INDIANAPOLIS — The 2019 St. Margaret’s Hospital Guild Decorators’ Show House and Gardens, the longest running decorator show house in the nation, will once again allow the public to tour a classic Indianapolis home with proceeds benefiting Eskenazi Health. This year’s residence, the historic Centennial Estate, is located at 4160 Washington Blvd.
As has been the tradition, each spring local interior designers, landscape designers and their support teams donate hundreds of hours, as do members of St. Margaret’s Hospital Guild, to refurbish an area home and its surrounding property. The Centennial Estate will be 100 years old in 2019, so it is a perfect time to celebrate the home’s beautiful architecture and grounds, while at the same time raising funds for a worthy cause. This is the second time this house has been featured as a Show House. The first was 1980.
Proceeds from the show house will benefit St. Margaret’s three year commitment in supporting the St. Margaret’s Hospital Guild Center for Nursing Excellence at Eskenazi Health. The Center for Nursing Excellence focuses on recruiting and retaining high quality nurses through expanding the services and continuing education opportunities provided to them.
The annual event runs from April 27 – May 12 (closed Mondays). Daily tours are open to the public from 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, Thursdays open until 8 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the door or online at https://www.showhouseindy.org/ for $22 for adults. At the door, guests 65 and older can purchase tickets for $20 and children 3 to 12 for $5. Pre-sale tickets can be purchased at select Meijer stores for $20. Online tickets are also available for a combination tour and lunch ticket for $32, which is a $4 discount. Combo tickets are not available at the door. Free parking is available on nearby city streets.
The Show House also features Café Maggie, Maggie’s Flower Shop, and various other boutiques.
A little History of the house — The brick and timbered Tudor Revival home at 4160 Washington Boulevard was built in 1919 by the Mallery family and designed by Rubush & Hunter. The 9,163 sq. ft home has a northern portion of the house built on an angle to the southern portion of the house, creating a very interesting appearance. Done to accommodate a tree on the north side of the lot that the Mallerys did not want to cut down in order to build the house (long gone now). The architects Rubush & Hunter built (over 250) commercial and residential buildings in Indianapolis including Circle Theater, Columbia Club, Lincoln Hotel, Murat Temple, Indiana Theatre, Hume Mansur Building, Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum, Madam C. J. Walker Building, and Circle Tower Building to name a few and residences built in neighborhoods including the Old Northside, Herron-Morton Place, Meridian Park, Meridian-Kessler, Irvington, Butler-Tarkington, and Woodruff Place.
Preview Tour by Paula Nicewanger — I love Tudor style and this is a magnificent example. Be sure to look for the framed photos in the back foyer of some of the well-known buildings the architects designed who built this house. The decorators have kept and worked around all the splendid details of the 100 year old house. The kitchen was totally gutted and redone with the most wonderful tiles on the backsplash and the cabinets are stunning and fit right into the period with quarter sawn oak. Look up and see all the unique lighting throughout the home. The dining room was one of my favorite rooms with wallpaper used very uniquely (wallpaper is back in style). There are 8 bedrooms with the largest master I’ve ever seen and an exquisite fireplace —it has a sitting room overlooking the well manicured gardens. Surrounded by huge trees, the views are lush from every window. Irvington artist Rita Spalding has a whole studio of her paintings on the top floor. Another of my favorite rooms is a long sunroom/gameroom on the second floor with dark blue walls and crisp white trim. Blue willow pattern is very popular in the home as well. It’s a very liveable home with so much charm. Start a tradition, if you haven’t already and take your Mom, sister, or friend for a fun filled inspiring afternoon. I want to thank Aly my tour guide for an amazing preview. Be sure to check out their website with many extra events (like “Flowers for a Purpose” where you learn how to arrange flowers and make one for yourself and one for Eskenazi) and remember all proceeds go to Eskenazi.
