Julie and Steven’s affection for Indianapolis brings them to 4201 Boulevard Place, where they’re creating a family-owned and operated coffeehouse, creamery and bookshop in an old Arts and Crafts house.
Rendering based on Steven’s plans for Tarkington House.
A sense of place
Many neighborhoods. A shared Midtown.
Midtown is a collection of distinct Indianapolis neighborhoods, including Butler-Tarkington, Meridian-Kessler, Mapleton-Fall Creek and Broad Ripple. Each has its own story; together they make up the north-side community we’re proud to join.
The neighborhood’s buildings, public spaces and literary history are all part of what draws Julie and Steven to this corner of Indianapolis.
Roots of Butler-Tarkington
The neighborhood before our chapter.
From farms and streetcars to a university campus and neighbors working for an integrated community, this place has always been shaped by change.
1840s
Mapleton takes root
A farming settlement grew around what is now 38th and Illinois Streets. Known as Mapleton, it was an early foundation for the neighborhood that developed around it.
Streetcar service and Fairview Park helped draw the city northward. In the early twentieth century, farms gave way to bungalows along Boulevard Place and nearby streets, with homes close to the street and the streetcar line.
Butler University moved to its present campus on the former Fairview Park site. Jordan Hall and Butler Fieldhouse, later named Hinkle Fieldhouse, were among the first buildings to welcome the university to its new home.
In 1956, a multiracial group of residents formed the Butler Tarkington Neighborhood Committee to support peaceful racial integration. It incorporated as the Butler Tarkington Neighborhood Association in 1960. That work is an essential part of the neighborhood’s heritage.
A streetcar turning west. A novelist at work nearby. An afternoon beside the canal. There are good stories here, long before our first cup of coffee.
Right at our intersection
Where the Streetcar Turned
Boulevard Place & 42nd Street
The Fairview streetcar once traveled north along Boulevard Place and turned west onto 42nd Street, right at the intersection where Tarkington House stands. It carried riders toward Fairview Park, the popular destination that later became Butler University’s campus.
The line continued serving the university after Butler arrived. Our corner was part of a route connecting downtown Indianapolis with a day in the park and, later, life on campus. It’s a lovely history for a place we hope will give people another reason to stop and stay awhile.
Booth Tarkington made his Indianapolis home nearby at 4270 North Meridian Street from 1923 until his death in 1946. He won Pulitzer Prizes for The Magnificent Ambersons in 1919 and Alice Adams in 1922. His fiction explored how a growing, industrial city changed the lives of the people in it.
Butler-Tarkington’s name joins the university with the author. Our house at 4201 Boulevard Place takes its name from that neighborhood heritage. Our shelves will connect Tarkington’s Golden Age with Indiana writers of later generations and those working here today.
Fairview Park opened in 1890 on land beside the Central Canal. Owned by the street railway company, it gave Indianapolis residents a reason to ride out of town for picnics, gardens and fresh air. Canoeing, concerts and a merry-go-round became part of its appeal.
The canal belongs to that nearby park story; the streetcar connected our intersection to it. Butler purchased Fairview in 1922 and opened its campus there in 1928. Today’s university grounds carry an earlier chapter as a place people traveled to spend time together.
The house as it is today. Existing dining-room photograph, before the planned coffeehouse transformation.
An Arts and Crafts house
Keep the character. Make room for life.
Tarkington House is a Craftsman house in the Arts and Crafts tradition. Its woodwork, coffered ceiling, fireplace and intimate rooms are guiding its next chapter. Our plans include restoring the original shakes discovered beneath the siding and carrying the warmth of stained wood through the new spaces.
With Savoie Studios, we’re exploring how to connect the porch and fireplace room, create more comfortable seating and give the coffee bar the presence of a favorite neighborhood pub. Every choice begins with the character of the house.
Arts and Crafts in Indianapolis
The Arts and Crafts movement began in nineteenth-century Britain with an emphasis on skilled making and natural materials. In America, Gustav Stickley’s The Craftsman (1901–1916), plan books and house catalogs spread the ideas into everyday homes. Indiana’s main Craftsman period was 1905–1930, leaving a legacy of broad porches, expressive woodwork and practical rooms.
Nearby Meridian Park, between 30th and 34th Streets, Pennsylvania Street and Washington Boulevard, preserves Arts and Crafts houses alongside Tudor Revival, Colonial Revival and American Foursquare homes. Listed in the National Register in 1990, it offers a close-to-home view of the architectural tradition informing Tarkington House.
