History

Street Names

New Jersey St.
Michigan St.
New York St.
College Ave.
Vermont St.
Park Ave.
Lockerbie St.
East St.
Fulton St.
Dorman St.
 

German-
Americans of Indianapolis

Das Deutsche Haus-Athenaeum

Das Deutsche Haus-Athenaeum 
401 E. Michigan St. 
1893-94 and 1897-98, Vonnegut & Bohn, architects
 

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St. Mary's Catholic Church
325 N. New Jersey St. 
1910-1912, Hermann Gaul, architect (native of Cologne) 

St. Mary's Church Rectory 
317 N. New Jersey St. 
ca. 1880 and ca. 1920 

St. Mary's School/Child Center, Inc. 
311 N. New Jersey St. 
1912, Hermann Gaul, architect 

St. Mary's Academy/Academy of the Arts
429 E. Vermont St.

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John Scheier House 
528 E. New York St. 
1875-76, moved 1978

The present Italianate house was moved here in 1978 from 719 E. New York St. by Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana and sold to Susanne Kasler. The house was built by German Immigrant John Scheier in 1875-76. He was listed in directories as a laborer, and later as a brick mason and contractor. The Scheiers lived in this house until 1905. The house original to the site, a 2-story Italianate, stood here until the late 1960s.

Frederick W. Faut Cottage 
536 E. New York St. 
1872-73, moved 1976

The present cottage was built in 1872-73 at 916 Broadway by Frederick W. Faut, who was the proprietor of a flour and seed store. Features of this 1 1/2-story Gothic cottage include a cross-gable roof, corner porch gable brackets, and ornate window frames. Two windows on the front facade have Gothic pediments. The relocation of the cottage in September 1976 was the project of Lockerbie, Inc. The original House on the site (ca. 1877) was a 2-story frame structure razed in the late 1960s.

Frederick Kissel Building 
601-603 E. New York St.
ca. 1868

Frederick Kissel was the likely first owner of this 2-story frame building around 1868. It was used as a rental property. Kissel was one of the original subscribers for the establishment of the German-English Independent School in 1859. On the 1887 Sanborn map as a 2-story frame, double residence, the building remained a residence until 1921 when the first floor was converted into a grocery store. This conversion resulted in the opening of the first floor main facade with a recessed entrance flanked by two large display windows with transoms. The remaining fenestration was probably altered at this time, as well as the covering of the walls with asphalt siding. The 19th-century character of the building may have been in the Italianate Style. Below the eaves is a blank frieze which originally held brackets. A 2-story gabled wing is attached to the rear.

Simeon Derringer Double Residence 
608-610 E. New York St. 
1863-64

This 2-story frame double was originally built in 1863-64 by plasterer Simeon Derringer as a 1 1/2-story frame double. The double had a front porch in 1915. The ornamented six-bays of the first floor of the main facade are the evidence of the earlier smaller double. The second story, added in the late 19th century, greatly altered the appearance and character of the double. The second-story windows have simple frames and the roof has a hip configuration.

Nicholas Hofmeister Building
656, 658 , 660 E. New York St.
1863-64, late 1874-75, and ca. 1895

This imposing Italianate commercial building was first constructed by Hofmeister,1863-1864, and enlarged in the 1870s. The small one-story shop on the west side was added in the 1890s. Hofmeister lived above his grocery store into the 1890s. He was one of the original subscribers for the establishment of the German-English Independent School. Features include a hip roof, projecting cornice with paired brackets, and a four-bay main facade with rounded arches.

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Enners Drug Store Building 
244-246 N. College Ave. 
ca. 1882-1883 

This 2 1/2-story drugstore and boarding house is shown on the 1887 Sanburn map. The structure was built by Joseph Staub and leased to druggist Edward H. Enners about 1892. The Enners Drugstore remained here until the 1940s, when it was replaced by another drugstore. 244 was the home of engineer Pierce L. Lohman from at least 1912 to 1924. It served as a physician's quarter for Earl H. Hare from 1928 to 1939, and Charles J. Cook from at least 1940 to 1945. The brick structure has a stone foundation, hip and gable roof, projecting cornice, polychromatic tile panels, attic windows and segmented arch openings. The shop front is framed by a cast iron pilaster, cornice and column which supports the cut-away cornershop entrance. Except for the boarded shop front, the building is intact.

Greenwalt Double Residence 
322-324 N. College Ave. 
ca. 1864 

This 1 1/2 story frame double was built by carpenter Henry Greenwalt, who also lived there. Features include a six-bay facade with windows flanking each front door. The second level has two windows and two diamond shaped garret vents. Other features include a gable roof, gable brackets, two wooden entrance canopies, and clapboard siding. This building appears to be a typical double residence of the early Lockerbie period. A porch was added sometime after 1887 and removed in 1980.

Frederick Simon Building 
330 N. College Ave. 
1860, east portion added 1970s

Frederick Simon built this Italianate commercial place in two phases as his grocery store and residence: in 1860 the original portion and in the 1870s the Italianate front. The 1887 Sanborn map shows a 1-story porch extending over the sidewalk; it remained at least until 1914. The large 2-story industrial brick addition on the rear was constructed sometime between 1914 and 1927 (see Simon-Springhorn House). The family lived above their grocery store. Simon was a subscriber to the German-English Independent School, where his daughter Sophia was educated. The structure is distinctive as the major commercial building of the 19th century in Lockerbie Square. Italianate style features of this 2-story brick structure include a truncated hipped roof, 2-bay facade, and a full entablature with paired brackets, cornice and frieze windows. The two second-story front windows have ornamented hoods with finials, cornice and brackets. The first floor of the front facade is pierced by the entrance and display window, which has a paneled apron and transoms, as does the stone leaf door. A stone lintel course stretches across the facade connecting the window and entrance, historically serving as the sign board.

Hermann Koch Double Residence 
338-340 N. College Ave. 
1859

This 2-story, brick double was built by shoemaker Hermann Koch around 1859. Koch was one of the original subscribers for the establishment of the German-English Independent School in 1859. Features include a truncated hip roof, low-bay front facade, and an ornate porch with turned posts and spindles. The porch was probably added in the 1890s.

Joseph W. Staub House 
342 N. College Ave. 
1859 

Joseph W. Staub (1825-1896) built this imposing house in 1859. That year he had purchased the site from T.R. Fletcher. In 1860 the City Directory listed him as living there. Staub was one of the first merchant tailors in Indianapolis. During the Civil War he produced Union Army uniforms in the house. After the war, he maintained a tailor shop on Monument Circle until his death in 1896. The Staubs and descendants owned several pieces of property on Noble (College) and Lockerbie. Staub built the commercial building at 244 E. New York, and Harry Roll, Staub's son-in-law, built the house at 605 E. Lockerbie. Staub had emigrated from Alsace, a German-speaking province of eastern France, and became an American citizen in 1848. His wife Magdalena Graf Staub was German-born. The Staubs came to Indianapolis in 1854 from Cincinnati, as had many other Indiana Germans. The Staubs were well known in the local German community and the city at large. Joseph Staub was one of the original subscribers for the establishment of the German-English Independent School in 1859. The house remained with Staub's descendants until 1938. HLFI purchased it in 1965. The Staub House is an outstanding example of the Federal Style in Indianapolis. The 2-story house is constructed of brick with gable and hip roofs, a side hall plan, and a three-bay main facade. The lintels and sills are limestone, as is the water-table. The front entrance has a molded wooden surround and a balcony with scroll brackets and a cast iron railing above it. Other features include a gable occulus, a side bay and a recessed 2-story porch. This distinguished house was recorded in the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1970-1971. It was restored by Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana following the plans of H. Roll McLaughlin of James Associates, Architects and Engineers. McLaughlin is the great-grandson of Joseph Staub, the original owner. 

Michael Mode Double Residence 
417-419 N. College Ave. 
ca. 1905

The brick 2 1/2 double dates back to about 1905. It was constructed as a rental property by Michael Mode, proprietor of a shoe store at 145 E. Washington. The Mode double replaced a frame triple residence built by the Schaub family of shoemakers some 30 to 40 years before and occupying both the 417-419 lot and the one immediately north of it. Michael Mode had acquired most of the two lots in the late 1880s and had rented his part of the "triple" during the 1890s. In 1904 Mode purchased the remaining part of the lots from William Schaub and the next year started construction on the brick double. Michael Mode, probably a German immigrant, was the successful proprietor of Michael Mode's Shoe Store, which his sons Charles and George continued as "Mode Brothers." The Mode double is distinctive as a large brick double residence whose Germanic characteristic is the repeated, prominent gable fractables. The front gable has two limestone bands which also function as lintels. The base of the front gable fractable is ornamented by low-relief floral sculpture. 

Peter Franz House 
418-420 N. College Ave. 
ca. 1863 and ca. 1900

Peter Franz, a pump maker and well digger, built his house around 1863. The original Franz dwelling was a 1 1/2 story building which was remodeled and enlarged to its present form between 1898 and 1913. This remodeling and enlargement was common in the Lockerbie area in the late 19th century. Features of this 2-story, frame double residence include a multi-gable roof. The front gable wall is clad with fish-scale shingles. Below this gable and above the front porch is a bay. The porch is supported by slender classical columns. 

Christian F. Schrader House 
426 N. College Ave. 
1862 

This unusual 2-story brick house was built in 1862 by Christian F. Schrader. It possesses an urban character, as though it were intended to be a unit in a row of attached houses. Christian F. Schrader was born in Minden, Germany and emigrated in 1849, moving directly to Indianapolis. His first job was as a laborer for the J.M. & I. Railroad. He later bought "a horse and dray" and engaged in a successful transport business for four years. In 1864 Schrader (also listed as "Schraeder") started a retail and wholesale grocery business which grew to be a large and prosperous firm. Two of Schrader's sons started a wholesale grocery business in 1883 and that firm later erected the C.A. Schrader Company building at Pennsylvania and Maryland Sts. Features include a 3-bay front facade with segmented arch windows and a flat-headed entrance with cornice, transom and a single side light. The windows in the brick side walls also have segmented arches. The house has a substantial frame rear addition. It also has a large entablature with a cornice, a plain frieze and a high profile architrave.

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Henry Kappes Cottage 
616 E. Vermont St. 
1865 

This 1 1/2 story frame cottage was built by Henry Kappes, real estate agent and lawyer in the firm of Seidensticker, Kappes & Nalter. This firm was composed of German immigrants, and founded in ca. 1860. Kappes also served on the City Common Council from 1865 to 1867. He later sold the house to Dr. Gideon Worsetler, a physician. Features of this cottage include a gable roof, gable window, 3-bay facade with full-length windows, a front porch, and a rear lean-to.
 
 

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Governor Ray-Buscher-Stick House 
302 N. Park Ave. 
ca. 1835, moved in 1977 

This Greek Revival house has stood at three different locations. It was originally erected about 1835 by former Governor James Brown Ray at the corner of Pearl and Alabama Sts. Ray served as governor from 1825 to 1831. After his term he practiced law in Indianapolis with little success. German immigrant Henry Buscher purchased the house in 1849.  From then until 1891 a member of his family lived at that address. Then the site, along with others nearby, was acquired by the Marion County Jail and the house was moved to 905 St. Peter. Anton H. Stick, a clerk at Vonnegut's popular Hardware Co., purchased the house in 1908. It was occupied by members of his family until 1939. In 1977 Elizabeth B. Smith, last of a series of short-term owners, sold the house to the City of Indianapolis. The Division of Urban Renewal moved it to its present site. The house and its 1985 garage occupy the site of two frame houses. The Greek Revival Style house is two stories in height. The symmetrical facade facing Park Avenue is divided into five bays with a centered entrance, which is sheltered by a reconstructed portico. The entrance has a paneled door, sidelights and transom. The cornice projects above the plain frieze. The low-pitch gable-end chimney rising above it at each end. Typical of the style, wide corner boards serve as pilasters, supporting the entablature.

George Holler Cottage 
324 N. Park Ave. 
1863 

This cottage was built in 1863 by George Holler, a German-born plasterer. He was listed as an 1860 subscriber for the establishment of the German-English Independent School and an officer of the Freya Lodge No. 63, of the D.O.H., a secret German fraternal society. Charles Heun, a cabinet maker, purchased the cottage in 1886. The Heun family lived here a number of years, listed with an Anglicized surname. Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana purchased the cottage in 1968. The cottage was restored in 1974-76 as a project of HLFI and the Women in Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee and the Indianapolis Bicentennial Committee. It was recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1970. The feature of the 1 1/2 story frame cottage include clapboard siding, gable brackets, two-bay front facade, gable window, molded window and door caps, front porch with turned posts, sawn frieze, balustrade, and brackets.

Henry Hattendorf House 
333 N. Park Ave. 
1861 and 1885 

Henry Hattendorf, a tailor, probably constructed a small cottage in 1861, which was remodeled and expanded in the 1890s into this 2 1/2 story frame Queen Anne Style house with a hip and gable roof, pronounced front gable with fish-scale shingles, and cut-away corners. The 1978 restoration included the replacement of brick porch piers with turned wooden posts and the removal of asphalt siding.
 
 
 

George Schribner Cottage 
325 N. Park Ave. 
1864, moved 1977 

This cottage was built by George Schribner in 1864 at 1426 W. Washington St. In 1977 it was moved across the city and dramatically transformed by Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana from a dilapidated westside cottage into a restored Lockerbie cottage. It sits on the site of an earlier 1-story frame double. Features of this Gothic-Stick Style structure include a cross-gable roof, corner porch with turned posts, clapboard siding, board and batten gable siding, triangular framed panels above the two front windows, and a pentagonal attic vent.

Henry Hoffmeyer House 
337 N. Park Ave. 
1863 

Henry Hoffmeyer, a tailor, built this 2-story brick house in 1863. It has a cross-gable roof and a small, Italianate side corner porch. The front facade has a gable with gable brackets and segmented arch openings. The open eaves reveal the sawn rafter ends. This house appears to be unaltered. 

Friedrich Tapking House 
349 N. Park Ave. 
1849, 1861, and ca. 1900 

The original brick portion of this house is claimed to date to 1849, which predates the Fletcher plat by ten years. Frederick H. Tapking purchased the land in 1859. He was a partner of Germantown resident Joseph Staub. The house was altered around 1861 with the addition of a frame half-story and again between 1898 and 1913 to its present appearance. The house is brick on the first floor with segmented, arch windows. The second and half- stories are frame clad with decorative shingled clapboards in the gables. The roof form is hip and gable.
 
 

Frederick Thoms House 
353 N. Park Ave. 
1860 

German-born Friedrich Thoms built this imposing late Federal Style house in 1860. He was a partner in Spiegel, Thoms & Co., furniture manufacturers and dealers, which had a factory on E. Washington. Thoms was active in public life in Indianapolis. He served on the City Common Council (1869-72) and was one of the founders of the German General Protestant Orphanage Home in 1867. He served as the first president of the Home's association. Features of this house include a 3-bay front facade, segmented arch openings, projecting cornice, and limestone-framed entrance with an entablature, transom and sidelights. It also has a 2-story porch on the north side and half-fan gable windows. The Thoms House was restored in 1973 and is similar to the Staub House at 342 N. College.

Augustus Spiegel House 
401 N. Park Ave. 
1860 and 1870

Augustus Spiegel was a cabinet maker and partner with his neighbor in Spiegel, Thoms & Co., furniture manufacturers and dealers. The house was built in 1860, with its west wing and porch added around the 1870s.The Italianate house is a large 2-story frame structure. Notable decorative elements include the bracketed window head-trim, bracketed eves, and the paneled frieze. Originally the house was smaller than it is now. The Palladian window on the south elevation is an element typical of Colonial Revival Style. The late additions, while giving the house an eclectic appearance, do not detract from the overall character but add some diverse visual features. The small brick carriage house behind the building once had two windows on the side elevation and a window in the gable of the street facade. It is one of the few remaining carriage houses in Lockerbie Square.

Hermann Lieber Cottage 
407-409 N. Park Ave. 
ca. 1860

Hermann Lieber, immigrant from Düsseldorf, Germany, built this Alpine Chalet around 1860. He founded H. Lieber & Co. and prospered with picture framing, an art emporium and a photography supply firm. Lieber was the patron of T.C. Steele and other Indiana artists who studied at the Munich Royal Academy. He was a civic leader and extremely active in local German activities and affairs. Lieber was co-founder of the German-English Independent School and Das Deutsche Haus (Athenaeum). He is referred to as the "Father of the German House." For the North American Gymnastic Union he served as president until his death in 1908. In 1868, Captain William Tarkington, brother of Booth Tarkington's grandfather bought the home. Tarkington was secretary to Governor Oliver Morton. Several interesting features distinguish this cottage from its neighbors. The eaves have a wide overhang with carved rafter ends, and the gable overhang is supported with elaborately sawn brackets. The second-floor double window has a uniquely shaped head with a label molding. On either side of the windows there are hexagonal vents with heavy molded caps. The first floor of the main facade has a door and two windows. The form and detailing of this cottage suggest a Swiss chalet, an inspiration to mid-19th century American architects and designers. Restoration of the cottage exterior in 1977 resulted in the removal of the porch and asphalt siding. Before restoration the cottage had a 4-bay facade reflecting the cottage's earlier conversion to a double residence.

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Nickum-Holstein House/James Whitcomb Riley Home 
528 Lockerbie St., Indianapolis 46202 
1872, Robert Plat Daggett, architect 

The house was built in 1872 by John R. Nickum, partner in the baking firm of Parrott & Nickum Co. Mrs. Holstein was John Nickum's daughter. Hoosier Poet James Whitcomb Riley spent the last 23 years (1893-1916) of his life as a paying guest of Major and Mrs. Charles L. Holstein, his longtime friends, in the Nickum-Holstein House. He shared the household expenses and many items in the house were purchased by him. The 2 1/2-story stone-trimmed (Anglo-Italian) brick house has all of the classic features of the Italianate Style; including the truncated hip roof, wooden entablature with cornice, brackets, paneled frieze and attic windows, rounded and segmented arch openings with limestone keystones and voussoirs, paired windows, shallow corner porch with balustrades and columns, and a double-leaf front door with transom. 

The woodwork is all solid hardwoods, handcarved. There are Italian and Vermont marble fireplaces throughout. The lighting is by gas chandeliers, converted to electricity. The stairwell balustrade is continuous from the first floor to the attic. An unusual "rose" window is located on the stair landing and overlooks the side porch. The library is said to have been Riley's favorite room. It is furnished as it was when he occupied it, with many personal belongings of Riley on exhibit. The furniture largely is of the Civil War period. 

Riley was born in Greenfield in 1849 in a log cabin on the site of the present Riley Home on U.S. 40. He had no training for a trade or profession and held jobs ranging from itinerant salesman and house and sign painter to medicine-show performer and journalist. He settled in Indianapolis when he joined the Indianapolis Journal staff after having worked for several newspapers previously. At the end of the 19th century James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916) represented literature in Indiana. Riley published his first book, The Old Swimmin' Hole and 'Leven More Poems, in 1883. Many more volumes followed. In 1886 Riley had teamed up with his good friend and popular humorist Edgar Wilson Nye. Both men had established reputations as performers and the combination proved to be very successful. After moving from place to place and under the stress of years of constant traveling, Riley began to drink. The price of Riley's fame and its toll on him is recorded in letters to the Holsteins in Indianapolis. Marcus Dickey, Riley's secretary tells us about this in The Maturity of James Whitcomb Riley (Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Cpompany, 1922) "I am getting tired of this way of living ... clean, dead tired, and fagged out and sick of the whole Bohemian business" (p. 289). In 1893, Riley sees himself a "poet who had not home, no children and no flowers" (Dickey, p 290). He gladly accepted the invitation of his good friends, Major and Mrs. Charles Holstein, to move in with them. He wrote his later poems, including "Out to Old Aunt Mary's" and received many famous guests in this house. After suffering a stroke he died on July 22, 1916. 

Since 1921, the property has been owned and maintained by the James Whitcomb Riley Memorial Association. The house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, recorded on the Historic American Buildings Survey and is a National Historic Landmark. The James Whitcomb Riley Home is preserved, not restored. Authorities describe it as one of the finest Victorian preservations in the U.S. Open Thr-Sat 10 am-4 pm, Sun 12-4 pm. Call 317 631-5885.

John Ernst Despa House 
538 Lockerbie St. 
1863 

Johann Ernst Despa built his attractive brick house in 1862 and 1863. He was a German immigrant, active in German-American organizations, and in 1858 he became the Maennerchor's second conductor. Despa was listed as a painter in 1865; he died around 1871. The Despa family lived there until 1890. The house was recorded in the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1970. Features of this 1 1/2 story brick house include the gable roof with dormer, 3-bay facade, three rounded attic vents, segmented arch opening, four-over-four lights, and a front entrance framed with a molded frame and entablature hood. Note the ornamental entryway. 

John Trieter House 
609 Lockerbie St. 
1867 

John Trieter, a stone mason, built this 2-story brick house in 1867, originally of Italianate design. Late in the 19th century the original cornice was removed and the shingled gable added to the facade. A porch was probably constructed at the same time, spanning the entire front of the house. This porch has since been removed and replaced with a small stoop. Features of the Trieter House include segmented arch windows, attic windows, and fish-scale shingles in the gable.

Henry Dipple House 
618 Lockerbie St. 
ca.  1868 

Carpenter Henry Dipple built this 2-story frame house, plain in design and detailing.  The roof is gabled with a single bracket in the gable apex.  The main gable-end facade has two bays.  The openings are accented by decorative frames.  Three turned posts support the front porch.
 
 
 
 

Simon Springhorn House 
628 Lockerbie St. 
ca. 1870 

Lockerbie-area grocer Frederick Simon owned this property from 1865? until his death. It was inherited by his daughter Sophia (1873-1931), wife of William Springhorn (1858-1922), a German immigrant watchmaker. Sophia and William were married in 1908. William is listed as the occupant of the house in 1903. Simon probably built the house around 1870. Sophia was a student at the German-English Independent School. This 2-story frame, cross-gable house had its doors and windows replaced during renovation in 1981, at which time the corner porch was reconstructed. The walls are clad with artificial hardboard siding. 

J. Bilger Rental Cottage 
629 Lockerbie St. 
ca. 1870 

Carpenter J. Bilger built this cottage as a rental property around 1870. Features of this 1 1/2 story frame cottage include a 3-bay main facade, cross-gable roof, and a frame canopy at the entrance. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Tate-Gaunt House 
228 N. East St.
1891-1892 
Charles G. Mueller, architect 

Indianapolis architect Charles G. Mueller of the Huebner & Mueller firm was commissioned by Warren Tate to design this impressive 2 1/2-story house replacing a 1-story dwelling. The Tate House is an example of the German Renaissance style, which Mueller may have learned from his mentor and partner Huebner, who studied architecture at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. The Tate-Gaunt house (then known as the Tate-Willis house) was noted in 1962 by Wilbur D. Peat in his Indiana Houses of the Nineteenth Century. Warren T. Tate (1825-1896) was a native of Lawrenceburg, IN where he had established a lumber planing mill and furniture factory. He moved to Indianapolis in the 1860s and started a planing mill here. A life-long freethinker, Tate converted to Catholicism on his deathbed. The house has been owned and maintained by Thomas and Jean Gaunt since 1999. 

German Evangelical Church Parsonage 
233 N. East St. 
1882-1883 

Lockerbie Square United Methodist Church - Erste Deutsche Evangelische Kirche 
237 N. East St. (SE corner of E. New York and N. East Sts.) 
1881-1883, D. A. Bohlen, architect.

William Kuhn Bakery 
302-304 N. East St. 
ca. 1861-1863 

The 1866 Titus map shows a building at the northwest corner of New York and East Streets. It was built during the Civil War. William Kuhn operated his bakery here and lived above it. Later it served as the neighborhood grocery; the second story became the Marburg Apartments. In 1979 it was converted into a law office. The Kuhn Bakery is a 2-story brick building covered with stucco. It has a hip roof and segmented arch windows. The flat-headed corner entrance has a transom and double-leaf wooden doors. A fractable is on the west facade. According to Theodore Stein's Our Old School, Kuhn (1825-1874) was born in Schnaith, Wuerttemberg. He emigrated from Germany and arrived in Indianapolis in 1855. Kuhn was a subscriber for the establishment of the German-English Independent School, where his children received their education.

Harlan-Hoffman House 
440 N. East St. (also 435 E. Michigan St.) 
1871-75 

Grocer George Harlan built this 2-story brick Italianate house in 1874-1875. The house originally included a small corner porch typical of the style, which was later replaced by an "L" plan classical veranda. In the course of the extensive 1977 renovation, the veranda was removed and the entablature was restored. The large 2-story rear addition on the north facade was constructed around 1910 by photographer Frederick Hoffman. Features of this house, which now serves as law offices, include a large entablature with an elaborate paneled frieze, round-arch windows with sculpted springstones and key stones, a 2-story bay on the north facade, and a truncated hip roof. The major feature of the 1910 additional is the large area of glass which allowed natural light into the photography studio. the exterior was restored in 1977 when the house became the Lockerbie Gallery. 

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Clemens Vonnegut Public School #9 
407 N. Fulton St. 

The original section of this historic building was constructed in 1899. The southern end of the facility was a 15-classroom addition completed in 1926. Fifteen years earlier, the school had been renamed in honor of the longest serving school board member and president, Clemens Vonnegut Sr., great-grandfather of well-known author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. A school building has stood at this location since 1886. Among the many former students is Johnny Gruelle, creator of "Raggedy Ann" and "Andy." A major historic restoration of the abandoned school into an office complex was completed in 1998.

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Ruskaup House and Store 
711 & 715 Dorman Street 
constructed 1873 & 1892 

Frederick Ruskaup (1844-1901) and his wife Maria had their house constructed in 1892 after the plans of the firm of Vonnegut & Bohn. This German Renaissance Revival house complete with corner turret and stepped gable has been well preserved and restored. Ruskaup built the Italianate commercial building to the north in 1873, where they operated a grocery store here and lived above the store before moving into the house. Ruskaup was a native of the Kingdom of Hannover. Vonnegut & Bohn also designed the nearby wood-frame double residences for Ruskaup. 
 

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William R. Selm, Wegweiser: A Self-guided Tour of German-American Sites in Indianapolis, published by the Indiana German Heritage Society, Indianapolis, 1997.