Vinegar Hill Historic District
Encyclopedia
The Vinegar Hill Historic District is a historic district
Historic district (United States)
In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...

 and neighborhood in Bloomington
Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census....

, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Built primarily in the second quarter of the twentieth century, Vinegar Hill has been the home of leading Indiana University faculty members, it has inspired literary attention, and it has been designated a historic site
Historic site
A historic site is an official location where pieces of political, military or social history have been preserved. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have recognized with the official national historic site status...

.

Construction

Rapid growth in the importance of Bloomington's limestone industry
Indiana Limestone
Indiana Limestone, also known as Bedford Limestone is a common regional term for Salem limestone, a geological formation primarily quarried in south central Indiana between Bloomington and Bedford....

 made limestone company executives wealthy and created heavy demand for skilled stonecutters
Stonemasonry
The craft of stonemasonry has existed since the dawn of civilization - creating buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone from the earth. These materials have been used to construct many of the long-lasting, ancient monuments, artifacts, cathedrals, and cities in a wide variety of cultures...

 in the city. As limestone became the city's leading industry in the 1920s, an apple orchard
Orchard
An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive...

 was removed to permit the extension of First Street eastward up a long hill and the plat
Plat
A plat in the U.S. is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. Other English-speaking countries generally call such documents a cadastral map or plan....

ting of a new neighborhood. Several other city neighborhoods, such as the distinctive Prospect Hill, already bore topographical names; according to local tradition, the fermentation
Fermentation (food)
Fermentation in food processing typically is the conversion of carbohydrates to alcohols and carbon dioxide or organic acids using yeasts, bacteria, or a combination thereof, under anaerobic conditions. Fermentation in simple terms is the chemical conversion of sugars into ethanol...

 of apples from the orchard produced a distinctive smell
Vinegar
Vinegar is a liquid substance consisting mainly of acetic acid and water, the acetic acid being produced through the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. Commercial vinegar is produced either by fast or slow fermentation processes. Slow methods generally are used with traditional...

 that became the neighborhood's namesake. The first families to build houses in this new development were those of stonecutters, many of whom were European immigrants. Leading among these families were the Donatos, whose members built seven significant houses in the neighborhood. Because so many of the new residents were skilled stoneworkers, they decorated their houses with carvings and sculptures that would have been far too expensive for all but the richest members of society. At the top of Vinegar Hill were the mansions of the wealthy limestone executives; like the workers' houses below them, these homes featured ornate stonework with images such as those of the children of the homeowners. Yet other residents of the district were some prominent Indiana University faculty, including sexology
Sexology
Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behavior, and function. The term does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sex, such as political analysis or social criticism....

 professor Alfred Kinsey
Alfred Kinsey
Alfred Charles Kinsey was an American biologist and professor of entomology and zoology, who in 1947 founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University, now known as the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, as well as producing the Kinsey Reports and the Kinsey...

, music dean
Dean (education)
In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...

 Winfred Merrill, and Nobel
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the field of life science and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will...

-winning biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...

 professor Hermann Muller
Hermann Joseph Muller
Hermann Joseph Muller was an American geneticist, educator, and Nobel laureate best known for his work on the physiological and genetic effects of radiation as well as his outspoken political beliefs...

.

Architecture

As limestone workers and owners, the residents of Vinegar Hill naturally looked to limestone as the material for their own houses. They used these materials to construct residences in a wide range of architectural style
Architectural style
Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture...

s, including American Craftsman
American Craftsman
The American Craftsman Style, or the American Arts and Crafts Movement, is an American domestic architectural, interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts style and lifestyle philosophy that began in the last years of the 19th century. As a comprehensive design and art...

, Neoclassical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

, and Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

. Inside, the houses were also ornate: many feature mantels
Fireplace mantel
Fireplace mantel or mantelpiece, also known as a chimneypiece, originated in medieval times as a hood that projected over a grate to catch the smoke. The term has evolved to include the decorative framework around the fireplace, and can include elaborate designs extending to the ceiling...

 and baluster
Baluster
A baluster is a moulded shaft, square or of lathe-turned form, one of various forms of spindle in woodwork, made of stone or wood and sometimes of metal, standing on a unifying footing, and supporting the coping of a parapet or the handrail of a staircase. Multiplied in this way, they form a...

s of carven stone, and the four houses built by Christopher Donato also include elaborate transoms
Transom (architectural)
In architecture, a transom is the term given to a transverse beam or bar in a frame, or to the crosspiece separating a door or the like from a window or fanlight above it. Transom is also the customary U.S. word used for a transom light, the window over this crosspiece...

 and lintels
Post and lintel
Post and lintel, or in contemporary usage Post and beam, is a simple construction method using a lintel, header, or architrave as the horizontal member over a building void supported at its ends by two vertical columns, pillars, or posts...

. The most prominent houses in the neighborhood are the hilltop homes of the wealthy near the eastern end of the district; here may be found styles such as Tudor Revival and Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...

-influenced Colonial Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...

. Throughout the district, many houses are found in various forms of Colonial and English Revivals, and multiple Spanish Colonial Revivals are among the most significant residences of the lower part of the hill. Among the books that have concentrated on the architecture of Vinegar Hill is Carol Shields
Carol Shields
Carol Ann Shields, CC, OM, FRSC, MA was an American-born Canadian author. She is best known for her 1993 novel The Stone Diaries, which won the U.S. Pulitzer Prize for Fiction as well as the Governor General's Award in Canada.-Biography:Shields was born in Oak Park, Illinois...

' novel The Stone Diaries
The Stone Diaries
The Stone Diaries is a 1993 award-winning novel by Carol Shields.It is the fictional autobiography about the life of Daisy Goodwill Flett, a seemingly ordinary woman whose life is marked by death and loss from the beginning, when her mother dies during childbirth...

, in which the neighborhood is part of the setting for much of the novel.

Closely related to the neighborhood's distinctive architecture is the unusually significant lawn furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...

 present around many of the houses. Objects such as detailed individual portraits, carvings of lions and griffin
Griffin
The griffin, griffon, or gryphon is a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle...

s, and sculptures of children make the neighborhood unique: it is the only neighborhood anywhere in Indiana in which lawn furniture is a major element of the area's historic nature.

Historic assessment

Between 1999 and 2001, historic preservation
Historic preservation
Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...

 officials working with the city of Bloomington surveyed the entire city and identified over two thousand buildings that were deemed to be historic to one extent or another, most of which were concentrated in several historic districts. Composing one of these districts were sixty-one buildings on Vinegar Hill; deemed contributing properties
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...

, they help to make the district historic. These buildings were divided into three classifications: Outstanding, Notable, and Contributing. Properties rated as "Outstanding" were deemed to be historically significant enough to deserve consideration for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 by themselves; "Notable" properties were worthy of special consideration, although not likely to be worthy of individual National Register status; "Contributing" locations were seen as significant parts of their historic districts, but not of great significance by themselves. Eight of Vinegar Hill's contributing properties received an "Outstanding" rating, and thirteen were deemed "Notable;" only thirty-one were called "Contributing." The district includes a disproportionately large number of above-average properties: about 13% of the city's sites were named either "Notable" or "Outstanding," in contrast to 40% of those on Vinegar Hill. Particularly unusual is the concentration of eight "Outstanding" properties, which represented one-eighth of all such buildings citywide.

In 2003, a movement started to have Vinegar Hill accorded the national recognition that it was seen as lacking, and the city received a historic preservation grant
Grant (money)
Grants are funds disbursed by one party , often a Government Department, Corporation, Foundation or Trust, to a recipient, often a nonprofit entity, educational institution, business or an individual. In order to receive a grant, some form of "Grant Writing" often referred to as either a proposal...

 from the state government
Government of Indiana
The government of Indiana is established and regulated by the Constitution of Indiana. The state-level government consists of three branches, the judicial branch, the legislative branch, and the executive branch. The three branches balance share power and jointly govern the state of Indiana...

 for use in the district. In an attempt to have it nominated to the National Register of Historic Places, an Indiana University class began collecting detailed information about the district's houses and interviewed many residents in order to gather support for the proposed nomination. Support grew for according federal recognition to the neighborhood, and it was officially added to the National Register on June 17, 2005. Although the city-designated historic district encompasses fifty-two contributing properties, all of which are buildings, the area designated as historic by the federal government comprises seventy-one contributing buildings and thirty-eight other contributing sites, structures, and objects
Property type (National Register of Historic Places)
The U.S. National Register of Historic Places classifies its listings by various types of properties. Listed properties generally fall into one of five categories, though there are special considerations for other types of properties which do not fit into these five broad categories or fit into...

.

Table of contributing properties

Appearing in the table below are the buildings included within the boundaries of the city-designated historic district.
Rating Image Address Year Style
Architectural style
Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture...

Comments
Notable
39°9′34"N 86°31′20.5"W
1948 Dutch Colonial Revival Home of Hermann Muller
Hermann Joseph Muller
Hermann Joseph Muller was an American geneticist, educator, and Nobel laureate best known for his work on the physiological and genetic effects of radiation as well as his outspoken political beliefs...

; known as the "Muller House"
Outstanding
39°9′33"N 86°31′21"W
1934 Spanish Colonial Revival Known as the "Mazzullo House"
Contributing
39°9′33"N 86°31′20"W
1930 Dutch Colonial Revival
Contributing
39°9′33"N 86°31′19.5"W
1930 American Foursquare
American Foursquare
The American Foursquare or American Four Square is an American house style popular from the mid-1890s to the late 1930s. A reaction to the ornate and mass produced elements of the Victorian and other Revival styles popular throughout the last half of the 19th century, the American Foursquare was...

Notable
39°9′33"N 86°31′19"W
1926 Arts and Crafts
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...

/Bungalow
California Bungalow
California bungalows, known as Californian bungalows in Australia and are commonly called simply bungalows in America, are a form of residential structure that were widely popular across America and, to some extent, the world around the years 1910 to 1939.-Exterior features:Bungalows are 1 or 1½...

Known as the "Franzman House"
Contributing
39°9′34"N 86°31′19"W
1935 Colonial Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...

Contributing
39°9′33"N 86°31′18.2"W
1930 American Foursquare
American Foursquare
The American Foursquare or American Four Square is an American house style popular from the mid-1890s to the late 1930s. A reaction to the ornate and mass produced elements of the Victorian and other Revival styles popular throughout the last half of the 19th century, the American Foursquare was...

Outstanding
39°9′34"N 86°31′18"W
1941 Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

Built by Chris Donato
Contributing
39°9′33"N 86°31′17.5"W
1935 Tudor Revival
Outstanding
39°9′34"N 86°31′17.4"W
1940 Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

Built by Chris Donato
Contributing
39°9′33"N 86°31′16.8"W
1929 Spanish Colonial Revival
Contributing
39°9′33"N 86°31′15.6"W
1935 Colonial Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...

Notable
39°9′34"N 86°31′16.8"W
1935 Renaissance Revival Known as the "Donato House"
Contributing
39°9′33"N 86°31′14.7"W
1935 Colonial Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...

Contributing
39°9′34"N 86°31′16"W
1935 Colonial Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...

Notable
39°9′34"N 86°31′15.3"W
1935 Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

Contributing
39°9′33"N 86°31′14"W
1930 American Foursquare
American Foursquare
The American Foursquare or American Four Square is an American house style popular from the mid-1890s to the late 1930s. A reaction to the ornate and mass produced elements of the Victorian and other Revival styles popular throughout the last half of the 19th century, the American Foursquare was...

Contributing
39°9′34"N 86°31′14.7"W
1935 Colonial Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...

Contributing
39°9′34"N 86°31′14"W
1935 French Renaissance Revival
French Renaissance architecture
French Renaissance architecture is the style of architecture which was imported to France from Italy during the early 16th century and developed in the light of local architectural traditions....

Outstanding
39°9′33"N 86°31′13.2"W
1935 Spanish Colonial Revival
Outstanding
39°9′34"N 86°31′13.2"W
1928 Spanish Colonial Revival Known as the "Anthony House"
Contributing
39°9′33"N 86°31′12"W
1940 Dutch Colonial Revival
Contributing
39°9′33"N 86°31′7"W
1935 American Foursquare
American Foursquare
The American Foursquare or American Four Square is an American house style popular from the mid-1890s to the late 1930s. A reaction to the ornate and mass produced elements of the Victorian and other Revival styles popular throughout the last half of the 19th century, the American Foursquare was...

Notable
39°9′34"N 86°31′12"W
1930 Spanish Colonial Revival Known as the "Bruner House"
Contributing
39°9′34"N 86°31′11.4"W
1951 Colonial Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...

Contributing
39°9′33"N 86°31′9.6"W
1930 Colonial Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...

Contributing
39°9′33"N 86°31′8.8"W
1927 Renaissance Revival
Contributing
39°9′33"N 86°31′8"W
1940 Tudor Revival
Notable
39°9′34"N 86°31′6.4"W
1935 Tudor Revival Known as the "Humphries House"
Contributing
39°9′33"N 86°31′5.2"W
1935 French Provincial
French architecture
The history of French architecture runs in parallel with its neighbouring countries in Europe, with France being home to both some of the earliest pioneers in many architectural styles, and also containing some of the finest architectural creations of the continent.-Roman:The architecture of...

Contributing
39°9′33"N 86°31′4.4"W
1940 Colonial Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...

Contributing
39°9′33"N 86°31′3.2"W
1930 Colonial Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...

Notable
39°9′34"N 86°31′1.6"W
1928 Tudor Revival Known as the "David Wylie House"; designed and built by Charles A. Pike Construction
Notable
39°9′33"N 86°31′1"W
1926 Tudor Revival Home of Alfred Kinsey
Alfred Kinsey
Alfred Charles Kinsey was an American biologist and professor of entomology and zoology, who in 1947 founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University, now known as the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, as well as producing the Kinsey Reports and the Kinsey...

; known as the "Kinsey House". Designed built by Charles A. Pike Construction
Notable
39°9′34"N 86°31′1"W
1928 Tudor Revival Known as the "Cline House"; designed and built by Charles A. Pike Construction
Outstanding
39°9′34"N 86°31′0"W
1928 Tudor Revival Known as the "Woodward House"; designed by Alfred Grindle
Notable
39°9′33"N 86°30′59.6"W
1930 American Foursquare
American Foursquare
The American Foursquare or American Four Square is an American house style popular from the mid-1890s to the late 1930s. A reaction to the ornate and mass produced elements of the Victorian and other Revival styles popular throughout the last half of the 19th century, the American Foursquare was...

Known as the "Krebs House"
Contributing
39°9′34.5"N 86°31′10"W
1929 Colonial Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...

Contributing
39°9′34"N 86°31′10"W
1930 Colonial Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...

Contributing
39°9′34"N 86°31′8"W
1930 Tudor Revival
Outstanding
39°9′34"N 86°31′3"W
1927 Tudor Revival Known as the "Irvin Matthews House"; designed by Alfred Grindle
Contributing
39°9′36"N 86°31′0"W
1930 Tudor Revival
Contributing
39°9′35.4"N 86°30′58"W
1930 Tudor Revival
Contributing
39°9′35.4"N 86°30′58"W
1930 Tudor Revival
Contributing
39°9′34.5"N 86°30′58"W
1935 Colonial Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...

Contributing
39°9′34"N 86°30′58"W
1929 Tudor Revival
Notable
39°9′32.4"N 86°30′58"W
1938 Georgian Revival
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...

Known as the "Hoadley House"
Notable
39°9′31.5"N 86°30′56.4"W
1928 French Renaissance Revival
French Renaissance architecture
French Renaissance architecture is the style of architecture which was imported to France from Italy during the early 16th century and developed in the light of local architectural traditions....

Known as the "Merrill House"; designed by Ernest Flagg
Ernest Flagg
Ernest Flagg was a noted American architect in the Beaux-Arts style. He was also an advocate for urban reform and architecture's social responsibility.-Biography:...

Notable
39°9′30"N 86°30′55"W
1930 Renaissance Revival
Contributing
39°9′30.8"N 86°30′52.8"W
1930 Tudor Revival Known as the "Sullivan House"
Contributing
39°9′29.2"N 86°30′55.2"W
1939 Tudor Revival
Outstanding
39°9′34.8"N 86°31′21"W
1937 Eclectic
Eclecticism in art
Eclecticism is a kind of mixed style in the fine arts: "the borrowing of a variety of styles from different sources and combining them" . Significantly, Eclecticism hardly ever constituted a specific style in art: it is characterized by the fact that it was not a particular style...


External links

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