Davis House

Description:	Drawing of the The Davis Family Homestead Which Stood Where Davis Park Stands Today by Juliet A. Peddle Terre Haute Architect and Artist. The Davis Family Homestead Which Stood Where Davis Park Stands Today. Drawing by Juliet A. Peddle Terre Haute Architect and Artist.The Davis house was located on the north side of Poplar Street (originally the old Bloomington road) between Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets on the site of the Davis Park School.This is not quite as early a house as most of those that have appeared in this series, but it has interesting associations and shows phases of a transition from the Greek revival to the period which followed. I am told that it was built by John G. Davis who purchased the property of James A. Hill in 1863. He must have built immediately as the directory of 1864 shows him living at that address then. Mr. Davis came of a Welsh family who had been in this country for several generations and he himself was born in Cynthiana, Ky., in 1810. The family moved to Park County when he was 16 and he spent his earlier adult life here, coming to Terre Haute in 1862. Mr. Davis daughter, Amanda, married Judge William Mack of Terre Haute and for a number of years they lived in this house. The little old faded photograph from which the above drawing was made was taken during this period and is labeled Woodbine near Terre Haute.The house was set well back in the lot, which extended clear to Ohio street and the Davises had set out a great many fine trees and shrubs, some of which have begun to give the place an interesting setting even at this early stage. A later photograph, perhaps 20 or 30 years later, shows such a luxuriant growth of trees that it is almost impossible to see the house well enough to make a picture of it.Mr. Davis died in 1866 and the house passed out of the hands of the Davis heirs in 1874, and in 1882 was purchased by William G. Davis (Davies) who was not related to the first Mr. Davis. W. G. Davis was born in Wales as was his wife and their older children. They were in Ohio for a while before coming to Terre Haute in 1868, where he came as an expert in the processes of rolling and refining iron. The steel mills were just opening here and men with training and experience in this field were very important in establishing the new industry.The Davises were a large family and every one musical. They had a great deal of pleasure among themselves and were very generous in producing fine music for others to enjoy.I have found no one who could tell me much in detail about the years of the house when the first Davises lived there, but Miss Madeline Davies, one of the granddaughters of W. G. Davis, has told me details of what she remembers from her childhood visits during the period that her grandparents owned the house. She says the two parlors were at the left on the first floor, and the dining room and kitchen were below in a high basement. The two wings at the sides are 3 rooms deep and a porch runs the width of the space between them at the back of the house. There was a large brick paved court between these wings and beyond, giving access to numerous outbuildings, the smoke house, washhouse, etc., with servants quarters above. This is a characteristic arrangement in southern homes and may have been laid out by John G. Davis who had been born in Kentucky where outbuildings were usually arranged in that manner. Miss Davies says that a beautiful shady drive swung in from near Poplar Street on Eighteenth Street and was bordered with fine old pine trees. Down in the front lawn one of the sons had built an interesting fountain.The design of this house interests me in that it has still so much of the earlier Greek revival style about it in plan and window arrangement, but the roof and cornice show a radically different treatment suggesting the influence of the more elaborate period which followed shortly.In 1903 the property was purchased by the city schools. The house with the wings removed, was moved to the corner of Sixteenth and Orchard streets where it stands today. Part of the land was sold and the school was placed somewhat nearer Poplar Street than the house had been. Many of the trees remain, however. In appreciation of his contribution to the development of music, especially among the young people of Terre Haute, the school was called the Davis Park School in honor of W. G. Davis.
Origin:	01/01/2005
Contributor(s):	Peddle, Juliet, 1899-1979
Source:	http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/rose/id/848
Collection:	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Logan Library
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
Copyright:	Copyright Undetermined
Subjects:	Architectural drawings Architecture Houses Trees Shrubs Davis family Davis, John Givan, 1810-1866 Architecture Domestic Life

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