We’re side tracking a
little from our plan to relate ways for your family to study history based upon
your family’s story to tell you about a Fort Wayne architect who changed the
face of housing in our community.
Joel Roberts Ninde was a
woman who disliked the lack the “curb appeal” in many of the houses of her day.
“Whole blocks with houses hammered together from one dismal plan, made bleak
the lives of their inmates, dwarfed ambition and blighted spiritual growth,”
was the assessment of early 1900s architecture in Fort Wayne from a story in Wildwood Magazine in the summer of 1916.
“The great majority of
people tenaciously clung to the idea that a home that cost less than $5,000
must necessarily be a cheap home—a home to be built on a forty-foot lot by a
stereotyped plan.”
Mrs. Ninde never set out
to be an architect. Born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1874, she married Lee J.
Ninde, an attorney who eventually gave up his law practice to help his wife
form the Wildwood Builders Company in 1910. In 1914, they founded Wildwood Magazine, a forum for city planning throughout the United
States, according to Roseann Coomer, a former Education Director for the
Historical Society.
Mrs. Ninde’s foray into
architecture was pure accident. Disliking most of the houses that she saw, and
not wanting to move into her father-in-law’s house because she saw it as dark
and oppressive, she designed her own. It was so well liked that she and her
husband sold it and she designed another home, only to sell that one also. This
continued on until she and her husband decided to form their company.
“It came to pass in time
that the whole city was talking of ‘Mrs. Ninde’s houses,’ and the neighborhood
in which they had been constructed was so individually attractive, as distinguished
from other neighborhoods of moderate priced houses, that the demand for her
services in house planning began to monopolize her whole endeavor,” according
to the 1916 summer issue of Wildwood
Magazine.
Coomer adds that, “Her
aesthetic sense led her to design houses to fit the natural setting in an area.
Thus, the neighborhood became part of the house and the house became part of
the neighborhood.”
Mrs. Ninde had no formal
training as an architect. Rather she was an artist who saw the need for homes
that “take into account …the needs of the daily life of a family. While the
interiors are related to the normal facts of life, the exteriors are always of
an interesting simplicity, that seem indeed the ‘outward expression of an
inward grace.’”
Her houses were built with
the “maximum of comfort with the minimum of cost.”
“A living room is made to
seem a place to live in…The dining rooms are suited to dining and the bed rooms
are comfortable and airy. The kitchens are planned with the remembrance that
few of us can keep a chef, though all of us eat dinners.
“It comes as a natural
result that a thinking woman should plan rooms that would conserve the ‘mother
and daughter power’ of the household.” Quotes from The Story of Wildwood.
Wildwood Builders was
formally established in 1910. Stockholders were selected who had backgrounds in
merchandising, law, real estate and banking. According to The Story of Wildwood, “The
individual characters constituted a guarantee of successful management and fair
dealing.”
A draftsman was then hired
and laborers as well as carpenters. Thirty-nine houses were built in two years.
To facilitate better pricing of materials, Wildwood Lumber Co. was organized so
that building supplies could be purchased at wholesale and then resold to the
building company, assuring that houses could be built for the best price
possible.
Mrs. Ninde built her
houses in what is now the South Wayne Historic District, which was listed on
the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
“Most of the area which comprises the South Wayne Historic District
was once part of an 80 acre tract operated as a county farm between 1848 and
1853. When the farm was divided and sold, a few houses were built but the area
remained rural in character. One of the best known of the country estates built
in the area was that of Judge Lindley M. Ninde, who in the 1860's, built an
impressive house known as "Wildwood" on Fairfield….
“The establishment of the Packard Piano and Organ Company on Fairfield
Avenue in 1872, led to increased development and population growth in the area.
Eventually a movement was formed to incorporate South Wayne as a town. After a
lengthy court battle with the City of Fort Wayne, which wanted to annex the
area, the State Supreme Court ruled in favor of South Wayne and the town was
incorporated in 1889.
“Fort Wayne eventually succeeded in annexing South Wayne in 1894,
bringing with it streetcar lines, utilities, and a new school. The annexation,
coupled with growing industrial development, led to increased residential
interest.
“During the early 20th century Fort Wayne began to experience
unprecedented growth, becoming one of the three largest cities in Indiana. As
the city grew more dense and industrialized, and as transportation options
broadened, those who could afford to moved to new "suburban"
neighborhoods with larger, landscaped lots. In the South Wayne district, 80% of
the homes were constructed between about 1910 and 1920 and another 15%
constructed between 1920 and 1930. Craftsman, Colonial Revival, and American
Foursquare are the dominant architectural styles. Consistency among the houses
in terms of style, scale, materials, setback, and other character-defining features
creates a pleasing rhythm along the district's streets.
“… Other notable
early residents include: Guy Mahurin, a prominent local architect who resided
at 927 W. Wildwood; Charles Worden, a lawyer, banker, and Civic Improvement
Association president who lived at 1022 W. Wildwood; Charles Lane, a Fort Wayne
newspaper man and Commercial Club director who was active in state and national
politics and resided at 917 W. Wildwood; and Senator Homer Capehart who located
his phonograph company in Ft. Wayne in 1929, and lived at 709 Packard Avenue.”
Mrs. Ninde died of
a stroke at the age of 42 but her work lives on in the beautiful homes and
neighborhoods she designed. With her friend Grace E. Crosby, she developed a
design and decorating firm that played a major role in the development of
housing south of downtown.
“Although examples of her work ranging from modest cottages to large
brick homes survive in various parts of the city, the South Wayne Historic
District contains the largest concentration of Ninde's work. The following list
comprises known Ninde houses within the district: 701, 702, 706, 710, 722, 726,
810, 814, 818, 902, 912, 922, 926, 1002, 1018, and 1025 Wildwood Avenue and
3131 South Wayne Avenue.”
If you’ve never driven through this part of Fort Wayne, we encourage
you to do so. The architecture is beautiful and it is truly a look at days gone
by in Fort Wayne.
In the Wildwood
Magazine published the summer
after Mrs. Ninde’s death on March 7, 1916, editors of the magazine paid tribute
to their co-founder.
She established…”a standard to which all building companies were
obliged to conform and which individual builders accepted as the desirable
thing….
“…while a technical education is a most desirable asset, its lack is
not an insurmountable obstacle in the path of endeavor. It proves that genius,
if it asserts itself, will win recognition and approval under any
circumstances, and that those with a message are remiss if they withhold it
from the world.
“The zeal, the earnestness and the conscientious devotion which she
brought into her labors here, she imparted to her associates, and the force of
her fine example endures as a beneficent inspiration and a most helpful
influence.”
No comments:
Post a Comment