Legg House (Bloomington, Indiana) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Legg House
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Front of the house
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 Location in Indiana
Location in the United States
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| Location | 324 S. Henderson, Bloomington, Indiana |
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| Area | 0.3 acres (0.12 ha) |
| Built | 1848 |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 01000359 |
| Added to NRHP | April 12, 2001 |
The Legg House is an old farmhouse in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It was built in the mid-1800s. Over the years, it has been used for many different things. Today, it is an office building for Indiana University. After getting quite old and worn down, it was fixed up to look like it did when it was new. Now, it is known as an important historic site.
Building the Legg House
The land where the Legg House stands was a farm as early as 1820. Back then, it was on the very edge of Bloomington. The only road connecting Bloomington to other places was nearby Third Street.
George M. Legg owned the land and built the first part of the house in 1848. He used a style called Greek Revival. The house was built with materials found right there in the area. Its walls are made of handmade bricks. These bricks sit on a foundation of limestone dug from local mines. Strong poplar wood beams, cut near Bloomington, support the house.
When it was first built, the Legg House was small. It had only one story and just two rooms. Later, the house changed a lot. A porch and a new wooden section were added in the 1870s. In the 1900s, parts of the house were covered with new materials like drywall.
How the House Was Used
By the early 1870s, the Legg House was no longer owned by the Legg family. It became home to the parents and grandparents of William Lowe Bryan. At this time, it was still on the edge of Bloomington.
But its location became much more central after 1883. That year, a fire destroyed the original buildings of Indiana University. The university decided to move its campus to land right next to the Legg House.
A few years after the university moved, the house became a boarding house. This meant people could rent rooms there. William Lowe Bryan, who later became the university president, visited the house in 1890 when it was a boarding house. It stayed a boarding house until the late 1900s. Even after Indiana University bought the house in 1964, it was used as student housing.
The house was not kept up very well because there wasn't enough money. In 1993, it was boarded up. The university even thought about tearing it down. But people who cared about history and city officials worked together to save it.
Saving and Restoring the House
In April 2001, the Legg House was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This happened because of its important place in local history and its special architecture. Later that year, because it was a historic site, the city and university received a grant of $27,000. This money came from the historic preservation part of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Renovation work on the house began in 2002. The house had been empty for nine years and had gotten very run down. The original wooden parts inside were still in good shape. But the outside had a lot of damage. Windows were broken, the porch was falling apart, and window sills were rotting.
A company from Greenfield called Advance Restoration helped fix the house. They repaired the foundation, the brick chimney, and many wooden walls. Workers removed old paint that previous owners had put on. They also cleaned off a lot of graffiti left by vandals.
Today, the Legg House is actively used by Indiana University. It serves as the main office for the university's housing department.
