Our friends at SRKM Architecture shared a picture with us from the past. We think the project was Robin Hood Leisure Living at Grace Village in Winona Lake. That’s our best guess anyway (per John Singleton). Pictured are Larry Berger and P.T. McKinnis. (Check out that mullet!)
Robin Hood Homes are one and two bedroom duplexes in a condominium setting. They are part of the Grace Village Retirement Community. It is a staged community with several retirement living options.
This was the first project where we put radiant heating into the floor. It was a learning experience… particularly working with the residents to teach them the lag involved with this type of heat. Residents that were used to the instant gratification of forced air heat were often over-adjusting the thermostats. Until they got the hang of it, they struggled with temperature swings due to readjusting the thermostat before it had reached temperature and vice versa when they turned it down.
Thanks SRKM for the picture!
I have a potential client that asked us about upgrading some institutional restrooms to make them more modern and inviting. They asked us if we had any experience. Of course two projects immediately came to mind. We completed work on the Grace Baptist Church restrooms in 2010. The existing restrooms were functional, but need expansion and modernization. We were able to accomplish that within the tight parameters. We were able to move an adjacent mechanical room to the second floor and expand into that space.
In the case of the St. Mary of the Lake restrooms, we changed the chase locations and were able to mostly stay within the same footprint. So yes, we have experience in bringing old restrooms up to code and modernizing their aesthetic!
It’s always nice to see a past project appear in the news. The picture at the right, borrowed from The Pilot News, Thursday, October 5th, 2017 shows the North Addition to the St. Mary of the Lake Catholic Church in Culver, which was completed in 2007.
We have completed several projects for St Mary of the Lake Catholic Church in Culver over the years. We appreciate being one of their go-to contractors and are proud of the work we have completed in partnership with them. We have completed minor and major renovations at the Church, some of which are listed on our website, working with three different priests and building committees.
The North Addition project created a handicap accessible entrance to a newly created Day Chapel behind the alter. We were extremely pleased with how the brick matched and the floating arches came together for this project. We’re also please to see it being used a the backdrop for photo ops like this. 10 years later, it has become an established fixture for the Church. The picture to the left, borrowed from the St. Mary of the Lake website shows the steel, wood and glass dividing wall that we installed between the Day Chapel and the Sanctuary.
Below is a color picture of the entrance as it was being completed in 2007.
I was cleaning house at the office the other day and ran across this invitation. Richard Ford was always kind enough to include us in events such as this. He made it a point to contact me and explain that the invitation applied to everyone at Easterday Construction that worked on the project, inviting them to come for the celebration and bring their wives to share what they had helped achieve. Our work mainly revolved around the structure and infrastructure, so most of the field crew had not see what the completed project looked like. This was their chance to see the home with the finishes in place, the museum displays up and running and to accept the kudos Richard was always sure to give. It is always nice to have your skills and accomplishments acknowledged and Richard did this deftly.
The museum is now under the Honeywell Foundation’s property umbrella. The duplex next door has been torn down to provide a parking lot for the Library across the street. This opens the home up to be seen from State Road 15. The home is starting to show a little bit of age, but in reality that just makes it look more lived in and more settled. Richard would still be proud of what he accomplished there.
If you haven’t visited this museum, it is worth your time. Make it a day and visit the Twenty restaurant at the Charley Creek Inn. If it’s a summer day, you can have lunch in the Courtyard. The Charley Creek Gardens are also open to the public. These are all projects Richard completed that continue to benefit the City of Wabash.
You can find out more about the Dr. James Ford Historic Home at their website here. You can find out more about Easterday Construction Co., Inc.’s part in it’s restoration here and here. There is a little more about the relationship Easterday Construction enjoyed with Richard Ford here.
Easterday Construction belongs to Indiana Landmarks. Their recent email newsletter includes some pictures of the Shady Rest Home on the east side of Plymouth. For anyone one interested, the County is looking at options to repurpose this facility since Bowen Center‘s decision to cease operations there. The following is an excerpt from the Indiana Landmarks site regarding the home.
“In the days before welfare and social programs, and before the establishment of hospitals, nursing homes, and assisted-living facilities, people in need often had nowhere to turn. In 1848, Indiana passed new legislation requiring every Indiana county to “provide a public place wherein the unfortunate poor might have care.” Eventually, all 92 Indiana counties established “poor farms,” where able-bodied residents worked to offset the cost of residential care.
Local fanfare accompanied the Marshall County home opening in 1893. As the architecture makes evident, the county intended to create a quality home for their neediest citizens. Wing and Mahurin — a firm renowned for its Romanesque Revival public buildings — designed a grand Superintendent’s Quarters, with living and work space for the director and residents. Originally called the Marshall County Infirmary, the place earned its “Shady Rest” nickname from the many shade and fruit trees planted on the property.
Unfortunately, demolition has claimed a majority of Indiana’s historic county homes. In continual service for more than a century, Shady Rest is an anomaly. The county sold the facility in 1998, but it continued to serve as the Otis R. Bowen Center Shady Rest Home, a private residential center for adults who suffer from mental illness.
The Bowen Center closed Shady Rest this summer, and Marshall County commissioners are looking for ways to put the campus back in use. The five-acre property includes the main building, a large c. 1893 barn, a 1920s well house, and a garage.
The main building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, which could make it eligible for Federal Rehabilitation Tax credits. Check out the National Register nomination for more interesting history about the Marshall County home. For more on efforts to find a reuse for the property, contact Marshall County commissioner Kurt Garner, 574-936-0613 or kurt.garner@gmail.com.”
Easterday Construction completed some renovation work on the facility back in the early 80’s. I was a plumber’s helper on part of that work, so I got to see some of the facility at that time. Unfortunately there wasn’t much effort to document projects at that time, so I don’t have any real details on what was done. I remember demolishing some nasty showers though!
It would be sad to lose this piece of history, though repurposing the facility may be challenging. Generally a buildings highest and best use is its original use and once that use has run its course, change is difficult. I’m sure with a little creativity, the County’s Committee on repurposing the building, currently being lead by Commissioner Kurt Garner, will find a suitable third life for this historic building.