Photo Potpourri: Old Northside Neighborhood of Indy to present rare tour of homes Oct. 31

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Old Northside Neighborhood of Indy
to present rare tour of homes Oct. 31

Indianapolis residents, surely you've wondered at some point what the inside of those wonderfully transformed homes in the Old Northside Neighborhood of Indianapolis look like as you've driven through there the past five to seven years or so. I got a chance to see some of those on a photography project over the past few months, and at the end of this month, you will have a chance, too.

For the first time in a long while -- one resident estimated that the last tour was sometime in the 1990s -- the neighborhood is staging a one-night-only tour of eight of the beautifully restored homes and two historic icons -- the Indiana Landmarks Center and Morris-Butler House. If you're interested in taking advantage of this rare opportunity, you have to act fast; only a limited number of tickets are being made available to the public for the Candlelight Tour of Homes, and the last I heard -- which was early this week -- two-thirds of those have been sold. Tickets are priced at $45 and can be obtained only online at this link: Candlelight Home Tour tickets.

The tour will be from 7 to 10 p.m. Oct. 31 in tandem with the National Trust for Historic Preservation's annual conference in Indianapolis Oct. 29 to Nov. 2. Indiana Landmarks is serving as the local host and base of operations for the conference.

Two years ago, I was a participant in the Indy Meetup Photo Club's project to photo document the Old Northside Neighborhood, which culminated in two one-day photo exhibits -- one in August at the Propylaeum, the other two months later at the Landmarks Center in conjunction with that facility's monthly participation in the First Friday Art Walk.

Old Northside officials took notice of the club's work in 2011 and contacted IMUPC early this year when they were looking for photography assistance for promotional material to be used in conjunction with this month's tour of homes.

I was among a handful of club photographers who took pictures inside and outside the homes on the tour over the course of several visits, ranging from the first in March to another as recent as last month. Selecting a single image to lead off the post was difficult; there are many that would reflect nicely on the tour homes. The one I ended up with is an interior shot of the living room at 1434 N. Park Ave. from a vantage point looking toward the kitchen, which I chose because of its bright, cheerful nature. Below are other pictures of the homes on the tour.

I was inside to photograph many of the homes; you'll be able to spot the ones I didn't get inside by the lack of interior shots below. In the case of the home at 521 E. 13th St., I was inside that home during the 2011 swing through the neighborhood, and there were some good pictures in that shoot. I was told the interior decorations are significantly different today, however, so I am not including any of the 2011 photographs in this post.

For the Landmarks Center, the former Central Avenue Methodist Episcopal church, I used three photos taken during that 2011 photo documentary project. One of two interior photos is of the former church sanctuary, now a large, multipurpose hall. The hall looks much the same today, other than the decorations on the stage, which were contemporary for the period when I visited in 2011. The other interior picture is of Cook Theater.

In the case of the Morris-Butler House, I also used a 2011 photograph of the exterior, my favorite from the outside shots that year. My interior photos there were superior in 2011 because this year, the home was in a state of functional and decorative transition when I had my appointment to shoot, and much of the furnishings had been removed or placed in temporary storage. The interior picture of the kitchen stove you see here, however, was taken during this year's visit.

Finally, in the case of the home at 1508 Broadway, I need to note that the interior shot of the dining room (the second of three pictures) was illuminated with an artificial light setup arranged by another photographer, not me, even though I did take that picture.

As always with pictures at any post on this blog, click on each photo to enjoy maximum size and sharpness.

1327 Broadway