Discover design history around Indianapolis
You may pass these places every day. But have you ever visited? Do you know the design history behind them? If not, here’s your chance.
It’s What’s Out There Weekend Indianapolis, a signature event of The Cultural Landscape Foundation, a not-for-profit in Washington, D.C. The weekend is Oct. 6-8, 2017, and it includes about 30 tours of Indianapolis’ special places, culturally significant landscapes, private residential gardens; a golf-cart tour of Brendonwood (on the National Register of Historic Places and was designed by George Kessler, along w/others); tour Raymond Leppard’s garden (former maestro of the Indianapolis Symphony); tour Westerley gardens (in Golden Hill where the head of the IMA lives). A local group of volunteers from Indiana Landmarks’ Cultural Landscapes Committee has been working with TCLF to bring this even to Indianapolis.
The mission? To offer FREE tours of Indianapolis’ parks, gardens, estates, cultural venues, and open spaces – led by experts in history and landscape design. To reveal a largely unrecognized legacy of thoughtful landscape architecture and urban planning in the heart of the Midwest.
Mark Zelonis, Retired Deputy Director of Environmental & Historic Resources, Indianapolis Museum of Art, tells us more:
Indiana Cultural Landscapes Committee advances the understanding and preservation of cultural landscapes. Among its purposes is to provide programs and resources that document cultural landscapes and educate both Indiana Landmarks members and the general public about Indiana’s cultural landscapes. It also consults and collaborates with private and public entities who own or manage cultural landscapes to provide expertise in documentation, education, preservation, or restoration.
The tours, receptions and other events that weekend are free and open to the public, but registration is required.
A publication will be available to attendees and information about this event and Indianapolis’ culturally significant landscapes will reside online in perpetuity (tclf.org). Charles Birnbaum, president of The Cultural Landscape Foundation will be in town on Friday, Oct. 6, for a reception and to make remarks at Christian Theological Seminary (a landscape designed by Dan Kiley, who also designed the landscape of Miller House and Garden in Columbus, Indiana). The goal is to celebrate the special places Indianapolis has and to heighten their awareness and significance among the general public…people who pass by some of these places every day. An example is the Indianapolis Parks and Boulevard System, designed by George Kessler (who also designed Garfield Park) is on the National Register of Historic Places, including Fall Creek Parkway, Pleasant Run Parkway, Riverside Parkway, Brookside Parkway…you get the idea…significant thoroughfares in our city.
Conducted in conjunction with The Cultural Landscape Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 1998 to connect people to places. TCLF educates and engages the public to make our shared landscape heritage more visible, identify its value, and empower its stewards. These are free tours and receptions, open to all but registration required.
To learn more, visit https://tclf.org/whats-out-there-weekend-indianapolis.