Historical Home Restoration

Built in 1902, the Greensfelder mansion is considered one of the, if not the most, historical and prolific homes in Logansport, Indiana. Her story is a rich tapestry of the times, honoring some of the most influential pieces of Indiana history. She proudly boasts some of the most intricate and incredible architecture and details of her era and is a true hallmark of the town's history given the nature of her creators and the broader story of this midwestern boom town as a whole. 

Sadly, like much of the town, this 115 year old marvel had fallen on hard times and sat vacant, for sale, and crumbling for several years before being purchased by a Navy veteran and his wife - effectively saving her from demolition or a fate far worse; being divided into an apartment building in a town where great homes of her magnitude often fall victim to just such a doom. 

The majority of her restoration will be exterior in nature, though her long neglected interior demands attention just the same. Her downspouts and gutters have long since given way and allowed years of water to bore through and rot much of her wooden gingerbreading, eaves, and easements. Her porch needs to be replaced 100% with care taken to restore pillars, railings, and intricate carved wood. Her siding MUST be replaced with care taken to preserve her historical integrity; vinyl simply will not work when her time period calls for wood. Her three season room has to be completely torn down and rebuilt due to how far and long the wood rot has been allowed to progress (with care to remove a nest of bees currently squatting in the exposed rafters and rotting insulation).  The library's quintessential flocked wallpaper will need to carefully continue to be exposed and preserved, though it is likely that a pattern will need to be professionally made and missing sections replaced. Her kitchen is in shambles and will need to be replaced and brought back to life with care to preserve historical attributes while making way for modern conveniences and needs. The bold encaustic tile floors in the dining room, scullery, water closet, and entry way must be repaired and missing tiles replaced. Cracked plaster and interior water damage will require contractor intervention in order to maintain integrity and rotted portions of wood and walls will need to be replaced with utmost care and precision. Last but not least, her grand ball room must be 100% refinished as it was stripped sometime within the last 50 years and turned into storage with missing/rotted floor boards.

When that is all said and done, painting must be done inside and out to bring her completely to life.

front exterior, entire porch is rotted and only safe in the line directly from door to steps, steps are crumbling

Water damage from missing downspout/rotted gutters having bore a hole through the exterior and through the ceiling/window region. Damage extends to library ceiling over windows

Flocked paper being exposed in library



This all may sound like a massive undertaking, and it is, but this home boasts treasures of a bygone era that make hera champion of the ages and a piece of history that absolutely MUST be preserved, protected, and restored to her former glory. These include marvels such as her nearly completely intact original lincrusta wainscot, carefully detailed wedding cake ceilings, hand carved fireplace mantles, mosaic wood floors, encaustic tile "carpeting", grand staircase, wood work, and so much more. As such, her family is asking for assistance from the historical community of Logansport, state of Indiana, and beyond in order to boost and bolster the efforts to bring her back to life in a quick and timely fashion.

A blog has been set up to chronicle her restorations, and the public is encouraged to follow her progress step by step while learning more of this grand home's story in its entirty. Said blog can be found here; The Great Greensfelder 

Once completed, the house will be revealed to the community and tours will be granted as a way of giving thanks to those who believed in her grandeur and have fought so hard to preserve Logansport as a whole by helping to restore one of her most precious jewels and valuable assets in the fight to keep Logansport's history alive and well. As such, we encourage contractors willing to donate services in lieu of money to reach out to us via the blog or by emailing us at StormShyArts AT gmail DOT com (sorry have to spell it out to avoid spam bots and other nasties) to set up a time to speak with us and tour the home.

We thank you humbly in advance for helping us reach our goal of restoring this incredible once in a lifetime home. Any monies left over after restorations will be donated to keeping and preserving Logansport's unique and beautiful history.