This column first appeared in April of 2009.
Tuckaway was built between 1906 and 1910. As its name denotes, the most famous bungalow in Indianapolis is tucked away in a quiet wooded lot on the west side of Pennsylvania Street in the Historic Meridian Park district. As you enter the front gate, stepping purposefully on dozens of thoughtfully placed 100-year-old cobblestones, you see the house come into view. The home’s low profile Arts and Crafts-inspired design immediately conjures thoughts of an English cottage. The characteristic wide veranda invites the visitor to come, sit, and relax within the nature that envelops the home.
It was an unusually warm winter day in mid-March Indiana. The sun rained down in glimmering shafts from the many massive ash trees that populate the front yard. On the top step to greet us was the home’s owner, Ken Keene. Ken is a historian, pioneer preservationist and accomplished Hoosier artist who purchased the home in 1972. It’s no exaggeration to say that Ken’s efforts saved this important Indianapolis landmark and formed a lasting city historic district at the same time. After welcoming us, Ken explained the home’s curious name as “not Tuckaway house, not The Tuckaway, just Tuckaway.”
As we entered the house, we were immediately transported back into Art Deco Era America. The house seemed alive with the music of pre-radio day’s entertainers like Al Jolson and George Gershwin, which Ken played throughout the home through a specially designed sound system.
“The music plays and the lights stay on 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Ken. “It seems to just go with the house.” The home’s high arched ceilings, elaborate wall coverings and rich woodwork provided the perfect pallet for the artwork and prized relics that lined its walls.
Ken Keene, a talented Impressionist painter schooled in France, acted as host and tour guide for our impromptu walk through the house that has hosted more celebrities than all of the capital city’s hotels combined during the decades between World War I and World War II. The names of notables who visited Tuckaway read like a Who’s Who of Roaring ‘20s America: Walt Disney, Albert Einstein, Carole Lombard, Joan Crawford, George Gershwin, Amelia Earhart, Adm. Robert Peary, Mary Pickford, Susan B. Anthony, Booker T. Washington, Gene Tunney, Albert Spalding, Gen. Lew Wallace, Al Smith and James Whitcomb Riley all crossed its threshold. They all beat a trail to this little house in the woods to see Nellie Simmons Meier.
George Phillip Meier and his wife, Nellie, moved into the home in 1910. George was one of the most famous fashion designers of his day, considered a peer of Coco Chanel. World famous for his design work, George fashioned dresses that regularly sold for $500 each in the 1920s. Keep in mind that this was roughly the same price as a Ford Model T at the time. The couple traveled in high society, hobnobbing with movie stars, royalty and notables from business and industry. Nellie gained a national reputation as the foremost palm reader of her day. Far from the mystic reputation that the present day name evokes, Nellie’s craft was approached as a scientific endeavor. Nellie called her vocation “Scientific Palmistry” and developed “character readings” for her clients by comparing the lines in a subject’s hands to their specific character traits.
Walt Disney and Albert Einstein were regular visitors, as was George Gershwin. Ken informed us that it was not uncommon for guests to see Gershwin seated at the piano in the drawing room playing music at parties held at Tuckaway. Should corroborating evidence be required, one need only look at the walls of Tuckaway. The walls were filled with autographed photos of all of the personalities mentioned above and many more, all sincerely inscribed to Nellie Simmons Meier. It was easy to get sidetracked by these photos and hard to keep from noticing new names and familiar faces such as artists James Montgomery Flagg, Howard Chandler Christy, Charles Dana Gibson and Gutzon Borglum were here. Flagg gave us Uncle Sam, Christy gave us the “Christy Girl,” Gibson gave us the “Gibson Girl,” and Borglum gave us Mount Rushmore. The list is seemingly endless.
As if further evidence of the home’s former prominence was needed, Ken directed us to a table near a fireplace that featured an autographed photo of former first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. Ken told us how the Secret Service men hid behind a pair of matching trees near the front gate while Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt met with Nellie. He also noted that Eleanor was wearing a dress designed by George Phillip Meier in the photo. Mrs. FDR recognized the importance of the house immediately and asked that Nellie donate 137 of her palm print/character analyses to the United States Library of Congress as national treasures in 1938.
As photographer Rhonda Hunter took the photo of Ken Keene used in this article, he informed me that the facial relief sculpture hanging on the wall beside him was of Nellie herself and was done by aforementioned Mt. Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum. Just another of the many wonders of Tuckaway.
Stay tuned next week for Part 2: The ghosts and hauntings of Tuckaway.
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. His newest books are “Bumps in the Night. Stories from the Weekly View,” “Irvington Haunts. The Tour Guide,” and “The Mystery of the H.H. Holmes Collection.” Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.
