Sunday Prayers: Demo List House on Woodlawn

Was wandering around Fountain Square and other parts east of the Mile Square earlier this week (more foreshadowing: got an upcoming article about why my next house in Indianapolis would be in Fountain Square) and found this beauty at 1715 Woodlawn with the foreboding “Rebuild Indy” signs out front. A quick glance might indeed make most people dismiss this little charmer out of hand, but looking a little more closely…Check out some of the gorgeous details on this cottage.

If you’ve ever seen any of the early photos of Lockerbie Square homes, you’d know that this house is in better shape than many of those were.

Houses just do not have this kind of craftsmanship and detailing any more. And once they are gone, they’re gone forever!

This looks a lot like the kind of house you could have gotten for $1 a couple decades ago. Now, for city money to demolish this and hand the owner a bill? Really?

Who hasn’t seen something in way worse shape than this? Look how many of the little details remain?

And even though this would never be my choice, looking through the window, it seems that new drywall and doors have been put in place. Gets you wondering what happened? Someone started investing in it, and then perhaps, ran out of money? Was foreclosed on? Whatever the case, today’s Sunday Prayers are for a closer inspection of the homes on this list, because we’ve discovered quite a few that are head-scratchers… if you care about the housing heritage our generation will leave behind, you may want to follow the Stop the Demolitions, Indianapolis page on facebook.