribution to architectural, educational and religious history.
Prior to his death in 1890, Bohlen collaborated with his son, Oscar, on the design for Tomlinson Hall (1886), located adjacent to the Indianapolis City Market.
Bohlen was born on January 17, 1827, in Cadenberge, Kingdom of Hanover, approximately 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Hamburg, Germany.
Before establishing his own architectural firm in 1853, Bohlen assisted Costigan in completing construction of the Indiana School for the Blind (1851) on North Street in Indianapolis.
His early commissions in Indianapolis included the Charles Mayer store façade (1853), the dome for Odd Fellows Grand Lodge (1854), and the Metropolitan (1858), the city's first theater.
[11][12] On July 9, 1863, Bohlen enlisted in the Union army, when Governor Oliver P. Morton called for volunteers to defend the state after Confederate General John Hunt Morgan crossed the Ohio River into southern Indiana during the American Civil War.
The 107th Indiana was one of fourteen "Minute Men" regiments and a battalion formed for emergency service during Morgan's Raid.
[13] In the 1860s and early 1870s, Bohlen designed several residences for well-to-do families, including Indianapolis's Morris-Butler House (1864),[14] the Crown Hill Cemetery superintendent's home (1869) on the cemetery grounds,[15] and Churchman House (1871), also known as Hillside, for Indianapolis banker Francis M. Churchman on his farm, which later became part of Beech Grove, Indiana.
[20] After a fire destroyed the motherhouse in 1889, Oscar Bohlen continued his father's legacy as community architect at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, designing the Providence convent (1890).
[41] Although Bohlen's firm designed private residences, it specialized in institutional projects, especially religious, educational, and civic buildings.