Avriel Shull -- finally the beginnings of a database

I've been tracking Avriel Shull for many years now. I am finally getting my files organized.  Here is the beginning of a database of Avriel Shull designed buildings.  I still have many to add from my own collection of notes, but thought it would be fun to let you all have a gander at what I'm doing.  I wrote the National Register of Historic Places nomination for Thornhurst Historic District, where there are 21 additional Avriel-designed homes, and I have records on a dozen others still to add.  If you know of an Avriel design that I don't have here, please drop me a note at connie@cresourcesinc with an address and a photo if you have one.  If not, I'll be happy to hop over and snap one.  Also, I know Avriel worked in states other than Indiana, I'd love to get photos of those buildings.  Check back, I'll be updating this page as time allows.  All materials copyright C. Resources unless otherwise cited.

Blog Interrupted

This poor blog has taken a back seat to dozens of other more pressing issues lately.  It's been months since I last posted.  But I've been busy working on a few things.  Here's a window into what I've been doing lately: 

A nomination to the National Register of Historic Places for the Christian Egly House in Berne, Indiana.  A beauty of a home with nice Free Classic features that is close to original inside and out.  Christian and Anna Egly moved into their house, which the local newspaper called a "mansion on the hill" in 1899.  Christian had just opened the Berne Hay & Grain Co. The business thrived, but somehow Christian's finances didn't.  In 1914, he lost the house where his family of 5 had lived for more than a decade.  It sold for $3,370 at a Sheriff's sale held on the steps of the county courthouse in Decatur, Indiana, to Jacob Neuhauser.  Neuhauser lived in the house until his death in 1942.

Christian and Anna Egly House, Berne, Indiana

I've also been doing research in mostly online archival materials for the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art.  I won't spoil their surprise, but there may be an architectural exhibit in their future.  

As always, I've been writing my regular "History 301" column in the Urban Times newspaper.  Most recently about how the City of Indianapolis historically used demolition as a precursor to progress.  And how that's not the case in the current plan to demolish 2,000 buildings, most of which are still in private hands and therefore won't be redeveloped easily.  One of the illustrations for how this city, in the past, demolished only when there was a plan for progress is the story of the deconstruction of the old Cyclorama building, which once housed a mural of a Civil War battle, to make way for the construction of the Traction Terminal and Train Shed. Designed by Daniel Burnham of the 1893 Chicago World's Exposition fame, and built to house all of the interurban and streetcar lines running into and out of the city under one huge free span structure, the trade of old for new made great sense and a good civic improvement then. Not so much these days when we're demolishing old houses to make empty lots. 

 

Indianapolis Star, July 17, 1903 

And I'm beginning research on Leslie Ayers, an Indianapolis architect who created the most amazing architectural renderings for the Indianapolis firm of Pierre and Wright, before branching out into his own architectural firm.  I'm just at the beginning of this research but I'm looking forward to learning and seeing more of Mr. Ayers.  His winning entry for the 1941 Indianapolis Home Show was featured in the Indianapolis Star article below.

 

There have been a few other things, like managing a Facebook page to raise awareness of the current plan for wholesale demolitions in Indianapolis. I think the name properly captures my sentiments about this plan: "Stop the Demolitions, Indianapolis."  https://www.facebook.com/StoptheDemolitionsIndianapolis


And I'm trying to be active in finding alternatives to demolition, not just complaining.  In fact, I'm about to leap into a very active role in making a bricks and clapboard alternative to demolition---partnering to buy and rehab a house that was on the demolition list.  I think she's got great potential.  No way this house should be demolished.  I'll try to keep you posed with pics as we make progress.  

 

 

Enochsburg. Wow! look at these limestone houses! Oh, and the fried chicken is great!

A drive through southeastern Indiana took me into Enochsburg yesterday. Bordering Decatur and Franklin counties, Enochsburg, like much of this area, was settled by German immigrants.  Smaller than nearby Oldenburg, which was and is a Catholic community, Enochsburg's forefathers and -mothers were German Evangelicals. These stalwart immigrants built a stone church on a strong foundation in 1858.  The church still stands today, although the centerpiece of the community is probably the Fireside Inn, which draws a large regional clientele to its tasty fried chicken.

I've eaten my share of fried chicken, but these days it's the limestone church, houses and nearby bridge that fascinate me more. With apologies for my blackberry-snapped photographs, here's a little bit of what's charming about the countryside's built environment in this area.

 
Decatur County isn't, but should be, famous for its beautiful, arched limestone bridges.  A very early limestone industry sprang up in Decatur County (the foundation stone for the second Indiana State House came from Decatur County). This triple-arched bridge on County Line Road just south of Enochsburg is just one example of how the county made aesthetic and practical use of its limestone. Off to the west of this bridge on CR 150 S, is another example, a beautiful stone house.

Although there are metal numbers on the facade of this great vernacular style house that date it to 1880, I suspect it's an even earlier example. Probably from the 1860s.  Isn't she a beauty?

Travel north on County Line Road just a bit and there's another equally beautiful limestone house sitting on a rise, still partly sheltered by the cedar trees that were probably planted in an allee leading to the front door at one time. 

A number of limestone outbuildings remain at the modernized farms nearby and behind some of the more modern bungalows in Enochsburg proper.  These outbuildings attest to the easy pickings for scraps and overburden that were leftover from harvesting stone for proper buildings.  Limestone outcroppings are still visible along the creeks and waterways of the area, too.

Finally, like the German settlers before us, we reach Enochsburg's grand limestone church.  Placed on the highest spot in town it was once the figurative center of community and culture.  It's a beautiful old building; marked 1858 on the gilded tablet in the facade.  Perhaps less of a draw these days than the Fireside Inn's fried chicken, this church reminds us why Enochsburg is here and how our ancestors made the highest use of a local material.

I went to Alert Indiana and found a round barn--and a state bank.

Alert, Indiana, sits at a lonely crossroads in the southwestern corner of Decatur County.  There's very little reason to visit.  Once you find, it you can see why not many people live there. My father, who has lived all his 82 years in the county and now spends a good portion of his time with my mother on daily "country drives," says it's been 60 years since he last drove through Alert.  We drove there yesterday to look for a building shown in the 1882 Atlas of Decatur County.



Alert was important enough to merit its own map in that Atlas (that's it above).  In 1882, it was a town of about 100 souls (probably triple the number who currently call it home), the second largest in Jackson Township after Sardinia, which had twice as many residents. The town had one local merchant, J. W. Spears, who was also Alert's biggest  landholder and a breeder and purveyor of fancy chickens.  Spears' general store, shown in the 1882 lithograph below, no longer stands. Though his house appears to still be the one that's falling down in the spot shown on the lithograph.

The location of the former Spears store is now occupied by a Masonic lodge constructed in the 1920s when the town still had enough residents to populate Alert Lodge #395. Sadly the lodge building has been worked over extensively and badly in the years since it membership died off or left town.

But there are a couple of buildings in Alert that are cool enough to justify the drive there. 

The first is a round barn right at the edge of town (of course the edge of town is only four buildings from the center of town).  Sitting on a rusticated concrete block foundation this barn must date to around 1910.  It's horizontal siding could use a coat of paint but look at those great 9-light windows, not to mention the fabulous cupola on top. Its original owner must have been proud of the state-of-the-art choice he made when he opted for an innovative cutting-edge round barn. Perhaps he was sold on the idea by Benton Steele, Indiana's renowned round-barn designer/builder/promoter. In 2011, the shiny new standing-seam metal roof is a happy sign that someone feels proud of this beauty again.

A round barn was a representation of modernity and innovation in agriculture. Just a couple of doors north of this barn is Alert's other interesting building. On the main street of this town centered on one rural intersection, this bank building was a built environment metaphor for growth and potential when it was constructed around 1900.  The limestone frieze in the bank's brick facade announces it the "Alert State Bank."

Nowadays,  the Alert State Bank is someone's house--a nice reuse of the town's fanciest remaining building---aside from the round barn, that is. 

In this tiny corner of Decatur County, Indiana, be Alert, there's interesting stuff in unexpected places.