Porches and Porticos, Oh My! Evansville, Indiana

The minions are back to school – a time of year I always eagerly anticipated as a student. These days, I channel that exciting back-to-school feeling by…cleaning out my files of photographs. There are some places I’ve forgotten visiting. My guilt grows when I see countless electronic folders full of unorganized pictures of hundreds of historic buildings. I don’t imagine I will ever carry out the research and write about even a small fraction of these buildings, but I hate the thought of them never being shared. Being the lovely temperate month that August is in Kentucky, I spend as much time as possible on my porch and admiring other porches, so here are some of the porches and porticos I photographed while driving through Evansville, Indiana, three years ago.

Portico on the Marcus Sherwood house., circa 1867. I love that take on a Palladian window on the second story, the early 20th century portico clips the top of the surround, which is messy looking.

All of these photographs are from the Riverside Historic District in Evansville (or close to it), a mainly residential area spanning some 28 blocks along the Ohio River in downtown Evansville.

The portico caught my attention, but not in a positive way.

The circa 1860 Garvin House (above) has amazing cast iron Italianate door and window surrounds, which drape over the arched openings in a sumptuous fashion. The best thing about the 1920s-1930s portico, which all kinds of wrong on this house, is the shingled pediment.

This Italianate beauty is right next to the Garvin House on S E 1st Street.

A more pleasing portico is a rounded version on Dr. Isaac Casselberry House and Office (above) next door – though this example is also a 20th century addition. The brick, side-passage house also dates from the mid-19th century, and though you can’t see it in this photo, has its share of late 19th century “improvements,” including the addition of a third story.

Double door entry and gorgeous door hood on the Casselberry House.

A different take on porches all together are the porches on the facade of the early 20th century Harrison Flats building (below). Grand two-story porticos can be pleasing to the eye, but these porches are comfortable and livable.

The Harrison Flats Building, 322 SE 1st St.

I spied a wrap-around porch as my all-too-brief detour in Evansville came to an end – and what a porch!

Sigh. What a beauty.

Then there are the days that you might want the light of a porch, but prefer a bit more shelter – so an enclosed porch may be the answer.

Isn’t this handsome?

I’m not even sure what house the above porch belongs to – I can be a bit sloppy when taking photographs purely for my enjoyment.

There you go – a blog post about the same length as my drive through downtown Evansville. I’ve looked at the photos, shared them, and now I feel as though I accomplished something.