A Rising Tide

It takes no small measure of optimism to invest in a vacant and deteriorated house, but A.J. and Abbey Robertson hoped for the best when they bought a home that needed work on Beville Avenue.

The Robertsons saw past the house’s neglect, focusing instead on its location – a short walk to the picturesque Brookside and Spades Parks and the popular Circle City Industrial Complex – and its historic features, including original wood siding, scrolled brackets, rafter tails, and a large wraparound porch.

The couple collaborated with Indiana Landmarks, which holds a covenant on the property, to develop a restoration plan and a design for a new detached garage. The Robertsons recently sold the renovated home for $403,500. Signaling their faith in the neighborhood, the pair has taken on rehab of three more homes on the block through their restoration business, aaNovo. By focusing on multiple properties, A.J. and Abby hope to show the area’s potential and encourage others to invest in the neighborhood as well.

Nearby, veteran rehabbers Joe Everhart and Ken Ramsay recently renovated one of the Near Eastside’s most significant architectural treasures. Hidden behind a layer of ivy and an unkempt lawn for many years, the house at 1454 East 10th Street was constructed in 1885 for William Prosser, the English-born artisan responsible for all of the ornamental plasterwork in the Indiana State House.

Though modest in size, the home became a showcase of Prosser’s prodigious skill. He appointed it inside and out with exuberant plasterwork. Outside, the house features plaster quoins, plaster cornices, and stucco etched to create the illusion of ashlar masonry. Inside, rooms feature delicate classical plaster ceiling moldings.

Years of neglect and water infiltration left much of the plaster heavily damaged before Everhart and Ramsay began restoration. The pair revived the home’s original striking appearance, working with Indiana Landmarks to make sure all work met the standards of our easement on the house. Following a rehabilitation worthy of Architectural Digest, Everhart and Ramsey sold the home for $375,000.

Just east of the Prosser House, in the Woodruff Place Historic District, Dr. Jeffery Watt recently finished restoration of a c.1926 bungalow used for years as a small tenement-style apartment building. Watt, a longtime resident of the neighborhood who lives just a few doors away, returned the house to its original status as a single-family home, painstakingly restoring its charming Craftsman and Colonial features.

To guard the property against future neglect or unsympathetic changes, Watt donated a preservation easement to Indiana Landmarks. The house, at the corner of Woodruff Place East Drive and E. Michigan Street, sold in June for $380,000.

Home sales exceeding $350,000 are a good omen for the Near Eastside, showing the confidence of investors and homebuyers, indicating increased local tax revenue and the emergence of a diverse, mixed-income population.

Near East Area Renewal (NEAR) focuses on attracting new residents to the area by renovating abandoned properties and building new houses on vacant lots to create both affordable and market-rate single family homes, primarily in the St. Clair Place neighborhood east of Woodruff Place. Since 2010, the nonprofit group has developed more than 90 new homes on previously uninhabited sites. NEAR recently launched an online guide to the Near Eastside, including dining, shopping and entertainment.

The planned renovation of 28 affordable apartment units at Mozingo Place on east 10th Street marks increased availability of quality housing for low-to-moderate income residents as well. Using a grant from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA) and Rental Housing Tax Credits Partners in Housing is updating the two-story brick building, which has served residents with special needs since the early 2000s.

For more information about revitalization and housing in the Near Eastside, contact our Central Regional Office, 317-639-4534, central@indianalandmarks.org.