West Central wins national recognition
This Old House has finally caught up with Fort Wayne’s West Central neighborhood.
For three years, the magazine spin-off of the long-running PBS home-restoration television show by the same name has chosen Best Old House Neighborhoods in each of the 50 states and Canada.
West Central residents are ecstatic that the neighborhood has been chosen this year as the best in Indiana.
“Isn’t that great? It doesn’t surprise me they would think it’s a great neighborhood,” says Mike Anderson, immediate past president of the West Central Neighborhood Association. “I think it’s wonderful.”
Anderson said the process that earned the honor started two years ago when Chris Ruckman, association treasurer, found out about the contest and completed “what must have been a 50-page application.”
The neighborhood didn’t win, but magazine editors said they would reconsider West Central the next year with only minimal additional documentation, Anderson said.
“They said, ‘We definitely want you as a winner,’ ” he said.
This Old House selects the neighborhoods it honors on the basis of architectural diversity, craftsmanship, the area’s preservation momentum and neighborhood amenities including walkability, safety and community spirit, said Karen Affinto, magazine spokeswoman.
Previous Indiana winners have been a Madison neighborhood in 2008 and Woodruff Place in Indianapolis in 2009, she said.
Affinto declined to say how many other Indiana neighborhoods were in the running this time.
The magazine’s Web site describes West Central as a place where “the majority of statelier homes have been restored but there are still plenty of fixer-uppers” and mentions the neighborhood’s proximity to “a re-energized downtown Fort Wayne” and Parkview Field.
The article also cites West Central’s “tough-as-nails neighborhood association” that is “vigilant” about the area’s status on the National Register of Historic Places.
Anderson said he thinks the characterization of the association is right on target.
“I would call West Central tough as nails. We’re actively involved in all aspects of city government. If there’s something going on in the city, we’re involved in it,” he said.
Anderson mentioned that the association has been active in moving two houses, restoring a Nelson Street cottage that was about to be torn down and fighting to have the downtown Starbucks retrofit an existing building and retain its tower.
The neighborhood group also sponsors an annual home and garden tour with an expanding arts and crafts component, he said.
John Simmerman, current association president, said the new honor brings West Central to the attention of the broader preservation community and is good for Fort Wayne.
“I think locally, most people know about West Central. It’s not that big a secret,” he said.
“But it gets its name out there, and it gets Fort Wayne’s out there, too. I think it’s good for the whole community that one part is being honored.
“It gets Fort Wayne’s name out over the whole country.”
This Old House also pointed out housing affordability in West Central, saying homes “range from a very affordable $50,000 to $250,000.”
Anderson said some homes actually can be acquired for less than $20,000 – not the mansions on West Wayne Street or West Berry Street, he said, but smaller homes south of Jefferson originally built as cottages for the workers of nearby factories.
This Old House calls them “sturdy” and “packed with as many details and fine craftsmanship as their larger neighbors.”
“That area with worker cottages is just going to explode. That area just south of Jefferson is going to become the next hot spot to live in Fort Wayne,” Anderson predicted.
West Central began to be developed in the 1830s with the construction of the Wabash & Erie Canal and includes homes built through the 1950s.
The neighborhood is roughly bordered by South Calhoun Street on the east, the St. Mary’s River and the Norfolk & Southern railroad tracks on the north and the west, and Taylor Street on the south.
Information and photos about all the neighborhoods selected by This Old House are available online at www.thisoldhouse.com. Below the main photo, click “5. Best Places for Old Houses.”
Tours of historic homes often focus on mansions with sparkling interiors, immaculately pointed brick and manicured hedges.