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"Look at the rafter tails on this one over here," he says, pointing
out the beautifully carved details on a home in the Johnson's Woods
neighborhood. "They are hard to see, but if you really look hard
..." Indianapolis is filled with wonderful neighborhoods like this
one, clearly influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement, but with
their own regional twist.
 Kipp
feels the origin of the bungalow in Indianapolis can be found in
the city's oldest neighborhoods, like Lockerbie, acharming area
filled with small, unpretentious Victorian homes. "Indianapolis
developed mainly in the late-19th century, and at that timethere
were many small, one-story, gabled-roof Victorian cottages -- the
predecessor to the bungalow here," Kipp says. "If you take that
basic floor plan -- stretch it out and make the rooms a little bigger
-- you have a bungalow. As the city grew and expanded, developers
would subdivide farmland and entirely new neighborhoods would go
up."
Bungalow neighborhoods
began to appear around 1905, but the Craftsman
influence,with deep porches, low-pitched roofs and wide overhangs,
didn't materialize until a few years later. 
Indianapolis doesn't have a distinct bungalow
style of its own, like you might see in Chicago or Pasadena, but
builders did seem to have a preference for old-world elements.
"The dominant
style of bungalows in Indianapolis is a hybrid, a cross between
the Craftsman influence and German revival styles," Kipp says. "This
was a very Germanic city, and many builders couldn't resist adding
German heraldic symbols and other elements to their designs. The
medieval look was very popular here, but the more modern-looking
Prairie Style was not. It just didn't take here. Indianapolis is
a fairlyconservative city and always has been, so you don't see
much in the way of
modern architectural styles."
This is
true -- Indianapolis doesn't feel like the nation's 12th-largest
city. Instead, many of its neighborhoods have a suburban or country
feel, some with winding or rambling streets, others with gentle
hills and ravines. The design of the homes reflects the relaxed
lifestyle and "good life" that the nation was looking for in the
1910s and '20s. In fact, many homes here would fit in comfortably
with the wooded, rolling hills of the southern part of the state,
and seem to be custom-made for the popular art and furnishings that
could be found in the region at the turn of the 20th century: furniture
made by the Old Hickory Chair Company, Overbeck sisters' art pottery
and the pastoral landscape paintings by the Hoosier Salon of artists.
Many wonderful
bungalows can be found in Indianapolis, both mixed into older Victorian
neighborhoods like Irvington and Woodruff Place, and in the denser
bungalow neighborhoods like Guilford/Winthrop and the Butler University
area. They were built using a variety of materials, with wood frame
dominating the earliest examples, but brick was also popular, particularly
in the 1920s. Many homes have brickwork incorporated into their
designs, either as part of the foundation or supporting piers, or
in combination with wood clapboard. Stucco was used sparingly, though
you do see it as an architectural accent and in some Spanish Colonial
designs. Tile roofs were common on the more expensive bungalows,
with wood shingles or asphalt roofing utilized on more modest designs.
Bungalow interiors
were similarly well-constructed, with built-in bookcases in the
living room, china cabinets in the dining room and generous woodwork
throughout, trimmed in oak or a regional favorite -- dark-stained
poplar.
 Perhaps
Indianapolis' best known bungalow is Tuckaway, a Craftsman-style
home literally tucked away into a heavily wooded lot in the Historic
Meridian Park neighborhood on the city's north side. Built in 1906,
it was enlarged and expanded by owners George and Nellie Meier in
1910 to accommodate the couple's lavish social life. The history
of the house is rich with stories of the country's most prominent
artists, writers and politicians visiting the home to be entertained,
and more importantly, to have their palms read by Nellie, a renowned
practitioner of what she described as "scientific palmistry." Visitors
included Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, Walt Disney and George
Gershwin, who weren't looking to have their fortunes told, but rather
to have the lines on their hands analyzed and studied.
Current Tuckaway
owner Ken Keene Jr., who purchased the bungalow in 1972, has painstakingly
restored the house to its past glory. The results are magical --
the house doesn't appear to have changed at all in the last century,
from the pictures on the walls to the ice card in the kitchen window.
"This neighborhood had been practically deserted when I bought the
house 31 years ago; it was just terrible," Ken says. "But when I
saw Tuckaway for the first time through a dense overgrowth of shrubs
and trees, it seemed as if I had entered another dimension. It was
very 'Disney-esque.' I just stood there and said, 'I'm home.' "
 The
house was a treasure trove of autographs, letters and palm prints
when Ken bought it, but most of the original furnishings had already
been sold. His goal was not to rehab or update the house, but to
respect both the original design and the history that took place
there. Now, filled with mica lamps, Oriental rugs and other decorative
arts of the period, the house feels like a window to the past.
"What I've tried
to do is a preservation," Ken says. "I've redecorated and cleaned,
but not much more. Of course, money is a big part of this -- if
you don't have any and you are an artist -- it's a good thing. What
could have happened was that I might have changed things -- and
made terrible mistakes. Instead, I've learned to appreciate it for
what it really is. It's now listed on the National Register of Historic
Places."
Ken's neighborhood
has made great strides as well, due in part to a strong community
association. "We are a very well-organized neighborhood, and we
do a lot together," he says. "We raise money for the beautification
of the area, and believe me, that was not what it was like when
I first moved here. This whole block was in jeopardy of being torn
down, and now it's a wonderful area."
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Like many
large cities, Indianapolis went through growing pains in the
1960s and '70s and some neighborhoods suffered. Today, however,
the city is on the rebound, going through a building boom
that has brought new life to even the city's poorest neighborhoods.
David Kiernan, a Realtor who grew up in a bungalow in the
city's Haughville neighborhood, is pleased to see the changes
taking place.
"The revitalization
of downtown Indianapolis really led to the neighborhood's
comeback," he says. "Because once that happened, pride returned
to the city and its neighborhoods. At first change took place
in little pockets and smaller neighborhoods, and then it began
to happen in a bigger way. Fall Creek Place is a good example
of this kind of revitalization. Fall Creek always had terrible
problems with crime and drugs, but now they are building new
houses there intermixed with the old houses, including a vintage
bungalow model. People are coming from all over to live there,
and from all age groups. The development is doing well."
Located
near downtown, Fall Creek Place could serve as a model for
the redevelopment of blighted areas. Once pockmarked by vacant
lots and abandoned buildings, it now is filled with activity,
including the renovation of old houses and families moving
into new ones. The vintage character of the neighborhood is
retained by controlling the design of new construction, requiring
homes to blend in with the existing home stock.
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And north of
Fall Creek Place, Kipp is doing his part for neighborhood change
in a 1920s bungalow purchased six years ago in the Guilford/Winthrop
neighborhood. He's restoring his home with the attention to detail
you would expect from someone who makes his living monitoring design
in the city's historic districts -- complete with a working 1930s
stove and refrigerator -- and filling it with art and artifacts
he has found in the city.
"Many first-time
home buyers have come to this neighborhood because it gives them
the opportunity to put some sweat equity into a house and see a
return on their investment," Kipp says. "And this is a very diverse
neighborhood, too. There are older people who have been living here
for years, families with kids, and young people. In fact, a local
magazine has now labeled the area as the new hip neighborhood for
artists and musicians."
Attracted to
his bungalow neighborhood for both its affordability and its homes,
Kipp hopes the vintage character and charm remain intact as new
residents move in. "It's the attractiveness of the architecture
that draws people to these old neighborhoods," Kipp says. "If the
houses get torn down or re-muddled -- in the name of progress --
it would be a real loss."
Hopefully, with
so many committed to preserving Indianapolis' historic neighborhoods,
the city's distinctive architecture will be enjoyed for generations
to come.
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