Osborne Home - 955 North Campbell Avenue
Year Built: 1908Architecture Style: Arts and CraftsKey Features:River Rock Siding and Chimney Grouped Windows Wrap PorchBenjamin Osborne was a farmer who built this house as his dream house when he was 60 years old. He culled nearby Pleasant Run stream for boulders and positioned the home amidst beech, oak, maple, elm, poplar, and red bud trees. They called the house Beechwood.The Osbornes predated the founding of Irvington and must have watched in amazement as the community began to grow ever closer to their farm. After the completion of Pleasant Run Parkway in 1911, developers began to approach the Osbornes, who in turn sold off parcels of their property as the land around them was developed. The Osborne home was not razed, but was instead placed in an oval plot of land. Builders constructed tasteful Tudor Revival and craftsman bungalows around the Osborne home.Mr. Brown, the developer, placed several restrictions upon the development. All homes had to cost at least $1800 or more and were required to be set back at least forty feet. He decreed that no duplexes, businesses, or apartments could be built within the new subdivision. He also forbade African-Americans from purchasing lots. It was the 1920s and Indiana was under the grip of the Ku Klux Klan, which we’ll talk more about later during the tour. The nearby Emerson Heights neighborhood had a similar discrimination clause.
Ellenberger Park - 5301 East Saint Clair Street
The Ellenberger family dwelled in a large Italianate farmhouse on what is today East 10th Street. The family was one of the wealthier families in Warren Township and they became even richer when they sold several acres to the city for a park in the early twentieth century. The neighbors loved the forest and had been using it for years. When it came time to pay for the site in the form of an assessment, some neighbors fell out of love and vociferously protested; however, the naysayers did not hold the day and Ellenberger Park remains a valuable green space in the twenty-first century.Shortly after the purchase of the woods, the city hired landscape architect, George Kessler, to develop a boulevard system throughout Marion County. One leg of his design included Pleasant Run Parkway. Kessler envisioned a beautiful drive along the stream and he planned to incorporate the park into his plan. As this photo demonstrates, Kessler clear-cut most of the brush and trees near the stream. In his vision, the driver or stroller would saunter down a lovely paved road and be able to see the meandering stream nearby. Nature would be tightly controlled and yet be an integral part of the experience.
Pleasanton - Intersection of Poplar and Norway
One of the best kept secrets in Irvington is the beautiful little enclave of Pleasanton located east of Emerson and south of Michigan Street. The plat mirrored Irvington's street design with curving avenues and the planting of shade trees. The housing stock is quite diverse with American Four Squares, bungalows, and various revival styles. Most of the housing went up in the early and mid-1920s. Today the neighborhood is fortunate to have original street lights that add to the charm.
Recker Home - 59 North Hawthorne Lane
Year Built: 1908Architecture Style: Arts and CraftsKey Features:Dormers Deep Porch Clapboard SidingRenowned architect and furniture designer, Gustav Stickley is highly admired today. His furniture was worth hundreds and in some cases thousands of dollars in 2000. Only one known Stickley-designed home exists in the State of Indiana and it happens to sit at 59 North Hawthorne Lane in Irvington.Furniture salesman Carlos Recker (1873-1951) and his wife Elizabeth Anne Butler Recker (1877-1973) likely purchased Stickley's No. 28 plan in 1905. They built their dream home three years later in 1908. It is very possible that Recker sold Stickley furniture in his downtown furniture shop called Sander and Recker Furniture. The furniture company operated in Indianapolis from 1901 to 1935. Mr. Recker also moonlighted as an interior decorator and was sought after by numerous wealthy clients. In addition to decorating homes in the Indianapolis area, he was also commissioned to design the interiors of the Columbia Club, the Indiana and Circle Theaters, and the Indiana Ballroom on Indiana University's campus. In his later years, he was highly sought after to appraise antiques.His wife, Elizabeth Anne Butler Recker, certainly made her mark on the City of Indianapolis as well. The great granddaughter of Butler University's founder, Ovid Butler, Mrs. Recker served on several committees regarding child labor and poor relief. At the height of the Great Influenza Epidemic of 1918, Mrs. Recker helped to provide quarts of milk to families afflicted by the plague. Today the home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Clifton Wheeler House - 5317 Lowell Avenue
Year Built: 1912Architecture Style: Arts and CraftsKey Features:Large Overhanging Eaves Large Windows with Tracing Stucco WallsBuilt in 1912, George E. Hoagland (1872-1959) designed the house for Clifton and Hilah Drake Wheeler, both renowned local artists. Mr. Wheeler (1883-1953) at the time taught at the John Herron Institute of Art under the direction of another Irvingtonian, William Forsyth.Both Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler studied in Europe under some of the most eminent artists of their day. They actually met and fell in love in Europe while taking a class instructed by William Merritt Chase. Mrs. Wheeler (1878-1970) came from the prominent Drake family, who were also artists and art critics living in New York City.The Wheelers asked their architect to design a large space to serve as a studio and classroom. Mr. Hoagland placed a tall door on the westside of the house so that large canvases could be easily moved in or out. He also placed four tall windows facing Lowell Avenue so that the artists could receive light from the north. Wheeler painted the Circle Theatre mural of dancers. Irvington neighbor Carlos Recker was in charge of decorating the theatre and Wheeler may have gotten the commission through Recker. When the mural was restored in the 1980s, experts verified the color palette through paint containers still stored in the Wheeler’s Irvington House.
Schwarb Home - 306 North Irvington Avenue
Year Built: 1901Architecture Style: Queen AnneKey Features:Decorative Siding Features Large Wrap Porch Multiple Front Gables
Lavelle House - 5720 Lowell Avenue
Year Built: 1923Architecture Style: Prairie StyleKey Features:Low Pitch Roof with Large Overhanging Eaves Light-Colored Brick Construction Large Windows with Decorative TracingThe beautiful brick home is one of the best examples of the Prairie style located within the City of Indianapolis. Built in 1923, the Lavelles moved in in the 1930s. Mr. Lavelle owned and ran a large foundry so he could afford the $15,000 price tag for a tasteful home.
Thornton House - 75 North Audubon Road
Year Built: 1914Architecture Style: CraftsmanKey Features:Fieldstone and Stucco Walls. Red Tile Roof Decorative TimberingThis Craftsman style house was built in 1914 by Florence and George Thornton.
Irvington United Methodist Church / Jacob Dorsey Forrest House - 30 North Audubon Road
Year Built: 1906Architecture Style: Tudor RevivalKey Features:Decorative Timbering Elaborate Door Surround with Archway and Parapet Decorative Vergeboard Small Paned WindowsJames Dorsey Forrest was a professor of sociology and economics at Butler University, beginning in 1897. His wife, Albertina Allen Forrest, also taught at Butler. Within a few years of his wife's death, Forrest was living in the large brick Tudor Revival-style house constructed in 1906 in the southern portion of the circle at 30 North Audubon Road. He resigned his chair at Butler in 1909 to become president of the Citizens Gas Company.Butler president Thomas Carr Howe purchased the house in 1914 and lived there for a decade before selling it to the Irvington United Methodist Church in 1924.Architect Herbert Foltz designed an addition, which was constructed north of the original house and the $218,574 church was dedicated in September 1926. To learn more about the history of this building, read this article.
Julian Home - 115 South Audubon
Year Built: 1873Architecture Style: ItalianateKey Features: Decorative Brackets Tall Narrow Windows with Full Arches Attic Level WindowsThis graceful Italianate dwelling was built in 1873, and is one of the most important landmarks in Irvington. It was the home of George Washington Julian, brother of one of Irvington’s co-founders. George Julian was a 19th century lawyer, writer, and anti-slavery advocate who served 5 terms in the US Congress. He hosted both Frederick Douglas and Sojourner Truth in his home. Indianapolis Public School #57 is named for him.Julian’s daughter, Grace Juilian Clarke, and her husband lived here until the 1930s, after which the home served as private residence, a boarding house for railroad workers, and as the Huff Sanitarium. By the mid-1980s the vacant home had become an eyesore and some wanted the structure demolished. Thankfully, Indiana Landmarks purchased the building, placed the home on the National Register of Historic Places, and put protective covenants on the exterior of the house. They then sold it to a family who has been restoring it. This is an example of how Indiana Landmarks seeks to fulfill its mission of saving meaningful places and revitalizing communities.Serial killer H.H. Holmes rented a house behind the Julian house when he was in Indianapolis after fleeing Chicago. The house that stands on the lot today is not the one Holmes rented; that house was demolished.
Commercial District - 200 Block of South Audubon Road
Irvington was modeled after Glendale, a suburb of Cincinnati. In the Glendale plan, locals built a small commercial area near the railroad depot. Irvington founders did the same, constructing most of these commercial structures in the late nineteenth century.A grocery store, a dry goods store, a post office, a fraternal lodge, and numerous other businesses have occupied the structures over the years, which now house a small set of local shops. We’re on the Pennsy Trail, currently a bike trail and the former Pennsylvania Rail line. The depot for the Pennsylvania Railroad sat where the modern gray home with red shutters sits today.In the 1890s, there was a house that sat just behind the train depot. When notorious serial killer H.H. Holmes (the alias for Herman Webster Mudgett) got off the train in Irvington, he rented this house for a short time. Although his time here in Irvington was brief, Holmes killed a 10-year old boy, Howard Pitzel, cut him up, burned the pieces, and buried the remains in the yard.
South Irvington Circle Park
The winding streets and the Circle are examples of the progressive ideas that were built into the Irvington plan when the neighborhood was founded. The circle is one of three in the neighborhood, and has been a part of the neighborhood since the 1870s.Irvington was named after the American writer, Washington Irving. Many of its streets and roads were also named after notable figures in American history and literature: Hawthorne, Emerson, Audubon. A limestone bust of Irving was placed in the park in 1936, but was eventually moved to the grounds of School #57 on East Washington Street. The current bust was forged by factory workers at the International Harvester plant on Brookville Road here in Irvington in 1971.
Oberholzter Home - 5802 University Avenue
Year Built: 1902Architecture Style: Arts and CraftsKey Features: Central Fireplace and Decorative Masonry Double Front Doors Decorative Window over PorchDuring the roaring ‘20s, Indianapolis was flourishing as many high end car makers like Duesenberg were producing cars in the city. Prohibition came into effect to the delight or dismay of residents. And the Ku Klux Klan held a great deal of political power throughout the state.Madge Oberholzter was a young woman with dark hair, who lived in this house with her parents. She attended Butler University here in Irvington, although she didn’t graduate. She worked for the State of Indiana.She met D.C. Stephenson, the Grand Dragon of the KKK who was seeking to expand the Klan’s power even more in 1925. The story of Madge and D.C. Stephenson was not only a city and a state tragedy, but a national tragedy as well.D.C. Stephenson joined the KKK in 1920, while living in Evansville. Through cunning and charisma, he quickly rose to the position of Grand Dragon of Indiana, and was the most powerful man in the state due to the Klan’s influence in all levels of politics.In 1925, he was attempting to get KKK ideas integrated into Indiana school curriculum. Madge Oberholzter was a state employee who Stevenson thought could assist him. Stephenson set out to woo Madge to his cause, and invited her to what he said was a party at his house. Unfortunately, instead of a party, Stephenson kidnapped, raped, and tortured the 28-year old woman on a train bound for Chicago.After Stephenson’s brutal attack and rape on the train to Chicago, Madge took poison and attempted suicide. Stephenson’s henchmen left Madge on her parent’s doorstep. It took Madge a month to die, mostly from her infected injuries from Stephenson’s attack. Before her death, her doctor heard her deathbed confession. D.C. Stephenson, the formerly untouchable powerhouse, was charged and convicted of rape and murder. Madge’s confession was instrumental in bringing down Stephenson and by extension, the KKK in Indiana. Her death, though tragic, was critical in the dramatic decline of the KKK.
Children's Guardian’s Home - 5751 University Avenue
Year Built: Circa 1890sArchitecture Style: Colonial RevivalKey Features: Elaborate Door Surround Tall Narrow Windows KeystonesCaught up in the Progressive movement of the late nineteenth century, several generous residents provided an opportunity for the Marion County Board of Children’s Guardians to locate their shelter in the neighborhood. The Children’s Guardians Home was a shelter for abused and battered children and those orphaned or abandoned up to the age of 18. The Guardian home closed in 2009 and is now the home of the Irvington Charter High School.
Oak Avenue
Many of the homes we’re about to pass were fraternity and sorority houses for Butler University.Oak Avenue features beautiful old oak trees and contrasting architectural styles. Note the diversity of the architecture with Queen Anne, American Arts and Crafts, and even a few post World War II cottages as we walk along. Here are two houses that illustrate the differences between Queen Anne and the Arts and Crafts style.Queen Anne - 5825 Oak Avenue:Loud, whereas Arts and Crafts is quiet Asymmetrical Round or polygonal corner tower Decorative spindlework on porches and gable trimArts and Crafts - 5828 Oak Avenue:Quiet, whereas Queen Anne is loud A reaction to Queen Anne architecture featuring many smaller rooms and parlors. A&C rooms tend to be larger, rectangular open spaces Full or partial front porch with sturdy columns Low pitched gable or hipped roof Overhanging eaves with exposed rafters or braces
Pi Beta Phi Sorority - 275 South Audubon Road
Year Built: 1905Architecture Style: Arts and CraftsKey Features:Large Central Gabled Dormer Gambrel Roof Large Porch with Brick SupportsMany of the private residences along South Audubon were converted into fraternity and sorority homes for Butler University students in the 1920s.
Eudorus Johnson Home - 5631 University Avenue
Year Built: 1876Architecture Style: Victorian GothicKey Features: Rounded Turrets with Dormers High Gables Steeple Roof Decorative VergeboardThe “Castle House” is an outstanding example of Victorian Gothic; it features high gables, round turrets and a steeple roof. It was built in 1876 for the Eudorus Johnson Family. Johnson served as Indianapolis city controller and afterwards in the banking industry. Numerous other families have dwelled in the residence over the decades. In the mid-twentieth century it was carved into apartments although it was returned into a single family residence again by the 1980s.
Barnard House - 5543 University Avenue
Year Built: 1908Architecture Style: Queen AnneKey Features: Double Front Porch Clapboard Siding Double Hung WindowsHarry and Marion Barnard moved into this house about 1908. Mr. Barnard was the food and drug commissioner for the State of Indiana and he frequently made the news for closing down bakeries or other unsanitary food establishments. Mrs. Barnard was an active suffragist and club woman in Irvington.Numerous other families and individuals have lived in this home including Guy Shadinger. Dr. Shadinger was a chemistry professor at Butler University, and in 1925, he was named the most handsome professor on campus.
Blount House - 5470 University Avenue
Year Built: 1879Architecture Style: Italianate Key Features: Large Wrap Porch with Gazebo Tall Narrow Windows with Keystones Low Pitch RoofThis Italianate house was built in 1879 for Reverend Robert Silas Blount. His father, Rev. Brazillia Blount, brought his family to Irvington so his children could attend Butler University.
Graham-Stephenson House - 5432 University Avenue
Year Built: 1889Architecture Style: Colonial RevivalKey Features: Ionic Portico Symmetrical Facade Large Central DormerI’m going to ask you to take a good look at this house and remember it. Despite its stately design, it’s part of a dark chapter in Indiana’s 20th century history.Prior to these dark deeds, the house was built in 1889 by William Graham, a Civil War veteran and American Consul to Winnipeg, Canada. After William's death, Mrs. Graham rented the house to a Butler University sorority in 1922. By 1923, Mrs. Graham decided to sell the house to D.C. Stephenson, the 1920s leader of the KKK in Indiana.Stevenson added the full height Ionic portico which transforms the house into a grand and forceful statement. This may have been his intention; however, an equally viable explanation is that he simply meant to impress visitors of his political power.In 1925, he was attempting to get KKK ideas integrated into Indiana school curriculum. Madge Oberholzter was a state employee who Stevenson thought could assist him. In 1925, Stephenson invited Madge to a party at his house in his continuing campaign to woo her to his ideas. Unfortunately, there was no party. Instead Stephenson kidnapped, raped, and tortured the 28-year old Madge. She took poison and committed suicide. Her doctor heard her deathbed confession, which was instrumental in bringing down Stephenson and the KKK in Indiana. Her death, though tragic, was critical in the dramatic decline of the KKK.
Benton House - 312 Downey Avenue
Year Built: 1873Architecture Style: Second EmpireKey Features: Mansard Roof Large Tower and Narrow Windows Decorative Brackets Built in 1873, on a beautifully wooded lot, the Benton House is a charming example of the Second Empire style of architecture (note the Mansard roof, tower, and tall narrow windows indicative of this architectural style). It was built by Nicholas Ohmer, and was one of five styles intended to be models for the community of Irvington. However, the economic panic of 1873 forced people to build more modest homes on smaller lots, as you can see all around us. For twenty years, it was the home of Allen R. Benton, twice president of Butler University in Irvington. One hundred years after it was built, the home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
Charles Cross House - 322 Downey Avenue
Year Built: Circa 1898Architecture Style: American Four Square with Shinge InfluencesKey Features: Bay Windows Decorative Trim ShinglesThe Grubb-McFarland-Cross House was built around 1898. It combines influences of the Shingle Style (a late 19th century style; note the characteristic shingles on the flat walls) with a new type which was just emerging, the American Four Square (square boxy design; popular 1910-1930).A series of early owners held this house, including Charles and Laura Lott Cross from 1913 to 1931. Mr. Cross was a prominent real estate speculator and is thought to have built several homes in Irvington.
Bona Thompson Memorial Center - 5350 University Avenue
Year Built: 1903Architecture Style: NeoclassicalKey Features:Doric Columns Highly Decorated Pediment over Elaborate Door Surround Symmetrical Aesthetic Fully Arched WindowsThe Bona Thompson Center is home to the Irvington Historical Society. It is a historic building on the original Butler University campus and was designed by Henry H. Dupont and Jesse T. Johnson. It was constructed in 1903, during the period from 1875 to 1928 when Irvington was the home of Butler University. Except for the library and former university president's home, Benton House, all the other Butler University buildings in Irvington have been demolished.To learn more about the activities of the Irvington Historical Society, Check out their website: http://www.irvingtonhistorical.info/
