On The Banks Of The St. Joseph

 

I love mansions.  And palaces.  I've been to many.

The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.

Kykuit in Westchester County, New York.

The Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island - and seven of the other mansions located in Newport.  The Breakers and The Elms were my favorites.

The Royal Palace in Madrid, Spain.

The Dunsmuir Castle in Victoria, British Columbia.

The Würzburg Residence in Würzburg, Germany.  Oh.  My.  God.  This one was fabulous!

There are others, and more to explore  I will not rest.

This week we visited the Ruthmere Mansion in Elkhart, Indiana.  We were there after hours so only explored the exterior.  It was beautiful.  

Wikipedia has quite a bit of information on the interior and exterior design.  That's where I'm excerpting the following from.

Built in 1910 in the Beaux-Arts style, the mansion is three stories and the most prominent historic residence in Elkhart.  It was originally known as the Albert and Elizabeth Beardsley Residence but was renamed Ruthmere after Beardsley's only daughter, Ruth, who died at seven months old. 

The mansion was designed by E. Hill Turnock and is faced with buff-colored Belden brick from Ohio and native Indiana limestone.  

Carved stone quoins, capitals, cartouches, and window surrounds add exterior interest. The covered entrance is supported by square brick pillars created by carved limestone capitals. A balustraded marble piazza across the south facade extends to the east side of the building where a porte-cochere protects visitors as they arrive by carriage or car.

From the east porch, a covered walkway leads to a greenhouse.

The property sits across from the St. Joseph River and was beautiful in the setting sun's light.  Whenever I go to one of these places I imagine what it must be like for the people who lived there when the homes were new.  How these rich residents of these small towns lived in lavish homes while others could only dream of ever having their kind of money.  

Mansions, castles, palaces, and famous residences are going to take priority in my sightseeing in the future.  I want to see more!  Next time, I hope I have time to go inside this one but if not, I feel lucky enough to have seen one of the homes of a prominent resident of small-town America.   

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2023: A Street In Catalonia's Capital Region
2022: Approaching The Missile Range
2021: It's Baby Season!
2020: Fanned Out Cables
2019: Three Years Later...
2018: A Spring Moment
2017: In The Heart Of Amish Country
2016: A Spark Of Male Bonding
2015: A-MAZ-ING
2014: Ghosts Of Retail
2013: Orange Is The Devil
2012: Sixteen Hundred Miles Makes All The Difference
2011: In Need Of Some Color
2010: 122 Years And Counting
2009: Sixteen Days Old
2008: Racism Comes With A Convenient Handle
2007: Evening Tide
2006: Glittering Pasties And Swinging Tassles
2005: Sorry, no post on this day. The blog didn’t start until May 2005!