Historic Downtown Lafayette Homes in Danger
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA 40 square-block downtown area in Lafayette happens to be one of the Midwest’s most intact examples of 19th Century urban development. But with economic development projects on the horizon, how does Lafayette preserve that historic fabric of its downtown? Many historic downtown Lafayette homes have been torn down and one in particular has made the 10 Most Endangered list from Indiana Landmarks.
Most typically associate Lafayette with Purdue University, given its location just two miles from campus. But the city of just over 72,000 has its own identity with a downtown steeped in architectural history dating back over 150 years.
“We haven’t always done a great job showing the rest of the state, ‘Hey, we’ve got this really intact 19th Century core (with) walkable, cobblestone alleys,” says Sean Lutes, vice president of the Lafayette Historic Preservation Commission.
But demolition of Lafayette’s historic downtown homes is rapidly increasing, like the Falley-O’Gara-Pyke House that was built in 1884.
“The house currently threatened is an example of what’s happened to many of the historic homes in this immediate area that have been acquired the Diocese (of Lafayette in Indiana) and demolished for either parking or proposed expansion of St. Mary Cathedral,” said Tommy Kleckner with Indiana Landmarks.
Lutes says losing the home would not only be a blow for the neighborhood, but it would also be a loss of craftsmanship, as the home features many unique design elements.
The historic neighborhood also has special ties to Purdue University, where historic buildings such as the Falley-O’Gara-Pyke House housed fraternities and sororities through the early 20th Century.
“A lot of the fraternities were on this side of the river,” said Lutes. “West Lafayette did not a lot of the infrastructure – the water, the gas – that Lafayette had in the 19th Century. In fact, in the 1880s, West Lafayette sought to be annexed by Lafayette to pay for that infrastructure, but Lafayette declined. A lot of the students in the early 20th Century lived in neighborhoods like this.”
And the director of economic development for the city of Lafayette wants to use its rich architectural history as an economic driver for future projects.
“We’ve used historic preservation as an economic development tool for some time,” said Economic Development Director Dennis Carson. “Our downtown has lots of historic structures and it’s been one of our greatest assets.”
Lutes says, in a perfect world, Lafayette’s old city would be a protected historic district in which the city could work with owners to find solutions for the historic buildings in it that are feasible, but sensitive.
“That way, as the city develops, as it grows, we’re not doing it at the cost of our local history, architecture, and the unique thing that drew people in in the first place.”