Northeast corner of Wildwood Estate- Dutch Colonial- first homel

Architecture of Joel and Lee’s first home –Dutch Colonial

What Joel wanted was a “house of convenience” in the midst of pleasant surroundings. Joel convinced her husband that she could design and build a suitable dwelling for the two of them. Joel and Lee built their first home in 1901 on the northeast corner of the Wildwood estate on a small plot of land donated by the Judge.[i] This Dutch Colonial Revival house had a main hallway which connected the rest of the first floor. To the left of the hallway was the dining room and to the right the living room. Located at the rear of the house was a kitchen with plenty of cupboards built for efficiency. Upstairs was a centrally located bathroom with four adjoining bedrooms?
Upstairs on the outside of the house were three encased dormer windows. On the lower level were two roof-covered porches, one in front and one in back of the house. The rear porch steps led to a backyard meadow filled with a wide variety of wildflowers The Nindes built this house “in a way that small houses were not often built [so that] living would be enjoyable, and also economical ... [for] work and expense.” [ii]
[i] Ibid Twenty-five houses were built on Judge and Beulah’s property which later became the 600 block of Wildwood Avenue.[ii] Fort Wayne Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, February 8, 1914, n.p. (ARCH files).