2. Taylor's Field Historic District - National Register Nomination

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Taylor’s Field Historic District Saint Joseph County, IN Name of Property County and State Section 7 page 8 moved into the home in March 1894. It was described as “a beautiful and tasty combination of field stone and wood. The interior is very attractive making it a delightful home.”3 Peter Johnson was a carpenter on the home in November 1893.4 After Charles’ death, Elizabeth Murdock lived in the home until her death in 1945.5 511 St. Joseph Street. Jacob & Lydia Chillas House, Free Classic, 1900, Contributing. Left side of photo 04 The two-story house has a foundation and porch composed of cut field stone and walls covered with large asphalt-covered fiberboards shingles. The wood windows have a lozenge and diamond-patterned upper sash and single-lite lower sash and features simple trim boards. The tall hipped roof has flared eaves and is covered with asphalt shingles. The dominant feature of the house is its large wrap-around stone porch with rows of wood Doric columns. The columns on the front façade and west end of the north facade are smaller, paired, and set on stone piers with rusticated limestone caps. The porch has a rounded northeast corner as it wraps from the front (east) façade to the north façade. The columns support an entablature with rows of dentils and a low-pitched hipped roof with flared eaves. The porch entry, located in the north half of the front façade, features a pediment supported by pairs of columns set on piers that project forward slightly. The pediment’s tympanum features rows of vertical trim boards. On the front façade, the back wall of the porch features a wood entry door with full window in its north half and a large picture window in its south half. The north end of the wall has a cutaway corner with a row of three windows with lozenge and diamond-shaped pattern that wraps the corner. The second story features two projecting three-sided bays with cutaway corners. Each wall features an upper sash with a lozenge and diamond-shaped pattern over a single-lite bottom sash. A large dormer with gabled pediment is centered in the hipped roof on the front façade. It features an 18/1 wood window in its front wall. The house was constructed in 1900-01 for Jacob and Lydia (Studebaker) Chillas. Jacob Chillas was born in Pennsylvania, became orphaned who received boarding and education at the Pennsylvania Home for Friendless Children. He came to South Bend in partnership with two other men to begin a dry goods store in 1888. In 1891, he married Lydia Studebaker, the daughter of Henry and Susan Studebaker, one of the founding brothers of the Studebaker Wagon Works company. By the late 1890s, he was sole owner of the Boston Store on North Michigan Street in South Bend. The couple lived in the home until their deaths during the 1940s.6 3 “Building Notes” South Bend Tribune. 28 March 1894. Pg. 5, col. 2 4 South Bend Tribune, 21 Nov 1893. Pg. 4, col. 3 5 South Bend HPC Survey Card, 1980, rev. 1988, 1998 6 South Bend HPC Survey Card, 1977, rev. 1988, 1998