Realty Check: Downtown Zionsville

Believed to be the second-oldest home in Zionsville, this beautiful 1870 Italianate was once in danger of demolition due to its poor condition. Thanks to a painstaking (and arduous) renovation, it’s hard to believe it ever faced such a fate. Maintaining the original charm of the home—while still updating it for a modern lifestyle and a young family—was a challenge the current owners willingly undertook in the early 2000s.

The work started off simply enough: remove the horsehair insulation, rewire the old electrical, run new plumbing. Next up? Tearing off half the house. “We dug a walkout basement and put it all back together, adding more square footage with the exact same moldings and corbels specially milled to have 1870 architecture throughout a 21st-century addition,” the owner explains. It brought the four-bedroom home’s footprint to almost 6,000 square feet. It’s impossible for the eye to detect what’s original and what’s not. Custom stained-glass transoms, antique entry doors, reused original windows, and 150-year-old flooring (repurposed from a different house) ensured a seamless transition between old and new. For fresh air, there’s an inviting front porch, a spacious rear balcony, and a walkout basement patio. Main Street is a five-minute walk away.

The owners’ years in the home made them feel grounded and relaxed, finding joy in the ceiling medallions and plaster walls. If your heart pitter-patters at wavy glass windows, too, this might be the house for you.

Gallery (Photos courtesy Kelly Gray Photography):

Want to buy it?
Address
745 W. Hawthorne St., Zionsville
Price
$985,000
Agent
Nancy Starke, F.C. Tucker, 317-873-5391