Sweet buttery biscuits it’s cold outside. So cold, in fact, that air drying a blanket in my apartment resulted in a lovely sheet of ice crystals on the inside of my windows. However, scraping away a little bit created a nice frame for my neighbor, the Eden-Talbott House, now home to Plews Shadley Racher and Braun LLP.
Just north of 13th on North Delaware Street, the Eden-Talbott was built in two phases. The rear of the house, with the rounded arched windows, was built in 1871 by real estate dealer Aaron Kauffman. Seven years later, Charlton Eden, owner of a planting mill also on Delaware St., constructed a more elaborate front onto the property. From the PSR&B website:
The new front portion was built in the Italianate and Second Empire styles. The house features a central tower with a carved stone balcony on the second story. Elaborate limestone moldings flank the tower and decorate the many large windows. The 800-piece staircase newel post was displayed at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. Black walnut, now scarce in Indiana, was used extensively in the ornate arches and carved lions’ heads found throughout the home. Eden’s company had constructed similar woodwork in the nearby Benjamin Harrison home three years before.
Later, around 1903, Henry Morrison Talbott, a partner in the firm that managed theaters and opera houses within Indianapolis including the circle’s English Opera House, lived in the house until his death in 1929. After his death, the house changed hands a number of times, housing the International Order of Oddfellows and more recently the National Federation of Music Clubs until the Eden-Talbott was renovated and occupied by PSR&B in 2009.
3 Comments on "A Room with a View – Eden-Talbott House"
I worked for the U.S. Census in its local operation here in Indianapolis in 2009 and 2010. In 2009 the task was to be sure we had all of the addresses in the computer. It so happened that I was working the block in which that house sat. I walked up to the front door which was standing open. I went on in and went all the way to the rear and found no one there — apparently work was being done to remodel the house and the workers had gone away, leaving the doors standing open. It was obvious that no one was living in the house at that time, which served our purpose, but I did note its more recent use by the Music Clubs of America.
Must continue to follow this blog…
That’s my law firm! Thanks for the great photograph and write-up on the beautiful building. Our firm has two other historic homes that serves as our offices at 14th & Delaware.