John Valentine House

Dates:

1918
Location: 1001 W. Riverside Avenue, Muncie, Indiana
Architect: Barry Byrne, of Chicago

This unusual pseudo-Prarie style house was designed by Barry Byrne (1883-1967), an architect who had learned the practice of architecture in the office of Frank Lloyd Wright from 1902-1908. In 1914 Byrne designed the J.B. Franke House at Fort Wayne, Indiana. Among Byrne's most famous buildings was Christ the King Cathedral, Turner's Cross, Cork, Ireland. He also designed several schools and churches for the Archdiocese of Chicago.

The Valentine house was a large suburban residence built the year that Ball State Teacher's College, now Ball State University, opened nearby. It was used as a fraternity house for several years by Sigma Tau Gamma before being sold to Theta Chi in the early-1990s. The fraternity chapter which occupied the house was shut down in January, 1994, due to declingin membership. A few months later the house was damaged in a fire set by vandals. The interior and the original copper roof were destroyed. It has sat burned-out and vacant for over twelve years. An asphalt roof was put on after the fire and the windows were boarded up. Vandals have broken in repeatedly and have damaged sections of the brick walls in the rear garden. At present the house is boarded-up but the basement doors appear to have been broken open and some of the upstairs windows have had the boards knocked off. Graffitti covers the front wall of the house. The front wall also seems to have developed a slight lean. Decorative iron balconies on the front and side facades have been removed.

The Valentine House is one of five vacant fraternity houses within a three block stretch on Riverside Avenue. Several other fraternities have been shut down or have defaulted on the loans which financed their houses. Theta Chi had occupied a house next door to the Valentine house, but this appears to be empty since they moved into the vacant Delta Chi house across the street in 2005.

The property is heavily overgrown. A notice tacked to the front door states that the property was in violation of city ordinances regarding "weeds and rank vegetation" in January, 2005. The interior is visible through the broken lights of the front door and through a gap in the boards over the terrace doors in the rear. Very little remains of the interior, everything having been stripped to the studs or the bare tile walls after the fire. The staircase wraps over the front door, landing inside the copper oriel window, which features elaborate exteior panels. Part of the first floor is raised a few steps. There appears to be one large living room on the east and a large living porch facing the garden on the south. The west wing appears to have contained the kitchen (it has a back door entrance).

The fraternity alumni group which owns the house has considered restoration but they have also proposed demolishing the building. Its status remains unclear. Vandals and the weather continue to cause damage to the house.

5-22-2005 Front elevation  
  3-2-2006
Interesting stepped detail at base of front wall Detail of window mullions on second floor
The front door Oriel over front door
  Detail of copper panel on oriel
  Stone elements which flank the entrance
View through the front door The door at center faces the garden
5-5-2005 East side of house facing Locust Street South (garden) facade seen through the overgrown garden from Beechwood Avenue
  Damaged brickwork showing tile construction
View fron the south Looking across the garden
The reflecting pool has been used as a fire and trash pit A large semicircular bench on cross-axis with the reflecting pool
Looking south from the terrace This concrete basin may have once been part of the garden
Detail of carved limestone over south terrace doors Looking into the house from the south terrace (front door at center)
View of the west side of the rear wing More vandalism at the back steps
The front wall seems to be leaning slightly This large opening was probably a bank of windows or doors