Holiday Antique Shopping: Gilleys and Red Barn, Plainfield Indiana

In case you just cant stand shopping for ordinary at strip centers and ""Big box retailers between now and Christmas we will feature some Antiques Buyers destinations, all in the midwest, where you can actually find Victorian antiques without wading through tons of "mid century" thrift store crap.

Nicer than average fainting sofa, fairly priced.The bargain of this booth might be the Pump Organ at only 175.00!

Today we travel to Plainfield Indiana which is about 20 minutes east of Indianapolis on US40. The downtown has several small antiques shops but the "must see/must shop" is Gilleys and Red barn antiques located just west of downtown on US40.

Gilley's is at 5789 E US HWY 40 In Plainfield

Gilleys has always been a favorite Antique Mall of mine. It consistently has a good selection of Victorian era antiques.  Furniture is always on display and when it comes to "smalls" Gilleys is the perfect place to find that old Kitchen Tin or coffee grinder, find a replacement plate or Sit-a-bout to complete that table scape you are working on. For those of you who collect vintage jewelry a couple of vendors have a good offering of Jewelry ranging from Victorian cameos to art noveau. I have scored some major finds here over the years. There is also a large craft mall in the same complex for those last minute gifts.

Kaye's Red Barn Antiques Featured Victorian furniture like this selection featured here.

Kaye's Red Barn Antiques, next door, ALWAYS has Victorian furniture and  a good selection of projects needing upholstery. You will also find some good architectural salvage and stained glass.

One "bargain' at Kaye's was this button tufted settee priced under 200.00!

Its an old barn so head clearances are low in spots and the second floor is not heated or air conditioned so dress accordingly but it is worth the drive. They are only open Friday-Sundays but often expand their shopping schedule on the holidays. They also carry cast iron urns and other garden stuff. In the summer there is an outdoor flea market on weekend.

Kaye's Antiques Barn, 317-837-7574

Oh and bring your truck because if you are like me you will easily fill it up, I know I did last week when I took these pictures!

Indianapolis: Crane falls on Historic Landmank

A 90 foot crane fell Monday on the Historic Antheneum Building on Mass Ave in Indianapolis yesterday.

The Athenæum/Das Deutsche Haus was built by the Indianapolis Socialer Turnverein (1893-1898) as a "house of culture" for the mind and body. Many liberal minded Germans, who immigrated to the United States after the failed revolution of 1848, believed in the philosophy of Friedrich Jahn - "a sound mind in a sound body."

The landmark building was built by the noted architectural firm of Vonnegut and Bohn in two phases, the East Wing in 1893-94 and the West Wing in 1897-98. in 1918 the name was changed from Das Deutsche Haus in 1918 because of anti German sentiment due to the first world war. Today the building houses the Rathskeller Restaurant and Beer Garden and the downtown YMCA.

In this photo I took yesterday you can see the crane "arm' is against the side of the building

The exterior damage was contained to the East wing where the 90 foot crane fell against the side of the building. The damage seemed to be confined to a large soffit/gutter on one side of the building. The impact damaged water pipes in the building and there was some flooding of one portion of the building and reports of some plaster damage. The building was immediately evacuated and according to a report issued late yesterday the restaurant will reopen in a few days but the YMCA may be closed for up to two weeks ans repairs are made.

The crane was on site as a crew was tuckpointing part of the building.

The East Wing facade (front of a building) is in the German Romanesque style - architecture developed in Italy and Western Europe between the Roman and the Gothic styles. The West Wing facade is in the German Renaissance Revival style - incorporating German architecture with Renaissance elements focusing on a highly decorated gable. The Building is constructed of brick with limestone detailing and features a prominent 3 storied brick tower with a conical slate roof that anchored the eastern end of the structure and an Elaborate Gables (the vertical triangular end of a building from cornice or eaves to ridge) that rises above the roof line on the Western end.

Indianapolis: Arsenal Avenue Arts, Antiques and Yard sale Saturday!

Indianapolis: The 400 block of Arsenal Avenue becomes one big sale as the block club will host an Art, Antiques, and Yard sale Saturday.

The 400 block of Arsenal is between New York and Michigan streets in the Holy Cross neighborhood. Lots of bargains and something for everyone!

Indianapolis Downtown,Midwest Urban Planning that actually works

Over the weekend we attended a home improvement show in Indianapolis at the Convention Center. Our trip downtown allowed me to really "look' at why Indianapolis is the downtown success story that it is and why it thrives while other cities are losing both population and business.

We decided to get to the show early ( about 10:30) because we knew if we got there much later it would be crowded. Even on a day when the temperature was 10 degrees, there is always something going on downtown. We parked just a couple of blocks from the convention center , which is undergoing another MAJOR expansion to handle the city's ever growing convention business. urban planning is a big issue in cold climate cities that compete with "warm weather venues as you have to get people from point A to B in a quick manner.

Indianapolis 'listened' to its business community which is why you find free parking on city streets on Saturday and Sunday. Something Cincinnati needs to do especially on Vine and Findlay Market in OTR and the downtown. Free parking is big incentive to small business's in the downtown area.

Another Planning "plus" is the parking garage system. Many multi level parking garages are underground. Indianapolis began this over 20 years ago. Multi level parking garages are often underground and have either buildings above , like Circle Center mall, or outdoor Plaza/green spaces like the area over by the Weston Hotel. Even existing above ground parking garages are 'connected'.

Connectivity is a huge plus in Indy. From an urban planning standpoint I am NOT a big fan of skybridges as I feel they tend to impede street level business. However that's not a problem in Indy as careful planing has resulted in business's located in the Circle Center Mall a 4 level Indoor Mall that, at a time when other downtown malls are dead, continues to stay full, or businesses are located in the Hotel complexes which are connected to adjacent office buildings via tunnels which means that local office workers can quickly get to lunch during the week. Even street level "non connected ' businesses like some restaurants or retail are less than a block from a tunnel, or skywalk and many have interior entrances to those interior pedestrian passage ways. In fact you can travel from the state office government center to the mall (over a mile) without braving the elements. The vast majority of the Hotels are part of that connectivity network and the city can move tens of thousands of people after major events via this system of skybridges, tunnels and wide city streets.

A great example of the connectivity is the Arts garden a glass and steel structure built literally above an intersection that connects Circle Center Mall, The Claypool Hotel complex, and the 5 star Conrad Hotel and luxury condominiums. This venue has full schedule of arts and music events and you will find downtown office workers on their breaks enjoying a variety of entertainment.
Adaptability has been a key component. Urban Planners have looked at preserving historic streetfronts while adaptively reusing the space in new buildings behind them. Circle Center Mall for example preserved many historic building fronts and complete historic buildings as part of its mall project while reusing them in new combination of Office/retail use. Many former office buildings downtown are now luxury condos and some have had completely new building built behind them that house say parking garages with 1st floor retail. The restaurant accross the street in this photo occupies level 1 while housing a multi level parking garage above it . All behind a 1920 historic building facade that was saved as part of the new construction that took place behind it.

That adaptability allows the city to host multiple events where up to 150,000 people may be able to attend a variety of events. Given the city's compact downtown it is the only city I know capable of handling a football game, a basketball game and concerts and conventions at the same time.

While other cities struggle with deciding what they "want to be", Indianapolis leads the midwest with competent urban planing that listened and combines retail, convention, office and residential housing in a thought full manner. Other cities need to look at that sucess rather than trying to 'reinvent' the wheel.

Annual Antique Sale a Sucess

Comfortable 'Non rainy" weather, brought out people to attend the annual Woodruff Place Flea Market and we therefore had a good turnout for our annual antique sale. It was allot of work lugging things in and out for the two day sale (we worked on the Cincinnati house on Sunday) and I could have easily brought out more merchandise. We offered a variety of merchandise antique furniture, art and estate jewelry.

Of course I am looking forward to the day when we can get some shop space and get open in Cincinnati and I need to redouble my efforts to locate the right building for our purposes.

Extreme Home Makeover comes to Indy and why I am not excited

Well the Extreme Home makeover folks are in Indy and I'm not really excited. I guess the only fortunate part of it is that they are tearing down a house that historically has no value. That's a good thing. The bad thing is that the house will be worthless in the neighborhood they are building it in and they will "saddle' the family with a home that they will never get any "real Money" out of should they need to ever sell. A property tax bill of 3-4000.00 or more a year not to mention the fact that the neighborhood is a war zone and homeowners insurance will cost them a mint if they can even afford it. Also do not forget the IRS tax to pay on all of this .

For what will be spent building the house, the man hours involved, and for those of you who care about such things, "the carbon footprint" of this project. (You should see the Rows of luxury RV's that the staff and crew have parked near the site), Extreme Home Makeover could have gone to the burbs bought 20-30 foreclosures in a great, low crime, neighborhood and relocated the entire neighborhood that is frankly one of the few parts of town most people will drive out of their way to avoid.

For all their "Good Intentions" it is amazing how many recipients of this " good will" have had to file bankruptcy do the upkeep and maintenance costs.

I know this isn't a populist viewpoint, but I have to think there is a better way of helping people other than parading them on TV so the viewers can "feel good". Interestng that they dont followup on what REALLY happens to teh recipients of this generousity.

An article about the "downside" of "Winning" a makeover:

http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2008/07/two-more-extrem.html

Winter Wonderland?

Those who know me well know I hate cold weather. There are just so many things I'd rather be doing than stuck inside. So today will consists of more doorknob restoration, maybe take a crack at a Newel Post I plan on using on the Knox Hill project .

We awoke to 10 inches of snow this morning and should have 12-13 inches by noon when this ends here at the Indy house, I read that Cincinnati got ice and snow and is having power outages. Here its just wet snow and lots of it. Schools are closed, most businesses are closed or delayed. Greg wisely decided to wait until after the rush hour to go into work and we first had to shovel the jeep out 2WD not 4WD so at best he will have challenging drive. Traffic is doing "maybe" 25 mph on the interstate system here. Our street is plowed since it is near a school. While parking in the carriage house is nice. the reality is that it is near impossible to get out as the alleys are not plowed so street parking makes more sense.

The good news is this ends around noon followed by sunshine. Maybe this will be the one and only major snowfall of the year? For those of you that enjoy the quiet beauty of winter some photos I took this morning

Ah "Pre-Spring"

Greg and I have decided that it is officially "Pre-Spring". Not being fans of cold weather we refer to the period between the first snow and the first 70 degree day as "Pre Spring" as it is decidedly less depressing that referring to this as winter!

We did manage to put up our tree this year, though with our Indy house for sale we decided to not go over-the-top this year in yuletide decoration. Although I think our Realtor would agree that there is little chance of selling a quarter of a million dollar plus house in the middle of winter much less in the throws of an economic recession.

As usual I get my "decorate our house for the holiday party" client requests and I have decided to not accept any new clients this year for our services. I have six client's homes to do over the next two weeks. It always struck me as odd that people pay other people to come in and decorate their homes for the holidays but if you are looking for a "period Victorain look" for your holiday party , well you either have to know what you are doing or pay for it.

As I said this year we just put up the tree and a few things here and there, just enough for our Christmas party and dinner. I shot these photos last night, the house looked all warm and cozy. To think after totally restoring this one, what are we doing? Working on another in Cincinnati so we can repeat the process all over again!

Ah "Pre Spring" I am already planning where the gardens, walkways, gazebo and ponds will go at the new house.

Our Monday Night Tradition

One of the few things I will miss about Indianapolis is our Monday nights at Metro located on mass Avenue in the Mass Ave cultural district of Indy. We have been going there on Mondays to see Dave Lowe who plays keyboard, since his first night performing there. Dave has gotten the "old house bug" and is working on two homes on the East Side. In addition to hearing Dave, a lot of local talent usually stops by including two regular performer Ray Davidson and Vernie Johns.

Ray plays at a couple of other venues around town and Vernie sings at several venues as well. She has a CD out called "Vernie with a V" and if you like jazz it is definitly a Cd worth owning.

Hill Place Tour

I had the good fortune to be invited yeaterday to an open house of Hill Place, here in Indianapolis. the owners have been working long and hard on the home and one can see the result of all that hard work. Hill place is on the National Register and was built by John Fitch Hill and his wife Sarah who was the great niece of Daniel Boone in 1853. The home originally sat on 220 acres but today is surrounded by smaller homes and cottages built in the late 1880's. Once "out in the country" it now sits within view of the Indianapolis business district skyline as the city grew.

The home is 6000 square feet and the owners have done a remarkable job of restoring the interiors to period victorian.

Day at the Canal

I took some time the other day for a walk on the canal. For those of you visiting Indianpolis, or if you have lived here for years I highly recomend it. The Canal along with White River State Park and the Indianpolis Zoo can make for a great day or a great weekend of entertainment. There are several museums along the canal and of course the park and a variety of fountains and public art.

National Night Out Tuesday Night

Neighborhood organizations, block clubs and Crime watch groups will be celebrating National night out with a variety of activites. Our local neighborhood is one of several hundred ornganizations celebrating tommorow night. We will have our local Police stopping by as well as people in city governmentand the crime watch program. We are also block off the street for a block party with food and music.

A busy Week

I've been away from the blog for several days but Ive been involved in some pressing neighborhood issues up here that have consumed large chunks of my time. Should be back on an even keel next week.

Architectural Terra Cotta

Terra cotta is a ceramic based building material that was very popular from the late 19th century until the 1930s. This material was largely used on commercial buildings but you often find it in residential applications. This material can be glazed to match brick and limestone in color and often on commercial buildings is glazed. There are large concentration of buildings with terra cotta detail in Louisville Kentucky where it was popular on the many late victorian Mansions on 3rd and 4 th street in Old Louisville. Becasue it was in an urban environment prone to exposure to air pollution and chemicals often it will be deteriorated. The National Trust has a preservation brief on its maintenance and preservation. http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/tps/briefs/brief07.htm

The 1st example in the photograph is on Mass avenue in Indianapolis on a commercial building and is the colored glazed variety. The home is the Wentz Mansion in Louisville I used to live in and has elaborate detailing on the tower, windows and doorway.

Indianapolis: Lockerbie

Lockerbie is a wonderful downtown historic neighborhood. Some pictures taken Saturday:

FESTIVAL WEEKEND in INDY

This is definitely the kick off weekend for events in Indianapolis! Indy Jazz Fest is this weekend at Military Park . The Italian street festival is this weekend. The Indy Pride Parade on Mass Avenue Saturday, followed by the Indy Pride Festival at University Park. The Talbot Street Art Festival is this Weekend, Juneteenth at the Childrens Museum, Family Arts Series: Indianapolis Children's Choir at White River State Park.

If you can't find something to do this weekend you arent even trying!!!

RATE MY SPACE: Airtimes

As if you haven't hear enough about this house, I recieved communication from the producers that the episode in which our home was featured as a design inspiration will be aired this month. The premier episode for this new show is the 15th, our home will be aired on the following dates: June 26, 2008 9:00 PM ET/PT, June 27, 2008 1:00 AM ET/PT, July 19, 2008 11:00 PM ET/PT, July 20, 2008 3:00 AM ET/PT, July 26, 2008 5:30 PM ET/PT.

The show host Angelo Surmelis makes over the homes of people who are "designed challenged" based on ideas of "inspiration homes" which recieved high marks on the website Rate My Space.http://ratemyspace.hgtv.com/SNC/Main.aspx?pguid=6db6be3f-1720-4ba3-a081-999042c09b6b

Antiques at the Willows a sucess

In spite of a rainy Friday the 3rd Annual "Antiques at the Willows" Tag Sale was a sucess! We sold a bunch of stuff we didnt need but I still have a carriage house full of stuff we will have to move to Cincinnati however!

3rd Annual "Antiques at the Willows" Tag sale

This Saturday and Sunday will be our 3rd annual "Antiques at the Willows" Tag sale. This sale held at our home features Art, Antiques and "stuff". with years selling antiques and moving to cincinnati later this summer we have TONS of stuff we arent keeping! from 9-5 both days (between the raindrops)

Indianapolis: Woodruff Place Flea market this weekend

80 acres of bargains, entertainment, and food from 8-5 PM on Saturday and 10-5 PM on Sunday! Woodruff Place is one of Indianapolis' most distinctive neighborhoods with its collection of fountains, statues, urns all situated in the public esplanades that divide our three main streets. The flea market is one of the many activities the neighborhood organizes throughout the year.

The participating vendor donates 10% of proceeds to the Woodruff Place Civic League for restoration of fountains, urns, statuaries, and to maintain public grounds of WP.
Woodruff Place is located between 10th and Michigan Streets just east of Arsenal Tech High School (roughly 1800 E. Michigan