Top local, area projects

lead ARCH’s Historic Preservation Month celebration

ARCH Inc., the historic preservation non-profit in Fort Wayne since 1975, celebrated Historic Preservation Month May 19 by honoring its 2021 ARCHie Award winners in Fort Wayne and Northeast Indiana.

The award event in the pavilion at Promenade Park re-united ARCH members, past ARCHie winners and the new crop of honorees for the first time since the pandemic disruption more than a year ago in a celebration of all the good that comes to individuals and communities when these committed partners work together to unleash the potential of historic preservation projects to invigorate and revitalize neighborhoods and communities.

The 2021 Outreach Award is a good example of why ARCH celebrates these historic preservation projects at the community level. The Outreach Award was added to ARCH’s roster last year to recognize the excellent historic preservation work going on all over Northeast Indiana. Huntington Mayor Richard Strick, immediate past Mayor Brooks Fetters (under whose administration the project began) and project developer Jon Anderson of Anderson Partners in Indianapolis were present to receive the award for the United Brethren Block, 23-54 E. Franklin St., Huntington. A $9.2 million restoration project in the three buildings there (once on Indiana Landmarks’ 10 Most Endangered List) now provides the city with 37 market-rate lofts, an arts center, a community kitchen and an entrepreneurship program.

This year’s other seven ARCHie Award and Commendation winners are celebrations on the neighborhood level. They exemplify the purpose and ongoing importance of the preservation awards program: to celebrate and encourage property owners and managers who do the right thing with historic properties and sustain them as authentic, vital and contributing elements of community life. They’re all beautiful, too.

Single Family Residential Category

ARCHie to

1115 Lake Avenue

Todd, Lori and Abbey Stombaugh

A single-family home restored from use as six apartments and serious neglect with a failing room and other structural issues. Led by Abbey Stombaugh, the family undertook a historically appropriate rehab including aluminum-clad wood wondows, restoration/repaid of clapboard siding and site-milled porch flooring boards and ceiling beadboard.

ARCHie to

1411 Swinney Park Place

John Garzelloni

Honored for exterior rehabilitation and extensive interior rehab of a neglected house, including installation of new wood siding on the garage and repair of rotten eaves, major repairs to the front porch, construction of a compatible rear addition and a multi-color paint scheme.

Commendations to

  • 815 Thieme Drive

Kevin Gerbers, KD Homes Investments

Honored for exterior repair to siding and trim, extensive repair to detatched garage and detailed multi-color paint scheme.

  • 343 W. Suttenfield Street

Amy Cooper McComas

Honored for exterior repair to siding and trim and new multi-color paint scheme.

  • 1020 Jackson Street

Eric Heffley

Honored for complete exterior and interior rehab of narrow house, including removal of non-original side porch, extensive siding and trim repair, multi-color paint scheme and construction of new garage.

Commercial Category

ARCHie to

435 E. Berry Street

Kay Feichter, Feichter Realtors

Honored for enthusiastic multi-color paint scheme to show off previously unnoticed architectural details and repainting of painted Feichter Realty wall sign as part of landscape improvements and updating.

Compatible New Construction Category

ARCHie to

1128 W. Wayne St.

Michael & Laura Butchko

With architect Scott Connally/Frank Souder Designs, the Butchkos added a new compatible-design carriage house to their historic property.

ARCH will be announcing nominations for the 2022 ARCHie Awards in January. Watch the website for the announcement. Everyone who knows of a historic building that has been successfully preserved in the past two years will be invited to nominate it for a 2022 ARCHie Award.

This annual award program recognizes the preservation efforts of individuals, businesses and institutions in Fort Wayne, Allen County and Northeast Indiana. ARCHies for outstanding single family, multifamily and commercial restoration projects as well as organizational and institutional projects may be awarded as worthy candidates are identified. Any nominated project must have had exterior restoration work that is visible to the general public, have been completed in the past two calendar years and be located in Allen County or one of the following counties of Northeast Indiana: Adams, Wells, Huntington, Wabash, Whitley, Kosciusko, Noble, DeKalb, Lagrange and Steuben.