Clark House

Description:	Drawing of the Clark House which stood at First and Ohio Streets by Juliet A. Peddle, Terre Haute artist and architect. Drawing of The Clark House Which Stood at First and Ohio Streets, When Terre Haute Was Young. Drawing by Juliet A. Peddle, Terre Haute Artist and Architect.The Clark House, which was an early hotel here in Terre Haute, was located on the northwest corner of First and Ohio streets. A part of the building is still standing and is incorporated in a warehouse now located there. One of the large entrances is still intact and the five first floor windows north of this door and two of the second floor windows can be located by their curved heads and the different colored brick used in filling them in.I have not been able to find out much about the construction date of the building, but it is located and identified on the map of 1854. From its architectural character I do not believe it was constructed in the very early days of the city but more probably in the late forties or early fifties. The first information I find of the hotel after 1854, when it appears on the map, is in 1858 in an advertisement in the first city directory. This advertisement also gives me the illustration upon which I have based my drawing. The advertisement reads as follows:CLARK HOUSEJames S. Clark,-ProprietorCorner First and Ohio Streets. Terre Haute, Ind.Guests of the House, and their baggage, taken to and from the depot, free of charge.Fare-One dollar per day.Daily line of four-horse hacks to Marshall, Ill.The directory of 1863 gives Jacob Butz & Son as proprietors. I have been able to find practically nothing of its later history, but know it has been many years since it served as a hotel and that it has been in the form that we now know it for quite a long time. The location of the Clark House was rather important in early years because the bridge crossed the river at Ohio Street and this brought all through traffic past its doors. If a picture and a full page ad are any indication of importance there were just three prominent hotels in Terre Haute in 1858-the Terre Haute House, Buntins Hotel and the Clark House.In making the above drawing I discovered a discrepancy between the height of the original doorsills and those of today. Originally they came level, indicating that the street has been lowered down to grade with no step except the threshold and now there is nearly two feet in difference since the hotel was built.So far as I have been able to find out, this is the only one of the hotels from the fifties or earlier that survive today, even in part.
Origin:	01/01/2005
Contributor(s):	Peddle, Juliet, 1899-1979
Source:	http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/rose/id/823
Collection:	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Logan Library
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
Copyright:	Copyright Undetermined
Subjects:	Architectural drawings Architecture Houses Hotels Clark, James S. Architecture Domestic Life

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