The History of Lafayette Place
Lafayette Place was an innovative development conceived by the Wildwood Builders Company and noted landscape architect Arthur Shurcliff in 1915.
The Wildwood Builders Company was incorporated in 1910 with Lee Ninde as president. Lee’s wife Joel Roberts Ninde and architect Grace Crosby acted as the design team for the company. They were among the earliest women in Indiana to work as architects and developers and the Indianapolis News reported in 1914 that over 300 homes had been built to their designs. The Wildwood Magazine, published by the company between 1913 and 1917, became a nationally known publication on the subjects of architecture, city planning, and interior design. By 1915, Wildwood had become eight separate companies, including the Wildwood Magazine, Wildwood Engineering and Construction Company, Wildwood Park Company, North Wildwood Company, and the La Fayette Place Company.
A builder, promoter, realtor, magazine editor and developer, Lee Ninde also became a nationally and regionally significant master proponent of city planning. An early advocate of city planning, he participated in the broader national movement as a founding Fellow of the American Institute of City Planning, as a member of the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges, president of the Indiana Real Estate Association, and other national professional organizations. He also served as the first president of the Fort Wayne Plan Commission. In 1926, local historian Bert Griswold noted: “That Mr. Ninde believes in the beautiful as well as in the practical in the creation of residential subdivisions is shown in the platting of Wildwood Park, Brook View, and Lafayette Place, all planned by the eminent Boston landscape architect, Arthur Shurcliff, and Shawnee Place, his original realty development. All are striking examples of the best in modern residential developments.”
Arthur Asahel Shurcliff was born in Boston in 1870. After graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology he studied Landscape Architecture at Harvard University where he later teamed with Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. to found the country’s first four-year landscape program in 1899. When Shurcliff established his own practice in 1905, he focused on town planning, highway studies for the Boston Metropolitan Improvement Commission, and the development of industrial and residential communities. He designed three Fort Wayne subdivisions for Wildwood Builders: Wildwood Park in the curvilinear style in 1914, Lafayette Place with an Esplanade, modified grid and formal pattern in 1915, and Brookview which was designed around the Spy Run Creek in 1917. He was also hired by the Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation Department to complete a master plan for Swinney Park in 1916 and a master plan for Franke Park in 1924. In the 1930s, he served as the chief landscape architect for the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg.
In his design for Lafayette Place, Shurcliff suggested that they “take the high strip 216 feet wide and 1,700 feet long in the center of the tract as a park. There is only one other such arrangement in the country and that is in New Orleans. We could call it the Esplanade. Then near the center of the Addition we can lay out the children’s playground so it will easily be reached by every child in the community.” His plan was adopted and over $50,000 (in 1915 money) worth of property was dedicated to the beautification of Lafayette Place. At that time, the Esplanade was more than twice as wide as Rudisill Boulevard.
The Lafayette Place plan was announced to the public in the Spring 1915 issue of the Wildwood Magazine, which describes the new addition: “The distinctive feature of the plat will be what is known as an Esplanade. This is an unusual feature in Fort Wayne platting, but as this tract is oblong, extending one-half mile north and south, and a quarter of a mile wide, the shape of the ground lends itself perfectly to a street two hundred and ten feet wide, placed directly in the middle of the Addition, extending one-third of a mile nearly to the end. This is the Esplanade. Branching off from each corner of this new thoroughfare is a diagonal street leading out to each of the four corners of the piece.”1
An article in the Summer 1915 edition of the Wildwood Magazine noted: “The Lafayette Place Subdivision marks a definite advance in city planning in Fort Wayne. This suburban development, which is under the direction of the Wildwood Builders Company, embodies a high degree of community interest with its broad parks and recreative facilities and yet offers the man of moderate means opportunity for home building and investment…The general plan for the subdivision, upon which Mr. Arthur Shurcliff of Boston, Mass., was consultant, gives a distinctive unity to the addition, and at the same time conforms to the surrounding developed property.” The article also comments on the neighborhood’s easy access from the city; the lack of alleys providing “for a cleaner and healthier community; and the curves and diagonals of the streets resulting in blocks of varying shapes. “The resulting lots…have no uniform outline… The range of lot dimensions has produced advantages for special architectural treatment and landscaping which gives a distinctive character to the home site, as well as to Lafayette Place, as a whole.” Lots were platted to allow for a small yard for gardening and a garage at the rear.
The original recorded plat showed 444 lots, streets, and five tracts of land set aside for a Community Center, a playground area and three park areas. The Community Center was to include a Club House with an adjoining tennis court and elaborate playground equipment. The Club House was to contain “a large assembly room with a big log fireplace across one end – a room in which two or three hundred people may assemble. It should be a fine place to meet one’s friends and neighbors in the afternoon or to enjoy an informal neighborly assembly for playlets or games of bridge.” The tennis court was built, but it wasn’t a very good court, and very few residents played as tennis was just beginning to be popular. So the tennis court was removed. Later three courts were built in Lafayette Park and are still being used today.
After the removal of the tennis court, the area designated for a Community Center became a rose garden with a small pool at the northern end. Water lilies were put in the pool. The pool was eventually filled in as residents felt it was too dangerous for children. No Community Center was ever built. Finally, a decision was made to sell the site. Today, the home at 4431 Marquette Drive occupies the one-and-a-half acre site originally designated for the Community Center.
Local architects and builders were enthusiastic to be a part of Lafayette Place. One of the original architects, Lloyd W. Larimore was featured in a large article describing the six homes to be built at the Marquette and Calhoun entrance in preparation for the first annual Better Homes Week and Builder’s Expo held June 19-26, 1926 in Lafayette Place. This was Fort Wayne’s first home show. The article described the six homes and each builder involved: 4307 Marquette, built by Ernest C. Heckman; 4311 Marquette built by John R. Worthman; 4312 Marquette built by Arthur Rodenbeck; 4308 Marquette built by Frank J. Vevia; 4321 Calhoun built by Everett Ellerman; and 120 McKinnie built by brothers Ferman and Ernest C. Haase. The Gunder-Spahr Agency also built several homes in Lafayette Place. By August of 1926, several Fort Wayne builders had moved their own families into Lafayette Place homes, including John Worthman, Everett Ellerman, R.P. Gemmer, William Bowman, Ferman Haase, Frank Vivia and Wayne Ferguson.
The article also mentioned such innovations in amenities as built-in ironing boards, refrigerators with outside icers, Kosy-Kitch complete cabinets and built-in telephone booths!
You will notice that Calumet is the only street in Lafayette Place that runs diagonally through the neighborhood. That’s because it used to be the inter-urban route. The Fort Wayne and Decatur inter-urban ran on tracks down Calhoun Street, along Calumet, across the Park (later the Esplanade) and out Calumet, across Pettit to Decatur, Indiana. The Fort Wayne and Decatur Traction Company released this right-of-way to the City of Fort Wayne in October of 1928.
Two streets have had name changes since the original abstract for Lafayette Place. Sherwood Terrace was originally named Cottage Grove Avenue and Montrose Avenue was originally named Montclair Avenue.
*These historical notes are from the Lafayette Place Magazine, published in 1925 on the occasion of Open House Week, October 24-31, 1925. Thousands of visitors came by streetcar and auto to see the modern homes in Fort Wayne’s foremost new Addition.
