This home, with its elegant Indiana limestone exterior, sits
sedately on the corner of Carr Avenue and Cleveland Street. The thin, paired
columns that support the porch dance enticingly across the front and around
the side. It’s the playful juxtaposition of those Queen Anne columns with the
massive four-square exterior that sets the tone here.
The exterior, though massive, does not prepare you sufficiently
for the generously proportioned rooms and the lavish use of quarter-sawn
oak. This fancy style of cutting up logs creates a rippled grain that’s
quite eye-catching and here is shown off in floors, door and window trim,
stair rails, and mantels. All of which have obviously been refinished — the
oak gleams like a newly minted penny.
The story’s made only more interesting when you find out this
wonderful house was, for years, subdivided into six apartments. The previous
owners tackled the behemoth task of reversing all that. They not only
reestablished the original layout but did it so seamlessly that today there’s
not even a clue to suggest the prior indignities. Now that’s not just laudable
but rather remarkable!
Thirteen-foot ceilings on the ground floor immediately grab your
attention. Proportionally tall pocket doors open from the entry to two rooms
(one back and one to the side), offering options in how the public rooms are
to be used. The massive stair with its incised newel post and turned
spindles, all oak, animates the entry.
The front parlor is stately and is now used as the living room.
In lieu of a focal fireplace, a built-in petticoat mirror gleams from one
corner. The other sitting room (the gentlemen’s parlor?) has a fireplace and
functions perfectly today as a family gathering spot. There’s even a side door
to the porch set in a bay window for easy outdoor access.
The dining is adequately sized for a small banquet. Across the
back is a single bedroom perfect for visitors, which could, natch, be a study
as well. Then there’s a full bath featuring its original footed tub. The
kitchen, like the rest of the house, is large, with plenty of room for food-
prep and a big family table. Tall windows fill this and all the other
rooms with light.
Upstairs are another four bedrooms. The master, with its own
sitting bay, has a fireplace and a redone private bath. What was probably an
original sleeping porch has been enclosed to create a generous upstair laundry
just where it’s needed most. A two-car garage and recently renovated two-story
workshop out back could even become a guest cottage without too much effort.
You need not feel cramped here. You need not concern yourself with more
renovations, ’cause this stately Central Gardens home needs nothin!
1353 Carr Avenue
4,000 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 3 baths; $374,000
Realtor: The Garland Co., 527-7770, Agent: Chris Garland, 230-
3226
