The Abram Gaar House and Farm or known as the Gaar Mansion is a wooden

Second Empire Second Empire may refer to: * Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783 * Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396) * Second French Empire (1852–1870) ** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...

-style farm home located in Richmond, Indiana, built in 1876 and listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. The home was built by industrialist Abram Gaar, president of

Gaar-Scott Gaar, Scott & Co., was an American threshing machine and steam traction engine builder founded in 1849 and based in Richmond, Indiana. The company built simple and compound engines in sizes from 10 to 50 horsepower. Farm machinery produced by ...

and Company, manufacturers of steam engines and threshing machines from 1842 to 1911. Total construction cost of the home was $20,000 it took eight months to build. The house is situated on a rise overlooking the city of Richmond from the north. Gaar hired John A. Hasecoster, the area's leading architect of the day to design the house and his original plans drawn on linen sheets are on display at the house today.

Restoration

In the 1970s, Joanna Hill Mikesell, granddaughter of the builder and his wife Agnes restored the home which had remained in her family since it was built. Most of the original fabric of the house remains intact and historic windows, front porch fittings, and interior elements were found in storage on the property and returned to the house during restoration. She established the non-profit Agnes and Abram Gaar Foundation to assume ownership of the house, its contents and a few outbuildings. The Foundation operates the house as a historic house museum.

Collection

The home holds a significant collection of Victorian decorative arts including nearly all the original

Eastlake style The Eastlake movement was a nineteenth-century architectural and household design reform movement started by British architect and writer Charles Eastlake (1836–1906). The movement is generally considered part of the late Victorian period in t ...

furnishings, some of which were purchased from the 1876

Centennial Exposition The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...

in Philadelphia. Original bills of sale for furniture from Mitchell and Rammelsberg Furniture Company in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wi ...

, are also part of the collection. in addition to the house and furnishings, the Foundation's collection holds a number of archival items relating to the history of the Gaar-Scott company and the Gaar family.

References

External links

*
Reviving the Stenciller's Art in Indiana
The Old-House Journal, 1978 * Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana Victorian architecture in Indiana Buildings and structures in Richmond, Indiana Historic house museums in Indiana Houses completed in 1876 Second Empire architecture in Indiana Museums in Richmond, Indiana National Register of Historic Places in Wayne County, Indiana Houses in Wayne County, Indiana {{Indiana-museum-stub