The Ruthmere Mansion, on Beardsley in Elkhart, hosts lectures from time to time on various artistic and historical topics. I had the opportunity to visit on Tuesday, June 28, to hear a lecture on E. Hill Turnock architecture, delivered by John W. Stamper, Associate Dean of the school of Architecture, Notre Dame.
The lecture took place in the lower level of the mansion, commonly referred to as “the game room”. My understanding is that the Beardsleys, for whom this mansion was built in 1908, entertained guests with card games and such in this room.
It is a very beautiful room. It has a dark wood floor, bare of any carpet. The chairs are of a dark wood with upholstery of a rich red color The windows are painted with scenes of Italy. The wall-coverings are of a gold-tone faux leatherette. One cannot help but absorb the history of the room and become gilded with a sense of prestige and privilege, even if only for the duration of the lecture.
John W. Stamper spoke with a voice that held our attention. He spoke in a tone that delivered his noticeable knowledge of the subject matter, and with a command of relevant information. His transitions from one time period to another, from one architectural style to another were comfortable and easy to follow. His structure of the lecture was professional and moved us along, both historically and logically.
The title of his lecture is “ E. Hill Turnock: Elkhart's Gentleman Architect”
Characteristics of Turncok architecture include ceramic tile roofs, definite symmetry, hip roofs, and stone porches. You can see many of Turnock's houses in Elkhart.
Mr. Stamper informed us that Turnock designed over one hundred buildings in Elkhart. Among them are...the City Water Works building, built in 1910, the Borneman building( now Seifert Drugs on Main street),the armory building, the Masonic Temple on second, St. Paul's United Methodist Church on Beardsley, and of course, City Hall.
In City Hall, on the third floor, is the city court room. The room is beautiful in design. It has an ornate stained-glass ceiling window that seems to transform ordinary sunlight into tactile inspiration. This writer, however, would like to point out one curious oddity about this room. And I would like to thank Iverson Grove, a man with an eye for detail and a sharpness of logic, for bringing it to my attention...
Along the west wall of the courtroom, high, near the ceiling, is a sequence of five circular, stained-glass windows. One window depicts the scales of justice, another the lamp of knowledge and so on. The south-most window depicts an hourglass. It is this window that is the curiosity. It seems to be inverted, upside down, relative to the other four. A careful scrutiny of this window informs the viewer that in the hourglass, the sands of time seem to be resting at the very top, as if defying gravity. Another observation is that the “ scroll” designs which encircle the various symbols in these windows, agree in their orientation in four of the windows. It is in the south-most window that these “scroll” designs are different in orientation...upside down. It is not something the casual room attendant would notice. But it is there. Take an architectural adventure someday and visit the city court room. Maybe you will find other curious novelties.
