Washington Park Historic District (Indianapolis)

Infobox Neighborhood
name =Washington Park Historic District
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settlement_type =Historical Neighborhood
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image_caption = Faux Château de Malmaison within the district


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pushpin_map_caption =Position in the state of Indiana within the city of Indianapolis
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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = United States
subdivision_type1 = State
subdivision_name1 = Indiana
subdivision_type2 = City
subdivision_name2 = Indianapolis
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area_total_km2 =0.243
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area_total_sq_mi =about 0.09375
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elevation_ft =725
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timezone = EST
utc_offset = -5
timezone_DST = EDT
utc_offset_DST = -4
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latd=39 |latm=49 |lats=42.88 |latNS=
longd=86 |longm=08 |longs=59.21 |longEW=W
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area_code =317
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footnotes = The Washington Park Historic District is a place on the National Register of Historic Places in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was placed on the Register on June 24, 2008. It comprises nearly sixty acres four miles north of downtown Indianapolis, in Meridian-Kessler neighborhood's south-central district, between Central Avenue and Pennsylvania Street (east to west), and between 40th and 43rd Streets (south to north), with Washington Boulevard running north-south in the center of the district. It includes 110 contributing buildings, ranging mostly from mansions to small bungalows, and three non-contributing buildings to the district's historic nature. [http://www.in.gov/dnr/files/hp_washingtonpark.pdf Washington Park Historic District Registration Form] , National Register of Historic Places. Pages 1-4]

Washington Park was annexed by the city of Indianapolis in 1906. The streets would not be paved until November 1916, with 43rd Street not having sidewalks and pavement until 1923. The apartments in the district, built in the 1920s and 1930, attracted young professionals who not only liked the neighborhood, but saw it as "prestigious". [ [http://www.in.gov/dnr/files/hp_washingtonpark.pdf Washington Park Historic District Registration Form] , National Register of Historic Places. Page 6]

The buildings in the district are a church (Holy Trinity Hellenic Greek Orthodox Church), two duplexes, a four-unit apartment building, eight doubles, 101 single houses, most of which built before World War II, and two non-contributing (historically) brick houses built in 1986 and 1987 that do not contrast with the other buildings. Many of the contributing buildings are different Revival architectural styles, particularly from Europe: Classical, Colonial, Italian Renaissance, and Tudor.

Of particular note is the Harry Hartley house, which was based on Château de Malmaison, the boyhood home of Napoleon Bonaparte. Harry Hartley sent architect William Earl Russ [William Earl Russ, a native of Dayton, Ohio and a graduate of Columbia University, practiced in Dayton before coming to Indianapolis in 1913; in 1934 he formed a partnership with Merritt Harrison, later considered the "dean of Indianapolis architects" (Connie J. Zeigler, in David J. Bodenhamer, Robert Graham Barrows, David Gordon Vanderstel, eds. "The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis", "s.v." "Harrison and Turnock (Russ and Harrison)").] to the original in France to replicate the French chalet in a smaller form, in effect creating a Napoleon complex in Indianapolis. [ [http://www.in.gov/dnr/files/hp_washingtonpark.pdf Washington Park Historic District Registration Form] , National Register of Historic Places. Page 9.]

Another prominent building is the home of United States Senator Albert J. Beveridge. It was here that he wrote his biography of John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, which won a Pulitzer Prize. [ [http://www.in.gov/dnr/files/hp_washingtonpark.pdf Washington Park Historic District Registration Form] , National Register of Historic Places. Page 18]

References