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Irvington's Architectural Diversity
By Paul Diebold

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PERIOD REVIVAL

While the bungalow and four squares of the Arts & Crafts movement were sweeping aside the cobwebs of the Victorian era on the one hand, architects, builders, and homeowners soon tired of the plainness of the style.  As early as the late 1890s, architects became re-interested in the buildings of Colonial America.  World War I exposed many Americans to European, especially British, architecture first-hand.  By the 1920s, the period styles, those that sought a particular time and place as inspiration, were back on the scene.  Unlike the Victorian revivals of past styles, the new revival style was more archeological in feeling, more precise in detail on the one hand, but, simpler in execution on the other.

Edward James House On East Pleasant Run Parkway South Drive

Indianapolis architect Edward James designed this home for his family in the early 1930s.  The early Tidewater Colonial houses of Virginia, or perhaps the Cape Cod cottages of the east were the inspiration for James’ Colonial Revival design.  James was a well-known architect and founder of the firm of James Associates.  An interesting fact related to this revival design: James was a draftsman for the first Historic American Building Survey team from Indiana; this New Deal program hired architects to record historic buildings.  The Indiana team worked all around the state, making drawings and taking photos of historic buildings.

Tudor Revival Cottage on East 9th Street

The design trend in housing moved away from larger houses in the 1920s and 30s.  This c.1930 Tudor Revival cottage offered living on one floor and the new amenity of an attached garage.  As with many such Tudor Revival cottages, the “ornament” is in the design itself; the picturesque gables and chimney and in the use of materials.  The selection of random-laid sandstone veneer makes this house stand out among its brick and limestone neighbors.

Colonial Revival House on North Campbell Avenue

Even in Colonial times, North American houses could reflect the many different cultures coming to the eastern seaboard.  The builder of this c.1925 house looked to the Dutch houses of the 18th century for inspiration.  Dutch Colonial Revival houses, like their original namesakes, are nearly always recognizable by their gambrel (double pitched gable) roofs.  In the 18th century as well as in the 20th century the gambrel roof had the virtue of “stealing” space: it had two floors of living space without having to build a true two story house.  The well-scaled portico adds period detail and refinement.

Haislip House on East 9th Street

Indianapolis homebuilder Frank Thomas designed this house in 1931.  Tan brick with steep gables and random stonework, the house is Tudor Revival in style.

Commercial Building at Audubon Road and East Washington Street

Indianapolis architect Art Fleck designed this strip of shops in 1928.  This and others like it in Indianapolis were “drive up” shops – the architect intended that the deep sidewalks would be available for parking right in front of the store you were visiting.  The high undercarriages of autos of the era made curb jumping easy.  In time, such parking practices were outlawed because of the danger they posed to pedestrians, but, clearly, Fleck and his generation of architects invented the “commercial strip” so ubiquitous today.

Fleck chose Tudor Revival to give the shops a sense of both unity and individuality.  Though subtle in difference, the storefronts do vary, while the overall Tudor style unifies the shopping center.  The Tudor gables, half-timbering, and stone quoin work gives the building an appealing scale.  The front roof is purely stylistic and “false” – the real roof is flat.  In the 1920s and 30s, merchants operated a bakery, grocery store and jewelry store here.  Currently, you can visit Irvington’s outstanding businesses in this strip of shops, including Annie’s Apparel vintage clothing, Homespun artisan goods, Help My Mac computer repair, and restaurants: Dufour’s, Jockamo’s Pizza, and The Legend.