2. Edgewater Place Historic District - National Register Nomination

Home Browse Search

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Edgewater Place Historic District Saint Joseph County, IN Name of Property County and State Section 7 page 7 557 Edgewater Drive. Whitcomb House, Prairie Style, 1920, Contributing Whitcomb & Keller, builders Second from left side of photo 03 Garage, Contributing Boat House, c. 1950. Non-contributing (east side of Edgewater Drive) The two-story house features a low base and walls covered with stucco. The general massing is square with a wide bay projecting forward on the south part of the facade. The house is covered with a low-pitched hipped roof with wide-overhanging eaves covered with asphalt shingles. The house has Prairie Style wood windows (9/1) with simple crown molding. The front façade is dominated by two one-story projecting features. A one-story enclosed porch with hipped roof covers the full width of the projecting two-story bay. The porch features wide square corner columns and shaped openings filled with rows of single-lite windows. A porch door is located in the north wall of the porch where a set of concrete steps lead to a wood entry door recessed into the north side of the façade. The entry door features a full window with multiple panes. A narrow port cochere supported by square columns is off the entry steps on the north side of the house. It also features a low-pitched hipped roof. The second story features corner pilasters on the projecting bay. Two pairs of Prairie Style windows are centered between the pilasters. A Prairie Style window is centered in the second story wall recessed from the north side of the bay (above the entry door below). The house was constructed by Whitcomb & Keller for one of the partners of the firm, Leslie Whitcomb and his family in 1920. Whitcomb and Frederick Keller formed a real estate development and insurance partnership in 1892. They become one of the city’s leading developers during the first half of the 20th century. Leslie Whitcomb spent a brief time in South Dakota where he married Lizzie Fink and established a hardware business. In South Bend, Whitcomb was elected Justice of the Peace in 1894 and general secretary for the local Young Mens Christian Association. Lizzie Whitcomb was also active in the organization, as well as the Westminster Presbyterian Church, and Chamber of Commerce.2 553 Edgewater Drive. Bender House, Craftsman/Bungalow, 1920, Contributing Whitcomb & Keller, builders Left side of photo 04 Garage, Contributing The one-story, side-gabled house features a wainscot of random-course sandstone ashlars with capstone. The walls are covered with wood shingles and the gables are covered with beaded boards and rows of vertical trim boards. The roof has wide-overhanging eaves supported by stylized carved brackets. The roof is covered with asphalt shingles. A brick chimney is in the north wall of the house and a three-sided bay projects from the east half of the south wall of the house. The bay has a row of three small wood windows and a shed roof. 2 South Bend HPC Survey Card, 1985, rev. 1987