Indiana Historic Architecture and Preservation

Time 2021-11-04 17:08:46

Web Name: Indiana Historic Architecture and Preservation

WebSite: http://www.preserveindiana.com

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Historic,Indiana,Architecture,Preservation,and,

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Celebrating Our
19th Year
on the Web!

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Site Index 10Simple Ways Youcan Help Promote Historic Preservation! (You don't have tobe a wealthy real-estate financier!) Blog News and opinions on preservation issuesthroughout the state. Images of Indiana Architecture
View our extensive photo gallery ofhistoric Indiana architecture! Links An annotated directory of interestingrelated sites Historic Sites in Indiana Structures, museums and organizations OurStore Recommended reading IndianaSchools
(Links)

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Clickhere to see our bookrecommendations. Usethis search box to find books on Indiana,history, architecture and any other subject. Tohelp us pay our web hosting expenses, pleaseconsider making your Amazon purchases through these links.

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The

Indiana HistoricArchitecture Home Page

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Now over 500 photos ofIndiana landmarks on this site!

Welcome! This site is devoted to the appreciation,restoration and preservation of great Indiana landmarks.

The Indiana Historic Architecture Home Page spotlightshistoric architecture and neighborhoods throughout all of Indiana. Hereyou will find an extensive photo gallery--over 500 photos--of historicarchitecture, with more being added all the time.

Indianapolis, Gary, South Bend, Crown Point, Hammond,Michigan City, Evansville, Lafayette--there are some great towns andcities with great architecture here in Indiana.

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Is Historic Marktown Doomed? Is this the endof historic Marktown?

The tiny, one-of-a-kind EastChicago Indiana neighborhood was designedby noted architect Howard Van Doren Shaw as a model industrialcommunity to house Mark Manufacturing Company employees in 1917.

On the National Register ofHistoric Places, the community featuresnarrow streets and English cottage style houses, duplexes andapartments. The neighborhood was featured in a Ripley's Believe It OrNot panel due to the curious fact that residents park on the sidewalksand walk in the streets.

But now, nearly a dozen of theiconic houses in the neighborhood havebeen bought up by BP, most of them along Oak Street, likely in order tobuild a parking lot.

The loss of such a large tractof homes could be a crushing blow forthe struggling neighborhood, which is already tiny and is fenced in byBP, ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor and US Steels East Chicago tin plant.

Remaining residents would losethe Oak Street buffer between themselvesand the sprawling oil refineries within just a stones throw of theneighborhood. Plus, demolitions would set an ugly precedent for thefuture, particularly considering that BP would like to continue buyingup as many Marktown homes from existing residents as possible.

Most or all the houses slatedfor demolition are still highlyrestorable if action is taken quickly enough. Unfortunately,recognition by the national register does not prevent demolitions.

East Chicago seems to haveplenty of money for building new residences(billboards, in fact, brag about how they are building a "new EastChicago), but apparently there is no money to restore and preserveremaining historic landmarks. This is indicative of the throwawaysociety in which we live.

As Marktown resident andprecinct committeewoman Kim Rodriguez hassaid, quoted in the Post-Tribune newspaper, We cant make peopleleave. BP is waiting for the last homeowner to sell. How darethey tryto take it away from us? It angers me that they can do what they wantto people."

East Chicago councilwoman MyraMaldano would like to stave off thedemolitions and has been meeting with other council members for ways todo so. We wish her the best of luck.

I journeyed to Marktown on May4, the day before the residences wereoriginally slated for demolition and tried to document as many of thethreatened structures as possible in nearly 100 photographs, a few ofwhich are here and the rest of which I plan to post to Flickr.

View our new endangeredMarktown page

View all pictures on this site

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"We are the only country inthe world that trashes its old buildings and neighborhoods. Too late,we realize how much we need them."

--Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

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Historic Preservation is vitally important--now morethan ever. It seems that in every community, our nation's historicarchitecture is under threat of some kind or another. In Gary and otherurban areas, many buildings were lost due to abandonment. Ironically,in towns and smaller cities, old buildings face exactly the oppositethreat. For example, some institutions in Valparaiso havemoved to tear down examples of stately historic architecture to makeway for "further development."

In Europe, where they don't have the "throwawaymentality" we do in this country, buildings hundreds of years old areperfectly sound and still in use. The workmanship seen in old buildingsis simply superior in so many ways to that used in modern construction.

More importantly, historic buildings embody adistinctive form of American architecture that will never again beduplicated, and they add an irreplaceable component to the characterand personality of our communities.

How would we feel if every example of art from a certainperiod was systematically destroyed? The architecture of our downtownsand neighborhoods helps shape our feelings about where we live. THIS iswhy historic preservation is vitally important.

The great CrownPoint Courthouse is here, as well as the City Methodist Church inGary. Here you will find several photos of downtown Hammond anddowntown Hobartas well. You will also see some of the great historic homes of Crown Pointand Valparaiso.

But the Northwest Indiana focus is changing, thanks togenerous contributions of original photos (and server space) by MikeHabeck of EcoIndiana, as he travels throughout the state documentingIndiana's environmental affairs as well as its historic architecture.

There's a lot worth saving in Indiana. And a lot worthyof our appreciation as well.

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