Ezekiel Pierce House

Dates:

1860, demolished 2000
Location: southwest corner State and Pierce Streets, West Lafayette, Indiana
Contractor: Joshua Chew

This house was built for Ezekiel Pierce in 1860, on the outskirts of Chauncey, a suburb of Lafayette, Indiana. In 1869 Purdue University was established just west of the Pierce house. In 1888 Chauncey was absorbed into the new town of West Lafayette. By the mid-twentieth century, the Pierce House was surrounded by the Purdue Village area and the University.

Around the 1960s-1970s a gas station was built on the front yard and the house became student apartments. It was demolished in 2000 by the University to build a new building for the Krannert School of Business. Some salvage work was undertaken by volunteers from the Wabash Valley Trust for Historic Preservation. The University was not interested in preserving the house in any way, and it was bulldozed during the morning of October 26, 2000.

View from the northeast. The gas station in the front yard gave way to a parking lot by the 1990s. View from the east. Note the frame addition at rear.
View from the northeast. The porch is a c.1910s-1920s replacement of two small porches flanking the central stair hall. The bay window dates to the same period as the porch, suggesting a 1910s remodeling. Note the brick details at the corners of the bay. The left hand window shows the original glazing pattern (4/4 panes). Shutter hinges can be seen on the window frames.
This house at the southwest corner of South and 27th Streets in Lafayette is a "twin" of the Pierce house. The D. N. Berry house at the southwest corner of Main and 12th also matches these houses. This view of the 27th Street house, from A Glimpse of LaFayette, 1890, shows the types of porches these three houses originally had.
The front hall looking west. The stairs rose along the north wall, with a front door on the east and west ends of the hall. Some of the spindles had been replaced with stock spindles from a hardware store, a few of which had not even been stained. The glazed front doors date to the c.1910s remodeling while the transoms (salvaged) seem to be original. Looking up the staircase facing West. Note open closet on landing. Note the curved plaster and railing details. The stringer board and steps had been painted brown but the spindles still had their dark walnut finish while the rail was a golden-orange oak which had turned brown.
10-25-2000. Vandals and Fire Department training sessions had further ravaged the interior. 10-26-2000. The house was demolished by about 9:00 a.m. A few cornice bracket fragments were salvaged from the wreckage. The rest of the material seems to have been landfilled.