Double Take: Homes With Indianapolis History
THE COTTAGE
1454 E. 10th St.
$415,000
2,593 square feet / 3 bedrooms, 2 baths
Agent: Joe Everhart, Everhart Studio, 317-916-1052
A plaster craftsman who worked on the Indiana Theatre’s facade and the bygone Claypool Hotel built his own home with exquisite details. Masonry blocks on the exterior corners, called quoins, look like they came from an English country cottage. Delicate trimwork outlines the front gable. Inside, one ceiling medallion is in the shape of a dragon. Realtor Joe Everhart has been inside countless old homes in Indianapolis, and even he was blown away by the moldings in this three-bedroom, two-bath charmer. “Nothing prepared me for the jaw-drop when I walked in,” he says. “It’s kind of a Where’s Waldo? house. Find the angel. Find the dragon. Where are the faces?”
After Everhart and his partner poured more money than they expected into restoring the plaster, they were happy to find that home values in the near-eastside’s Windsor Park have exploded. The openings of Centerpoint Brewing and new townhomes have helped renovated houses sell in the upper $300,000s, he says. Surely this house has more style than any other in the neighborhood. Everhart went with a dark graphite gray in some rooms because it “seemed to be the perfect foil to the light-and-white.” The kitchen, one of those dark rooms, has a Wolf gas range, glass china cabinets, and commercial undercounter refrigerator and freezer. Everhart set the stage for a stunningly modern yet soulful space. The feedback after it landed on a popular Facebook page called For Love of Old Houses has amounted to an outpouring of affection for a place that has caught many a passerby’s eye. “I think as much as anything else, what makes me happy is that people recognize the house for what it is,” Everhart says.
The house is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and it was measured and photographed in 1958 for a national survey on historic buildings, all of which records are online. Historic Indianapolis has the full story on the home’s history.
Photos by The Home Aesthetic
THE CONDO
350 N. Meridian St. #102
$1,525,000
2,985 square feet / 2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms
Agent: Sam Hawkins, F.C. Tucker Co., 317-679-9211
Even before John Mellencamp attached his name to this Athletic Club pad as its owner, it already had plenty of Indiana history. Back when the Athletic Club was a bastion of powerful members, Tony Hulman signed the papers to buy the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the 500 Club restaurant. It’s likely that Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Lyndon B. Johnson all dined there. Benny Goodman spent the night in 1939 and played his clarinet for swimmers at the club’s pool. Mellencamp and designer Gary Nance turned the 500 Club into a two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath condo when the building (listed in the National Register of Historic Places) was converted to living quarters about a decade ago. Despite its location on the ground level, it and another first-floor unit feel like the building’s penthouses. The 20-foot-tall ceilings and grand moldings make a luxurious statement, and the condo is tricked out with full automation and a Sonos sound system. The building’s entrance was designed to mimic the entry of the Venice Palace in Rome, and just off the lobby, double doors leads to Unit 102. We’ll take this over a little pink house any day.
Photos by Casey Cronin
