Outside of her role at Indiana Landmarks, Suzanne serves on the boards of the Athenaeum Foundation and the National Preservation Partners Network.
Sponsored by Jeff Rasley
Speaker: Suzanne Stanis, MLS, Vice President of Heritage Education, Indiana Landmarks
Introduced By: Marty Meisenheimer
Attendance: NESC: 86; Zoom: 23
Guest(s): None mentioned or logged
Scribe: Ruth Schmidt
Editor: Carl Warner
Talk’s Zoom recording found at: https://www.scientechclubvideos.org/zoom/10202025.mp4
Marty Meisenheimer introduced Suzanne Stanis who serves as the Vice President of Education at Indiana Landmarks. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Hanover College and a Master of Library Science from Indiana University. Suzanne oversees Indiana Landmarks’ Indianapolis tours, the heritage tourism divisions of West Baden Springs/French Lick Springs hotels, and she supervises Samara, a notable Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home in West Lafayette.
Susanne’s presentation started with the mission of the nonprofit Indiana Landmarks organization and described her role as VP of Education. She showed photos of the historic sites that became regional and field offices of the organization including some in the Second Empire style.
How did the Second Empire Style start?
The Second Empire is named after Napoleon III. The architectural style started in Paris during the Royal Decade and was popularized by architect Francois Mansart and was in response to building height restrictions that did not count attic living space. The style spread throughout Europe and had resurgence in the 1853 to 1870s period spreading to the United States including Indiana. The ornate and distinctive mansard roof has two slopes on all four sides with the lower slope being steeper. Other features include dormer windows on the roof, tall, arched windows on walls, decorative cornices, and sometimes a tower. In the United States, the style went from fashionable and fancy to spooky.
What happened to the Second Empire Style buildings?
Ms. Stanis showed examples of the English Opera House and the original Indianapolis Courthouse. Like many other Second Empire style buildings, this courthouse was demolished for neighborhood modernization and the interstates. Other existing Indiana county courthouses are built in the Second Empire Style. The Morris Butler House serves as a museum and event space for Indiana Landmarks with the purchase and restoration largely funded by Eli Lilly. Ms. Stanis showed several examples of other residential and commercial buildings that were preserved here in Indiana, Washington DC, and other states.
How do you build one?
Various “pattern books” conveyed the building plans for constructing these buildings. An example is the Calbert Vaux pattern book used to construct the Marine Villa in Newport RI. With convenient pattern books, constructing the style became doable even in small towns. Homes for the affluent, built in the Second Empire style, were later repurposed for funeral parlors or nursing homes. Homes for the mentally ill were constructed in this style too.
Can we see “haunted” Second Empire style buildings in movies and art?
The spooky looking painting “House by the Railroad” by Edward Hopper (1925) popularized the Second Empire Style in our culture. Some famous spooky movies including Second Empire style buildings are Giant (1956), Psycho (1960), and The Old Dark House (1962). The Addams family’s haunted house was featured in cartoons in 1938 with the first appearance of the Second Empire style house in 1945. The Universal Studios Munsters house facade has been modernized and is repurposed for Desperate Housewives and various commercials.
Suzanne Stanis
Suzanne Stanis
