John Graves House
Graves House Preservation Center
| Dates: | c.1908 |
| Location: | 325 N. Fifth Street, Lafayette, Indiana |
The Graves House Preservation Center formerly housed the offices of the Wabash Valley Trust for Historic Preservation, 325 N. Fifth Street, Lafayette. The house was built c.1908 for John & Arkansas Graves in what is now the Historic Centennial Neighborhood, on the north edge of the Downtown commercial district. John Graves died within ten years of completing the house, and his widow remained until about 1919. The house was occupied by the Skinner family from about 1919-1927. From the 1930s-early-1960s the house changed occupants every few years. After being used as offices by the American Cancer Society during the 1960s-1980s, the house became a homeless shelter mission house operated by Trinity Methodist Church.
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| The Graves house, 2003 (roll over to see 2001) | The Graves house, 2003 (roll over to see 2001) |
The last half of the 20th century was hard on the Graves house--the porch was walled in, partitions divided the rooms, woodwork was painted over, and windows sided over. I remember the house as "completely uninteresting" painted white with blue shutters glued onto its walls. The Wabash Valley Trust for Historic Preservation purchased the house from Trinity Methodist and began the slow process of returning the worn-out Trinity House to its original appearance.
If you roll your mouse over the photographs below you will see images from 2001, showing the house at about the halfway point in its renovation. As bad as that looks compared to the current pictures, that was a HUGE improvement over how it looked before. The second floor (originally an attic, later finished in the 1920s-1930s) was renovated as an apartment and the first floor for the Trust's offices. Individuals and organizations involved in the renovation included Trust director Angela Bowen, president Kent Scheutte, Patricia Barrett, Dave Ruth, Bowen Tile, and many others. The porch railings were replicated from profiles discovered on the walls and columns. The fine custom carpentry work was done by Larry Miller. A Purdue University Landscape Architecture class designed and built the landscape around the house as a class project. The once "completely uninteresting" remuddled house is now a beautiful asset to the Historic Centennial Neighborhood.
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| July, 2004 The Graves House has just recieved a new asphalt-shingle roof featuring wood-shake-style shingles | During the re-roofing, the original dormers were stripped of their 1980s siding to reveal their original shingle cladding and wood mouldings |
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| View showing plantings designed by Purdue University Landscape Architecture students. | Detail of the porch railing built by Larry Miller from plans by Ben Ross. The railing profile is identical to the original which was visible in a paint outline against the brick wall. The spindle style and spacing is based on local precedents. |