Realty Check: Queen Anne In Noblesville

Before Hamilton County had a hospital, sick residents would show up to this house, and those who required extended treatment would stay in one of the bedrooms. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the Dr. Samuel Harrell House still features the stained-glass insert saying “S. Harrell M.D.” just off the portico entrance that patients used. If they arrived at night, a whistle tube in the wall would summon the doctor from his bedroom. The doctor and his brother opened the county’s first infirmary, aptly named the Harrell Hospital.

Built in 1898, the home is one of Noblesville’s most outstanding examples of Queen Anne architecture. The doctor spared no expense in building his mansion. From the three-story, polygonal tower with a cast-iron finial to the Tuscan columns on a wraparound porch and corbeled chimneys, the exterior is classically elegant. It’s easy to imagine carriages parked outside, and it’s rumored that President Theodore Roosevelt stayed here in 1902.

While the interior boasts molded plaster ceilings and gorgeous stained-glass windows, it’s the extensive, original oak woodwork that steals the show. The staircase features intricate square balusters, with cavetto molding and delicate spindles. Fretwork continues in the wooden archways of the master bedroom and parlor, which also includes complex carvings of matching griffins.

Major renovations have been kept to a minimum, though the current owners did replace the carriage house with an eight-car garage that has 3,000 feet of living space on the second floor. Going along with the main house’s four bedrooms, three-and-a-half bathrooms, and five fireplaces for a total of 8,000 square feet, that’s quite a spread just a few blocks from Noblesville’s square. In a setting this beautiful, you may wish house calls would make a comeback.

Want to Buy It?

Address
399 N. 10th St., Noblesville
Price
$850,000
Agent
Kurt Meyer, 317-847-9258, F.C. Tucker

Gallery (Images courtesy RC Fine Portraits):