From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The James Whitcomb Riley Museum Home, one of
two homes known as the James Whitcomb Riley House
on the National Register of
Historic Places, is a historic building in the Lockerbie Square
Historic District of Indianapolis,
Indiana at 528 Lockerbie Street. It was named a National Historic Landmark
in 1962.[2][3]
History
An Indianapolis baker, John R. Nickum, had the building built in
1872. Nickum had the money to build the house as he had supplied
the Union Army in
Indianapolis with hardtack, a form of cracker despised by
soldiers, during the Civil War. Nickum's daughter,
Magdalena, and her husband Charles Holstein, a lawyer, would
possess it when, in 1893, they invited noted poet James
Whitcomb Riley to live with them. Riley had a bedroom on the
second floor in this building for 23 years, helping the Holsteins
with expenses.[4][5]
After Riley and the Holsteins died, William Fortune bought it in
1916. He would later, presumably at the behest of Booth
Tarkington, transfer ownership to the James Whitcomb Riley
Memorial Association five years later. Due to so little time having
passed from Riley's death to its preservation, most of the items of
the household items of Riley's day, except for the kitchen, remain
within the domicile.[6][7][8][9][10]
Due to Riley's fame, it is the best known of the domiciles in
the Lockerbie Square Historic District. The Riley Children's Foundation
operates the museum. Noted items are the wicker chair which he frequently used after his
stroke in 1911, and the bed on
which he died on July 22, 1916.[11][12]
Structure
notes
The structure is a two-story brick house on a stone foundation
and full basement that is considered an excellent example of Italianate architecture typical
of the neighborhood's homes built in the 1860s and 1870s. Slate shingles cover a roof which has wide
overhanging eaves and decorated brackets, and is low-pitched
hipped. Other features of the house are a central tower with
oval-glazed paired doors, and masonry crowns atop tall narrow
windows and inverted U-shaped windows on the highest floor. Water
pumps took water from the well to tanks within the attic that could
emit water to different rooms in the house. The interior woodwork
is all hand-carved solid hardwoods. The lighting was originally
fueled by gas, but is now powered by electricity. Speaking tubes
were installed so that the staff could receive orders in the
kitchen from other parts of the house.[3][9]
Gallery
James Whitcomb Riley House in 1975
|
Bust of Riley outside the home
|
Marker denoting the home's NHL status
|
|
See also
References
- ^ "National Register Information
System". National Register of Historic Places.
National Park Service. 2007-01-23. http://www.nr.nps.gov/.
- ^ a
b
"James Whitcomb Riley
House". National Historic Landmark summary listing.
National Park Service. http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=608&ResourceType=Building. Retrieved
2008-02-06.
- ^ a
b
Joseph
S. Mendinghall (August 1977), National Register of Historic
Places Inventory-Nomination: James Whitcomb Riley House / Charles
L. Holstein HousePDF (331 KB),
National Park Service
and Accompanying 3 photos,
exterior, from 1975PDF (790 KB)
- ^
Conn, Earl L. My Indiana:101 Places to See (Indiana Historical Society
Press, 2006). pg.88, 89
- ^
Bodenhamer, David. The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis (Indiana
University Press, 1994) pg.839
- ^
http://www.lockerbiesquare.org/pdf/walkingtour.pdf
- ^
Lockerbie Square People's
Club
- ^
Conn 88, 89
- ^ a
b
Bodenhamer 839
- ^
Lockerbie Square Historic
District-Indianapolis: A Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel
Itinerary
- ^
Bodenhamer pg.839
- ^
Conn pg.88, 89
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