Wealthy industrial magnates have always had the inclination to show off their fortunes by creating massive, often palatial mansions. One of the grandest in Fort Wayne was known as the House that Cough Syrup Built. In 1905, William H. Noll began to market his father’s cough syrup concentrate, known as Pinex. Pinex distribution and sales flourished making it a recognized brand on drugstore shelves across the nation. With the success of the company, Noll turned his attention to building a suitable dwelling for his new found wealth. In 1915, local architect Charles Weatherhogg began construction on the 50 x 100 foot, 28 room Italian Renaissance Revival mansion constructed of Indiana Bedford Limestone at 2502 Fairfield. The first floor ballroom included ornate fireplaces at both ends, crystal chandeliers, Italian murals on the walls, and marble floors. A massive curved marble staircase led to the second floor. The residence also featured a solarium, 10 bathrooms, and was richly embellished with walnut, mahogany and cherry paneling. Outside on the extensively landscaped grounds were a reflecting pool, fountain and swimming pool. Behind the house stood a two story four-bay limestone carriage house and caretaker’s cottage connected to the residence by a tunnel. At the time of completion the house and furnishing reportedly cost the Noll family over a million dollars. After the deaths of William Noll and his wife, Laura, the family sold their now derelict home to the Nelson Street Church of the Nazarene in 1960 for $165,000. The congregation, which changed its name to the Fairfield Church of the Nazarene, used the former mansion and grounds as their church building. In the face of major repairs, the church sold as much of the interiors, including a chandelier now in our collection, as possible and razed the former mansion in 1974. Today the History Center celebrates the House that Cough Syrup Built by sharing images of the former magnificent Noll Mansion. #sociallyhistory
[ Interesting Facebook post December 27, 2024 about the inside of the Noll Mansion in 1968 ]
Among Fort Wayne preservationists, there's probably no sadder story than that of the Noll mansion, which for six decades dominated the landscape at 2500 S. Fairfield Ave.
The marble and stone mansion was built in 1916 and was paid for with money earned from an old cough syrup formula. William H. Noll in 1905 formed the Pinex Co. to market a cough syrup which was sold through his father's drug store.
By 1910, the cough remedy was distributed nationally. By 1913 Fort Wayne's cough syrup was sold abroad. And although the sales zenith didn't come until 1920, William Noll was rich enough by 1916 to erect this sumptuous edifice, which reportedly cost more than $1 million to build.
Life at the Noll house was an exercise in luxury. The Nolls were famous for their lavish parties and manicured lawns and garden. The ornately carved rooms and plush furnishings oozed an aura of wealth which soon became an anachronism.
The years passed and the Noll house gradually fell into disrepair then outright neglect. By 1960, weeds and unmowed grass had replaced the sculptured lawn.
Finally, the house and lands were purchased by the Fairfield Church of the Nazarene. By the time the old Italianate walls came down in 1974, it was almost a blessing. Today just the old carriage house is left of a manor which once boasted gold fixtures, a ballroom, a fountain and countless other luxuries.
The Noll house was razed before the preservationist movement in Fort Wayne really began, to the everlasting disappointment of people who think such monuments to the past are worth saving.
The Noll house may have been built by cough syrup, but for some, it's demise was a hard pill to swallow.
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.
The building on today’s list might be one that many of us drive by each day without much thought. This building is the carriage house of the Noll Mansion, which was demolished in 1974, once located on Fairfield Avenue. The history of the Noll family is one that might shed some light on the luxury of this mansion and the hope that we continue to reinvest in our neighborhood's historic structures.
William H. Noll developed a cough syrup, Pinex, which ultimately turned into a highly profitable company. Noll was married to Laura in 1915 when the mansion was built, and they had three children: William F. Noll, Elizabeth Virginia, and John H. Noll. William H. Noll died in 1941 in Florida. Laura remarried but died in 1952.
William F. married Rosemary, and their wedding gift from William H. Noll was a mansion on Taylor Road. This home was built on 20 acres in 1934 (Picture #3). William F. and Rosemary had one child, Rose Fox Noll, in 1931. William F. died in 1945 at the age of 36, and soon after, Rosemary and
Rose moved to Los Angeles, Rose being a significant benefactor to Stanford University.
Elizabeth, known as Betty, married Norbert Berghoff but passed away in 1961 at the age of 50. Norbert is known for starting the WAYNE Home Equipment Company and the Berghoff family for the brewery. The Berghoff family and their children continue to live in NE, Indiana.
John managed the company and sold it to Revlon in 1960. The same year, the mansion was sold to the Nelson Street Church of the Nazarene. The only reminder of this once opulent structure is the carriage house itself. The John H. Noll Foundation continues to support college scholarships specifically to students within Fort Wayne.
November 13, 2017 post on a private hidden Facebook group stated: The alert Greg Michell came across this appeared in the Fort Wayne News and Sentinel, which appeared in 1918. The full-page spread gives some of the only inside views of the Noll House on Fairfield that I've ever seen. Apparently the pictures would originally have been photogravures, so very high quality, so they must have looked good ... though I don't know how good in newsprint. The microfilm digital printouts here certainly leave a lot to be desired, but I tried to expand and optimize the views as much as I could. I have the files in higher-def if anyone wants them. The full page is here, but in segments since the full-page view didn't read well. I'm also including a couple of neat external views from Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
See the enhanced Noll newspaper images here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
One comment by local historian Craig Leonard: Designed by Charles Weatherhogg. Ironically, When the church bought it, the local papers praised them for saving it. Most of the facade was bought by the late Don Davis and carted off to a field southeast of Bluffton, where he planned to reuse it in a new house. Still sitting in the field that was to be the site. General location of facade on River Road near the White Bridge Google maps.
Randy Harter posted photos of the frontispiece in a Wells County field February 3, 2023 in the True Fort Wayne newspaper article.
"The space this once stately residence occupied on Fairfield Avenue is now the parking lot for the Wings of Deliverance Tabernacle Holiness Church, which also owns the extant two-story carriage house."
Benedict Noll owned two downtown Fort Wayne drug stores in the late 1880’s where in addition to normal offerings he sold a concentrated cough syrup of his own formulation that the consumer mixed at home with sugar syrup or honey before taking. His son William Henry Noll graduated from the University of Michigan with a pharmaceutical chemistry degree in 1903 and, joining his father, began to market the cough syrup concentrate under the name Pinex in 1905. In addition to alcohol and oil of pine tar, one of the main ingredients in Pinex was chloroform. This substance has since been banned by the FDA for human consumption, as while unknown at the time it is now considered a probable carcinogen.
Pinex distribution and sales flourished, and five years later the product could be found in most drugstores from coast to coast, allowing William in 1914 to open a branch office in Toronto, Ontario and move his former Main Street offices and plant to a larger building at 123 West Columbia. This building on Columbia still stands (was most recently Red Rock BBQ & Saloon) and is notable with a large “P” and small “co” (for Pinex Company) carved in limestone at the top of the building’s façade. Additionally, that same year it was announced in the Journal-Gazette that Noll had paid a record ($25,000.) amount locally for an empty 190 x 240 foot residential lot (which he later expanded) at the southeast corner of Fairfield and Meyer Avenue where he intended to have built “a palatial dwelling.”
Palatial it was! Designed by local architect Charles Weatherhogg in 1915, the 50 x 100 foot, 28 room Italian Renaissance Revival mansion constructed of Indiana Bedford Limestone at 2502 Fairfield began to take shape. The first floor ballroom included ornate fireplaces at both ends, crystal chandeliers, murals on the walls painted in situ by an Italian artist and marble floors. A massive curved marble staircase led to the second floor. The residence also featured a solarium, 10 bathrooms, and was richly embellished with walnut, mahogany and cherry paneling. Outside on the extensively landscaped grounds were a reflecting pool, fountain and swimming pool. Behind the house stood a two story four-bay limestone carriage house and caretaker’s cottage connected to the residence by a tunnel. When completed, the home including imported furnishings reportedly cost over $1 million at a time when the average new home cost just $3,500.
Pinex sales and profits continued to increase and in addition to the residence on Fairfield and a home on Lake Wawasee, the Nolls then shortly built another grand manse on the exclusive “Millionaire’s Row” in Miami Beach, Florida as a winter vacation home. William Noll died in 1941 at age 66 and his wife Laura in 1952, by which time (remarried) she was living primarily in Chicago and Miami Beach. William’s son, John, sold Pinex to Revlon in 1960 (for its Thayer Laboratories division). The same year the family also sold their now in disrepair formerly opulent home to the Nelson Street Church of the Nazarene for $165,000. This then became the Fairfield Avenue Church of the Nazarene, which used the former mansion as their church.
In 1974, in need of extensive repairs the church auctioned off as much as possible of the once magnificent home for salvage and had razed what remained. The late Wells County businessman Donald Davis bought at auction the mansions limestone central frontace piece, along with the window and terrace balustrades. He had it disassembled for potential use on a future home of his own and moved it to outside of Bluffton where it remains stacked in a field to this day. The space this once stately residence occupied on Fairfield Avenue is now the parking lot for the Wings of Deliverance Tabernacle Holiness Church, which also owns the extant two-story carriage house. (Image courtesy ACPL)
Sincere thanks to the following for their assistance in researching thispiece: Dr. Geoffrey Raymer, Craig Leonard, Barb Sieminski, Cindy(Siemniski) Kanning and Terry Burns.
Randy Harter is a Fort Wayne historian, author, and the history/architectural guide for Fort Wayne Food Tours.
