1404 Swinney Ct.

2020 West Central Home Tour

1404 Swinney Ct.

Fort Wayne, Indiana 46802, United States

Created By: Historic West Central Neighborhood

Information

William Page & Clara Yarnelle House

1913, Colonial Revival

Architect: Joel Ninde

4000 sq ft

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This home was built in 1913 by William Page Yarnelle. The home was designed by noted Fort Wayne female architects Joel Ninde and Grace E. Crosby and is a prime example of Colonial Revival / Georgian Sub-Style construction that was popular among well-to-do home builders during that period.

The home has many beautiful architectural features of the Georgian Sub-Style. Three gabled dormers project from the steeply slanted roof. The entrance is highlighted by two Ionic columns with ornate capitols. The front door is framed by elliptical sidelights with a fanlight above. Each small section in each of these windows is a custom-cut piece of glass. A first-floor solarium allowed for three-season living, which was a major luxury at the time. Above the solarium is a sleeping porch that allowed the family to sleep in the “open” - demonstrating the medical opinion of the time touting benefits of open-air sleeping for the body and mind.

Born in 1884, William Page Yarnelle was Vice President of the Mossman-Yarnelle Hardware company, a prominent downtown firm specializing in heavy industrial hardware. William was well known in the community for his involvement in many civic enterprises including the WW1 Memorial Soldiers Fund, the American Red Cross, the local YMCA, and the Boy Scouts. He also helped organize and execute the acquisition of the Swinney Homestead and surrounding property as a historical museum. Yarnelle resided here with his wife Clara and five children.

Over the years, the home hosted extravagant parties and had some notable guests, including famed author Gene Stratton-Porter, actress Marilyn Maxwell, and noted contralto Mariam Anderson. It is rumored that actress Carol Lombard and her husband Clark Gable were visitors to the home on a number of occasions as well.

The home remained in the Yarnelle lineage for generations and has connections to the family to this day. Clara planned a 3 week trip out of town and suggested a family friend named Helen Pyles stay at the home to keep her daughter Agnes company while she was gone. Helen Pyles came to stay for 3 weeks, but ended up staying for 39 years! After Clara passed in 1966, Helen saw Agnes through her final years suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease until she passed away in 1999 at the age of 77. Helen inherited the home through the estate and lived here until 2004.

The current owners, Sam Walton and Diane Calinski, bought the home in 2017 and began a complete and extensive renovation of the entire home. No room is going un-touched in the current renovation, and much structural work has been done to repair 100 years of settling. The floor plan has been changed to allow for a semi-open flow between the kitchen, foyer, living room, and back deck. The sleeping porch is now an extension of the new master suite. A chef's kitchen will be installed in the fall of 2020, and wine storage will be added to the dining room. An 800 sq ft deck was added to the back of the house in June 2020. The original windows were painstakingly restored and reglazed, and period-appropriate shutters will be installed soon. Construction is scheduled to be complete by December 2020. When complete, the home will contain 5 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms.

Little known fact: Garden and Jefferson used to be the end of downtown on the west side. There is an image here of a land survey from 1926 that shows Jefferson ending here at this private drive before it and Washington were extended through Swinney Park.

Next, head north on Garden Street and take a left at West Washington.

This point of interest is part of the tour: 2020 West Central Home Tour


 

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