Oldfields
Lilly House and Gardens
Oldfields is also well known as the Lilly House
and Gardens, that occupies a 26 acre site with historic house
museum and gardens on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of
Art in Indianapolis, Indiana, as an example of the American
country house movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries
and made a National Historic Landmark in 2003. It was
constructed between 1909 and 1913 by architect, Lewis Ketcham
Davis for the Hugh McKennan Landon family, that would live here
from 1913 until 1932 with it would be purchased by J. K. Lilly,
Jr. who was a local businessman, collector and philanthropist
that would renovate and enlarge the estate during the 1930s and
1940, updating the interior and adding more structures to the
grounds. It is now called the Lilly House, and contains 22 rooms
that have enjoyed a historic restoration, and today open to the
public on the campus of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The
house has been remodeled to reflect the 1930s when the Lilly
family lived here. The remainder of the estate, that had been
donated to the Art Association of Indianapolis by Lilly's
children in 1967, and enjoys a big part of the museum's campus.
Along with the historical value of the house, the grounds and
gardens are considered a rare example of a preserved estate
landscape that had been designed by Percival Gallagher of the
Olmsted Brothers architectural firm. The house was designed by
Landon's brother-in-law, Lewis Davis, in the French Chateau
style sitting on a large bluff that looks out over the White
River, with outstanding views of the west. The house has a
service wing, large terrace on the top of the garage and service
area, pavilions on the west and east that have access to the
balconies on the second floor, a great hall, game room, altered
stair hall and entrance, library, loggia, kitchen, dining room,
servants quarters and drawing room on the main floor. It
features eight furnished historic rooms with almost 90% of the
furnishings original.
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