Do It Yourself, or Let Us Do It for You!

For the past two years, the Smogor House at 222 Chapin Street in South Bend has served as the learning lab for Indiana Landmarks’ “Vintage Green” DIY series. As the program draws to a close, we’re ready to sell the house to a buyer who will appreciate its history and charm.

In 2014, we partnered with South Bend Heritage Foundation to rescue a pair of neighboring homes in the National Register-listed West Washington Historic District. South Bend Heritage rehabbed the home at 218 Chapin Street, while next door we embarked on a series of hands-on workshops to restore the Queen Anne-style home. Built in 1911, the home is one of three identical kit houses constructed by Smogor Lumbar in South Bend.

Now is your chance to buy the house at a reduced cost of $110,000 and finish the interior yourself. Prefer something move-in ready? For a higher price, we can work that out as well. Either way, Indiana Landmarks will finish electrical work, and rough in plumbing and heating/cooling systems.

Smogor House in South Bend, before exterior renovation.

The 2,700 square-foot house has four bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, with potential to enlarge a first-floor half-bath into a full bath. Since the house was moved to the site in 2000 to make way for the Studebaker Museum, you’ll also get a full basement with new walls and a nine-foot ceiling. The walk-up attic provides more opportunity for finished space.

Inside, the house retains vintage features including hardwood floors, an original Prairie Style mantel with glazed tile surround, and pocket doors. We opened up the kitchen to the dining room to create the open plan people prefer in the twenty-first century. The house includes a rare attached two-stall garage and a concrete driveway.

The home’s neighbors includes the Oliver Mansion museum, the History Museum-Studebaker Museum campus, and the Kizer house — future home of Indiana Landmarks Northern Regional Office.

Learn more about the Smogor House and its current owners.