Trusted Care

At the turn of the twentieth century, Indianapolis’s Meridian Street north of 38th Street emerged as a desirable residential area, attracting prominent business executives, bankers, and other leading citizens who built grand homes signaling their wealth and prestige. One of them, William N. Thompson, president of the Stutz Motor Company, commissioned an elegant golden-brick mansion that later served as the Indiana Governor’s residence from 1945-1970. Since 1978, the Georgian Revival-style house has been home to Dr. John and Elaine Klein and their family, and today the restored landmark reflects the years they devoted to restoring and caring for the property.

Thompson hired notable Indianapolis architect Frank B. Hunter to design the house, which was constructed by the prolific William P. Jungclaus Company. When oil company founder James Trimble purchased the property in 1927, he added his own distinctive touches, including a brick and iron fence in front of the property. He re-hired Hunter to redesign the bathrooms in an Art Deco style, incorporating in the master bath three stained-glass skylights, a built-in gold filigree bathroom scale, and walls decorated with pastoral scenes executed in Rookwood Pottery Company tile. As home to seven Indiana governors over the ensuing decades, the property became a hub for high-profile social gatherings and hosted a parade of notable guests including Presidents Johnson and Truman, Vice President Richard Nixon, Admiral Chester Nimitz, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jayne Mansfield, Walter Cronkite, Bob Hope, Red Skelton, Mary Pickford, and many more.

Dr. John (above) and Elaine Klein spent decades restoring their 1920 home in Indianapolis, the former Indiana’s governor’s residence. PHOTO: Evan Hale

By the time the Kleins purchased the home for their growing family, the property had already seen many décor changes shaped by its many residents and use as Indianapolis’s Decorators’ Show House in 1975, but the house’s history and architecture inspired them. Elaine, a master gardener, put her stamp on the expansive grounds, while John found the historic four-car garage well suited for their growing classic car collection.

The couple spent decades bringing back the property’s original features, beginning with repairing the crumbling concrete front porch, which they replaced with new concrete and topped with red-colored patterned quarry tile to reflect its historic appearance. Using a historic photograph, they hired artisans to recreate stained art-glass windows in the historic solarium, as well as hand-painted murals along the room’s curving wall. To recapture the appearance and function of the house’s original heating and cooling system, John tracked down vintage 1920s steam radiators and installed them throughout the home. Through newspaper clippings, historic photographs, and interviews with former residents, a picture emerged of how the house’s design evolved over time.

In the early 1970s, as encroaching development threatened to erode the residential character along North Meridian Street, the Indiana General Assembly passed the Meridian Street Preservation Act, establishing the Meridian Street Preservation Commission to review proposed changes in land use. John Klein has long supported the commission’s work, including serving as a member. The Kleins also collaborated with Indiana Landmarks during publication of The Main Stem: The History and Architecture of North Meridian Street in 1992, contributing the history of their home and opening it for tours to raise funds for the book’s publication.