Blake House

Description:	The Blake House drawing by Juliet A. Peddle, local architect and artist. Original structure of Butternut Hill, the home of the Blakes and Bosses for several generations. Drawing made by Juliet A. Peddle, Terre Haute artist and architect.The Blake House, located on Butternut Hill, just west of Highland Lawn is one of the earlier houses of this community. It was built by Major Bourne about 1831. The major first built a house on the hill on the south side of the road in what is now Calvary cemetery and not long afterwards built this house across the road on Butternut Hill.Dr. Richard Blake and his wife arrived in Terre Haute not long after this second house was built, and it is said that in passing by this place the first time, the locust trees then in bloom at the foot of the hill combined with the natural setting of the house to produce such an attractive picture that Dr. Blake then and there decided that that was where he wanted to live. He was able to purchase the house from Major Bourne, and so rather early in its life it became the Blake House. Mr. and Mrs. Blake spent the rest of their lives here and raised their eight children in the house. Their son, Joseph, and his wife lived here after then and it is today occupied by Dr. Blakes granddaughter Mrs. John Ross and her family.As nearly as I have been able to determine, the above sketch represents the original house as it looked up until 1868 or 69. It then consisted of two spacious high ceilinged rooms at either side of a central stair hall. This part was built of brick. There has not been a great deal of change in these rooms beyond adding windows in the north and South walls of the house. Each of these rooms had a small room--a dressing room or large closet-off of it at the back. Between these small rooms was a long porch with a paved yard beyond it to the east. On the north side of this yard a frame ell extended at right angles to the house containing the kitchen and a work porch on the first floor and three small sleeping rooms above. Upstairs in the main house were two moderate sized but very low ceilinged rooms lighted only by two small windows in each end of the house. The stair is original.About 1869 a large bedroom was added on the southeast corner. The front porch was continued around the south side of the house to connect with the new wing, and the porch along the east was converted into a dining room.Again in 1902 alterations were made. This time the frame ell was moved back from the house and converted into a tenant house. Then a new kitchen was added and a complete second floor built over the entire house. This changed the exterior appearance of the house considerably though it did not greatly affect the two large rooms and stair hall of the original house. Though you might not recognize it at first glance, there is incorporated in this dwelling one of the very early houses built this area.NOTE-For those who are interested in the historical facts about the houses which have been appearing in this series it might be of interest that an early newspaper clipping has been found which gives the construction date of the Heustis House as 1838. The house was built by Judge James T. Moffatt for his own family and was later occupied by his daughter and son-in-law.Further investigation discloses the fact that the land grant signed by Andrew Jackson which was mentioned in the article on the Boudinot House did not refer to the property on which the house stood but to other land holdings of Mr. Boudinot.
Origin:	01/01/2005
Contributor(s):	Peddle, Juliet, 1899-1979
Source:	http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/rose/id/830
Collection:	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Logan Library
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
Copyright:	Copyright Undetermined
Subjects:	Architectural drawings Architecture Houses Blake family Architecture

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