The most ornate residence within the Fort complex

“When you pull in, you feel like you’re going back in time,” Ali says. “A lot of people in Indy aren’t aware the fort is here, so it’s kind of a hidden gem.” Ater the fort was decommissioned in the 1990s, it was nominated for the National Register of Historic Places. The nomination form notes that the Marten home had been divided into three apartments for oicers and their families. And though the form describes the exterior as “unmodiied,” it also says interior renovations had dramatically altered what was “the most ornate residence within the Fort complex.” Rumor has it, from a neighbor, that JFK once had dinner there when he was a senator. It wasn’t until 1998, during the St. Margaret’s Hospital Guild Decorators’ Show House, that the home was restored to its original loor plan (except for the kitchen, where square footage quintupled). But with the showcase came the faux inishes, ivy and all. “That’s the tragedy with the renovations,” Ali says. “So much of the original features were torn out or painted over.”

Over the last several years, though, Ali and Tom—who owns a construction-management company—have been restoring the home. They scoured salvage shops to ind matching knobs for the front doors. They also skimmed most of their ceilings, smoothing over decades of wear and tear. The front staircase took three weeks to strip, even with professional help. Unfortunately, Tom wasn’t as lucky with the hutch in the dining room. The layers of paint were as thick as a ream of paper, and ater 200 hours of stripping, he stopped counting. But in this six-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom, six-working-ireplace home, the biggest challenges were hidden. Take the electrical system, for instance. Before Ali and Tom moved in, they had to replace the knoband- tube wiring, which had been removed. Then there was the plumbing. And three HVAC units. And the fact that someone had removed a load-bearing wall from the back of the house. To ix it, Tom and his brother removed the ceiling, moved it up three inches, and reinforced it with a steel beam. “That was probably the biggest, most critical thing we did,” Ali says. “There’s a signiicant investment in things people don’t see. Sometimes you have to ask yourself, Is it worth the efort?” That was a question she and Tom posed when deciding whether or not to reexpose the ireplace in the dining room, which had been dry-walled over. “With this much square footage, you can easily over-invest,” Ali says. “We believe in quality and in not taking shortcuts, but it’s important to know when to stop, too.”

Ali and Tom have a running list of everything they’d still like to do—like addressing the hand-painted, rosy-cheeked cherubs in the back stairwell, updating the kitchen, and continuing to transform the third loor into a space for their two children, who already have a climbing wall that Tom built in two days. While the Martens look forward to spending less time working on their home and more time enjoying it, they are excited to raise their children in a neighborhood that celebrates its history. Ali gestures toward the front windows—to the barracks, the sweeping parade grounds. “Where else do you grow up and have that kind of stuf in your front yard?” she says.

sources:

Indianapolis Monthly, July 2018

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