Elias Abel House
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Elias Abel House is a historic building in western Bloomington,
Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
,
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Built in the
Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...
style in 1845, it was once the grand home of one of Bloomington's leading citizens. After many years of use, it fell into disrepair and was endangered by the possibility of destruction, but restoration has led to its designation as a
historic site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been rec ...
due to its authentic period architecture.


Elias Abel

Born in 1800 in
Wythe County, Virginia Wythe County is a county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,290. Its county seat is Wytheville. History Wythe County was formed from Montgomery County in 1790. It was ...
, Abel moved to the Bloomington vicinity in 1824 and began to farm.Klassen, Teri. "Owners seek loan to restore historic house on Fairview." ''
The Herald-Times ''The Herald-Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Bloomington, Indiana and surrounding areas. The newspaper won the Blue Ribbon Daily award in 1975, 1984 2007, and 2014, naming it the best daily newspaper in the state of Indiana in those years. ...
'', 1985-06-03.
At this time, southwestern Indiana was very rural; Bloomington likely had no more than six hundred residents in 1824, but it was the most prosperous town in its region of the state.Blanchard, Charles, ed. ''Counties of Morgan, Monroe and Brown, Indiana: Historical and Biographical.''
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
: F.A. Battey, 1884.
Between 1841 and 1862, he was active in local politics; he served multiple terms as the
Monroe County Monroe County may refer to seventeen counties in the United States, all named for James Monroe: * Monroe County, Alabama *Monroe County, Arkansas * Monroe County, Florida * Monroe County, Georgia *Monroe County, Illinois *Monroe County, Indian ...
treasurer, and he was elected to serve in the
Indiana General Assembly The Indiana General Assembly is the state legislature, or legislative branch, of the state of Indiana. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the Indiana House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Indiana Senate. ...
from 1856 to 1857. After finishing his Bloomington house in 1845, Abel lived on the property until 1856; he had purchased the property for just $250, but he sold it for $1,000. ''Note:'' This includes and Accompanying photographs. After residing elsewhere for four years, he purchased a nearby house now known as the Blair-Dunning House; in 1862, he sold it to the future wife of Paris C. Dunning, later
Governor of Indiana The governor of Indiana is the head of government of the State of Indiana. The governor is elected to a four-year term and is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day management of the functions of many agencies of the Indiana state government ...
. Into his old age, Abel continued to be both healthy and prominent in the community, keeping his reputation as one of Monroe County's leading Democrats into his mid-eighties.


After Abel

Following several decades of use as the residence of its owners, the house was converted into a rental property in 1923; it soon began to deteriorate due to a lack of necessary maintenance. During this time, the porch was expanded, the exterior was covered with poor-quality brown asphalt siding, and the original exterior woodwork deteriorated; by the late 1970s, both the original and the later elements were crumbling.


Architecture


Structure

The structure of the house is typical of the design known as the "
I-house The I-house is a vernacular house type, popular in the United States from the colonial period onward. The I-house was so named in the 1930s by Fred Kniffen, a cultural geographer at Louisiana State University who was a specialist in folk archit ...
" — its two
stories Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Story, a narrative (an account of imaginary or real people and events) ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting * Story (American English), or storey (British ...
are each divided into two rooms, one on each side. Such a plan is typical of the
vernacular architecture Vernacular architecture is building done outside any academic tradition, and without professional guidance. This category encompasses a wide range and variety of building types, with differing methods of construction, from around the world, bo ...
of Monroe County in the middle of the nineteenth century: the area's early settlers generally favored the "I plan", finding it simple and sufficient for their needs without sacrificing elegance. Few such houses remain in a condition closely resembling their early years; despite the changes made to it, the Abel House has been named Bloomington's best extant "I"-house. Major structural elements of the house include a
pitched roof Roof pitch is the steepness of a roof expressed as a ratio of inch(es) rise per horizontal foot (or their metric equivalent), or as the angle in degrees its surface deviates from the horizontal. A flat roof has a pitch of zero in either insta ...
made of composites and wooden
eave The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...
s, a large
basement A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, ...
with
limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
walls and a fruit cellar, and multiple brick
chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typic ...
s. During its history, the house has received two additions on its western (rear) side: a
saltbox A saltbox house is a gable-roofed residential structure that is typically two stories in the front and one in the rear. It is a traditional New England style of home, originally timber framed, which takes its name from its resemblance to a woode ...
-style on the southwestern corner, and a simpler style on the northwestern corner. Individuals may enter the house through a central main entrance; flanked by two windows on each side, the door is surrounded by transoms that may include some original glass.


Details

The house has been ranked as a fine example of the popular version of the
Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...
style of architecture. A
frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...
structure two
stories Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Story, a narrative (an account of imaginary or real people and events) ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting * Story (American English), or storey (British ...
tall, the house was built with a small
portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
at the entrance; when it was later expanded to a large porch, almost all of the original portico was removed. Some original elements survived the modifications of the twentieth century; the most important of these are the
pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...
s on the corners of the house. Inside, many more original elements survive than on the exterior. Significant among these are the rail,
baluster A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its cons ...
s, and steps of the main staircase, which are made of hand-
planed Rural community development encompasses a range of approaches and activities that aim to improve the welfare and livelihoods of people living in rural areas. As a branch of community development, these approaches pay attention to social issues par ...
cherry wood, and the mantel over the main fireplace. Other distinctive features include transoms over all interior doorways in the house's southern portion and a
walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...
log in the attic, which was a traditional element used to bring good luck to the house.


Recognition

A renaissance began for the Abel House in 1976, when the city of Bloomington designated it a
historic site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been rec ...
, thus preserving it from almost certain demolition; one year later, it was purchased by a couple who soon began to renovate it and applied for loans to aid in restoring it. In 1982, the house was 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 v ...
because of its well-preserved historic architecture; key to its inclusion was its place as the city's best example of an "I"-house and as the home of one of the most prominent residents of early Bloomington. Fifteen years after the house was added to the Register, much of the city's west side was designated a
historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...
, the
Bloomington West Side Historic District Bloomington West Side Historic District is a national historic district located at Bloomington, Monroe County, Indiana. The district encompasses 394 contributing buildings, 2 contributing sites, and 2 contributing structures in a mixed resid ...
; the Abel House was named one of the most important of the district's hundreds of
contributing properties In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...
.Indiana Historic Sites and Structures Inventory. ''City of Bloomington Interim Report''. Bloomington: City of Bloomington, 2004-04, 31.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abel, Elias, House Houses completed in 1845 Buildings and structures in Bloomington, Indiana Greek Revival houses in Indiana Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana I-houses in Indiana National Register of Historic Places in Monroe County, Indiana Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Indiana Houses in Monroe County, Indiana 1845 establishments in Indiana