Irvington
Irvington is Indianapolis's largest protected historic district and one of its most distinct neighborhoods, period. Founded in 1870 as a planned suburban retreat about five miles east of downtown, it still feels like its own small town — tree-lined streets, Ellenberger Park, the Pleasant Run Trail, and a downtown-adjacent business strip with real local character. It's known citywide for its Historic Irvington Halloween Festival, one of the oldest and largest in the country, running continuously since the 1940s with a costume parade, live music, a 5-mile run, and neighborhood ghost tours — which tells you most of what you need to know about the neighborhood's personality: artsy, historic, and unapologetically proud of itself.
As Indianapolis's largest historic district, inventory here is genuinely large relative to other historic neighborhoods on this list, which means more selection and a wider range of price points than in a smaller district like Lockerbie Square. That said, historic district guidelines apply to exterior renovations, so buyers planning significant changes should understand the review process going in rather than after closing.
The ghost tours aren't just for atmosphere. In 1894, the notorious con man and serial killer H.H. Holmes briefly rented a cottage in Irvington — a documented piece of true-crime history, not local legend, and one that local historians still talk about. Beyond that, most of the "haunted house" stories that make the rounds during the festival are neighborhood lore, not documented fact — good fun during Halloween week, not a reason to worry about the other 51 weeks of the year.
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