Allen County, Indiana Genealogy

2410 Fairfield Avenue

Street View photo from Google maps

Today, we continue our list of the top endangered properties in the Historic 07 District. The purpose of this list is to raise awareness of these incredible properties.

Residents of Fort Wayne may drive by and wonder a bit about the massive building at the corner of Pierce and Fairfield. This building, which more recently was one of the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, was originally built for the First Church of Christ, Scientist Fort Wayne congregation. While this building is for sale, the story behind this structure is quite interesting. Read on for more.

The First Church of Christ, Scientist, was founded in 1897, the original members being Mrs. M. L. Brown, Mr. and Mrs. I. N. Woods, Miss Ora Shaver, and Miss Emma Rosenthal. Initially, the church was housed in a small Jewish synagogue until 1913. At that point, the church purchased the Charles McCulloch home at West Wayne and Ewing. Charles, a banker, was the son of Hugh McCulloch, who served as Secretary of the Treasury under Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and Chester A. Arthur.

Mary Baker Eddy founded the First Church of Christ, Scientist in 1879 in Boston, Massachusetts. She was the author of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures and the founder of Christian Science. The church was founded "to commemorate the word and works of Christ Jesus" and "reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing". In the late 1800s and early 1900s, this was one of the fastest-growing religions in the country. In Fort Wayne, the growth was similar.

In the mid 1920's, the local congregation was looking for a new location. In 1926, the church purchased land at the corner of Fairfield and Pierce. As you can see from the picture, this vast structure was built and finished in 1927. The building, built in the neoclassical style, followed the pattern of many other First Church of Christ, Scientist structures around the country. This church was designed by Howard Lovewell Cheney, who also designed Washington National Airport. Over the years, the building has changed hands and now sits empty and for sale. It's a beautiful structure with hopefully an opportunity to be revived soon.

Picture - Who is a Hoosier Collection

Link to Sale: https://www.talktotucker.com/.../2410-fairfield.../1002510

Copied from a January 22, 2023 post byHistoric 07 District - Fort Wayne on Facebook.

2720 Fairfield Street

September 22, 2023 post by Input Fort Wayne on Facebook:

At 2720 Fairfield Avenue sits a house built in 1904. The home recently underwent a five-month-long renovation, which included a new roof, kitchen, and HVAC system. Inside you’ll find beautiful original hardwood floors, an open staircase, and elegant windows overlooking a backyard.

At the top of that staircase, on the second floor, is a tree mural, covered with photos of past residents of 2720 Fairfield Avenue. This house is just one of six homes owned by Redemption House Ministries, a transitional housing program that serves as an alternative to incarceration, and the residents pictured in the mural are graduates of the program.

Placed there through court order or referral, most struggle with addiction and have a criminal record, but through structured, faith-based programming, Redemption House is helping these women get back on their feet.

Founder and CEO Tomi Cardin designed the programming for Redemption House based on her experience and connections made from working within the prison system as a volunteer jail chaplain.

“It wasn’t something that I desired to do, I kind of stumbled across it through an invitation from my pastor’s wife to do a chapel service there,” she says. “I had what they call a lightbulb moment during the service. I just knew something in me came alive.”

After some bumps in the road, Cardin became an official jail chaplain and started leading substance abuse classes and Bible studies at the Allen County Jail.

“I was really connecting with the women,” she says. “We would make these great plans for as soon as they would get out, we were going to get together, have coffee, or go to church. They would be released and I wouldn’t hear from them or see them again until they were rearrested.”

Disheartened by seeing this process repeat itself over and over again, or as she called it, “a revolving door of frustration,” Cardin says it made her realize these women needed a different solution and she had a vision for that solution.

“These women needed a safe to go, to keep doing the work they had started while they were in jail,” she says. “When you’re released and you go right back to the same environments, you end up making the same choices.”

Learn more about the Redemption House: https://www.inputfortwayne.com/features/RedemptionHouse.aspx

Fairfield-Nestel Mansion

815 W. Creighton has been a home to a "giant" in Fort Wayne history and a home to "little people" who were internationally renowned on the stage. Captain Asa Fairfield came to Fort Wayne from Maine in 1833 with a princely sum of $30,000. He would eventually purchase the land and build this house. In 1880, Charles Nestel purchased the home. His son Charles and daughter Eliza, who were little people, traveled the United States and Europe as "Commodore Foote" and the "Fairy Queen". See Charles and Eliza Nestel and Street View photo from Google maps.

Fort Wayne: Fairfield-Nestel House (1858-2017), 815 West Creighton, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 21 photos including interior photos in album by Dan Baker on flickr.

City begins demolition of historic Fairfield-Nestel Mansion posted August 8, 2017 by WANE 15 News on YouTube
City begins demolition of histor Fairfield-Nestel Mansion with videos by Angelica Robinson published: August 8, 2017 on CBS WANE-TV NewsChannel 15 their Facebook page.

1. Two Fine Old Homesteads Sold Nestel and Auger Places Change Hands Clipped from The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 24 May 1903, Sunday page 3 on Newspapers.com.
2. ARCH Facebook photo of The Fairfield-Nestel Mansion on Facebook. .
3. Fairfield-Nestel House Information Fairfield-Nestel House Information 813 and 815 W. Creighton Avenue at Community Development at City of Fort Wayne.
4. Lots of information in Hard times hide storied history Repairs planned for 1860s Creighton house built by canal skipper by Rosa Salter Rodriguez published September 2, 2007 in The Journal Gazette newspaper is no longer online.
5. Once home to wealth and fame, it had been marked for demolition. A column by Kevin Leininger published May 5, 2007 in The News-Sentinel newspaperreprinted on the web page Colorful past wins house a reprieve. on the website Munson, Underwood, Horn, Fairfield and Allied Families and archived on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
6. Will third time prove the charm for efforts to save colorfully historic house? Creighton Avenue house was once home to canal captain, world-famous dwarfs by Kevin Leininger published April 16, 2013 in The News-Sentinel newspaper.
7. Structurally sound, its future teeters Realtor vows to save historic house by Rosa Salter Rodriquez published February 28, 2016 in The Journal Gazette newspaper is now archived on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
8. Demolition planned for historic Fairfield-Nestel house Its rehabilitation has become too costly to pursue, one city official said. in The News-Sentinel newspaper.

9. February 12, 2016 post by Historic Real Estate Renovations & Sales on Facebook:

   815 W Creighton Ave

   Known as the Fairfield Nestel Mansion has one last hope against the cities demolition order as I try to save this beautiful piece of Fort Wayne history.

   I would love any old photos or history on the house if anyone has some they can share!

   Here is an excerpt from an article written by Rosa Salter with the Journal Gazette:

   "Some of 815 Creighton Ave.'s past owners include:

   *Capt. Asa Fairfield arrived in Fort Wayne from Kennebunkport, Maine, with his brothers Oliver and Charles in 1833 with the then-astouding sum of $30,000. He was married to Olive, the sister of the attorney Hugh McCulloch, also from Kennebunkport, who had been named judge of the probate court and cashier of the State Bank of Indiana.

   Fairfield spent $1,800 of it on 160 of the 240 acres he eventually acquired and farmed on the city's south side. When he bought 815 Creighton, there was only a log house on the site; he later built a double log house and then a frame house before his death in 1868.

   For a time, Fairfield's was the only frame house in the area, and it overlooked pastures with pigs, cows and the Wabash Canal, which ran near where the railroad tracks cross Fairfield Avenue.

   Fairfield constructed and piloted the first boat to operate on the Wabash Canal. It was called the Indiana.

   *Cyrus Fairfield, Asa's youngest son, owned a candle and soap making factory along the railroad tracks on Broadway and continued to sell pieces of the farm for housing.

   In the early 20th century, he was known as "the oldest resident of South Wayne" and recalled that Indians from the reservation just south of the city would come up Broadway to spend government checks in nearby taverns.

   Other residents at that time recalled the neighborhood as having wild hogs, wolves and "wild pigeons" so thick that they broke tree branches where they were roosting.

   The wild pigeons were passenger pigeons - a bird that is now extinct.

   *Daniel, Charles and Eliza Nestel. Daniel Nestel bought the house in 1880. He was a contemporary of Asa, arriving in Fort Wayne in 1840 after having walked with a companion from New York.

   He operated a plant nursery on Broadway. He also often traveled with his children, who in 1861 signed a contract with Baltimore showman William Ellinger as a theatrical attraction and toured the United States and Europe.

   Charles was billed as "Commodore Foote," and Eliza was billed as "The Fairy Queen." The two were part of a genre of acts sometimes referred to as "Thumbiana" and often appeared with other small people.

   The name "Commodore Foote" would have carried amusing overtones in its day - besides the height pun, there was a real Commodore Foote. Commodore Andrew Hull Foote was well known as the naval officer in charge of the defense of the upper Mississippi River during the Civil War - an area the Confederates were unlikely to reach.

   The newspaper reported that Eliza "is the smallest matured lady ever known, being 18 years old and weighs 20 pounds, yet perfect in form and feature, speaks two languages, sings and dances, is a beautiful poetic reader, and everything is charming and pleasing in her demeanor."

   Writing on www.showpeople.com, Emma Camden gives some insight into the Nestels' performances in a description of Jennie Quigley, who performed with the Liliputian Opera Co. as "the Scottish Queen."

   At intermission, she would often be paired with "another star, such as Col. Speck, Com. Foote or Admiral Dot, and together they would sing duet, dance and `flirt' onstage before the main production resumed," Camden writes. "The flirtation sometimes continued offstage, as after Jennie's death, it was learned that she and Commodore Foote were sweethearts."

10. Campaign underway to save historic Fairfield-Nestel Mansion by Lisa Esquivel Long published Saturday, June 24, 2017 in The News-Sentinel newspaperis now archived on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
11. Great Depression-era memories recall another use of Fairfield-Nestel House It served for about 10 years as a hospital for the ill, elderly and disabled. 815 W. Creighton Ave. — it served from about 1923 to 1933 as Anthony Wayne Hospital for Old People and Invalids. The research findings also provide a glimpse of what appeared to have been a difficult life for the hospital's matron, Anna F. Lepper. Much more in the article with no author listed, originally published July 20, 2017 in The News-Sentinel newspapernow archived on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
12. House was torn down August 7-8, 2017.
13. Historic Fairfield-Nestel House demolished Over the years, several owners had tried unsuccessfully to restore the house. was published August 8, 2017 in The News-Sentinel newspaper.
14. Historic Fairfield-Nestel House demolished by Rosa Salter Rodriguez Aug 9, 2017 on The Journal Gazette newspaper.
15. August 9, 2017 commentary by the last owner of the Nestel House referencing the following August 10, 2017 Rosa Salter Rodriguez artilce with interesting comments and history of the family and many Nestel House posts including from Brad Nestel a descendant of the Nestel family posted many times on the Historic Real Estate Renovations & Sales page on Facebook.
16. Fairfield-Nestel House demolition upsets owner by Rosa Salter Rodriguez published August 10, 2017 in The Journal Gazette newspaper.

Fairfield Manor

2301 Fairfield Avenue Street View photo from Google Maps

1. The Fairfield Manor 2301 Fairfield Avenue, May 18, 1983 National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form OMB No. 1024-0018 - Exp. 10-31-84
2. Fairfield Manor on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

3. Discussed February 3, 2024 on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook.

   A link was shared to an article dated July 30, 1928 on pages 49-54 titled: Marketing the First Apartment Building in a Small City How a Seven-Story Hotel Apartment Building Was Projected, Promoted, and Completed at Fort Wayne, Indiana-Features of Its Financing and Its Plan of Stock-Ownership by Tenants-Details of Construction and Equipment under Apartment Buildings in Buildings and Building Management Volume 28, Part 2 1928 a Google eBook shown below:

   Street View from similar angle

Current Street View photo

Fairfield Manor Image 1927

This article was written for and is courtesy of Fort Wayne Reader newspaper.

Olaf Nikolaus Guldlin, the president of the Fairfield Manor Realty Co., had been the founder in 1888 of the successful Western Gas Construction Company on Winter Street in Fort Wayne. Western Gas manufactured and constructed large gas producing plants for cities throughout the country that did not yet have natural gas piped to them. Guldlin and his investors sold Western Gas to the Koppers Corp. of Pittsburgh, PA in January of 1921.

Eleven months later, in December of 1921, his announcement of the proposed construction of the city’s first suburban high-rise luxury apartment building, at a cost of $750,000., was heralded in The Fort Wayne Sentinel. However, it would be another seven years before the building at 2301 Fairfield at Creighton Avenues would actually be completed in January of 1928. Part of the reason for this was that the area surrounding the project was an upper class neighborhood of opulent homes and there was significant opposition from nearby residents to the building. Interestingly, the Guldlin’s own grand residence was across the street (southwest corner) at 2306 Fairfield. A Speedway gas station now sits on part of the property that was his former home.

Utilizing a combination of Craftsman and Classic elements, Fairfield Manor was designed by at that time, the city’s most prominent architect, Charles R. Weatherhogg. Today, nearly 90 years later, the well maintained seven story building remains much the same and has 70 studio, one, two bedroom and larger custom apartments. At the time the building was completed, the rents were as follows: three-room apartment, $77.50; four-room, $105.00; and five-room at $124.00 per month. The apartments included gas ranges, electric refrigerators, and each was furnished with a “Murphy” bed that pivoted out of the wall.

The ground floor included a ladies reception room, lounge and card room, café-tea room, banquet room, large main kitchen, and a beauty shop. The building was originally to have a roof-top garden, and a putting green south of the parking lot, however in the end neither were incorporated. The building’s primary entrance still today features the original elaborate bronze and glass portico, and the interior public area showcases 1928’s marble baseboards, mixed mosaic and terrazzo floors, walnut wood panels and trim.

For most in Fort Wayne today, the name Guldlin isn’t associated with Olaf Guldlin, Western Gas Construction Co., or even the Fairfield Manor, but rather his wife Addie Guldlin. Mrs. Guldlin was an early civic activist and an advocate of safe playgrounds for children. Addie raised funds for the city’s first public playground, which under her direction was elaborately constructed with separate boys’ and girls’ swings, see-saws, sandboxes and wading pools on a six-acre site on Van Buren at the St. Mary’s River. Dedicated in 1911, the park was named in her honor. Sadly, two years later during Fort Wayne’s infamous 1913 Flood, much of the playground was washed away and is today an empty field, still called Guldlin Park.

(Image courtesy of ARCH)

[ ACPL image: Fairfield Manor Southeast corner of Fairfield and Creighton. Architect: Charles R. Weatherhogg Extant - 2022 Allen County Public Library Digital Collections at the Allen County Public Library]

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