A dedication will be held at the University of Evansville on Thursday, April 20 at 10:00 a.m. to celebrate the completion of the Peters-Margedant House restoration. The ceremony will take place outside the Peters-Margedant House, located on the east side of the Koch Center for Engineering and Science. Brief tours and refreshments will be available immediately following the ceremony.
Those speaking at the ceremony will include: Kelley Coures, executive director of the department of metropolitan development for the City of Evansville; UE President Tom Kazee; Marsh Davis, president of Indiana Landmarks; Brandoch Peters (son of Peters-Margedant House architect William Wesley “Wes†Peters), architect Adam Green; Heidi Strobel, curator of the Peters-Margedant House and associate professor of art history at UE; Jim Renne, vice-president of the Friends of the Peters-Margedant House group and historical preservationist; Tammy Gieselman, UE chaplain; and Bill Scott, Architectural Historian, Graduate of Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, and Co-Founder of Organic Architecture + Design Archives. Scott is also Curator/Exec Director of The Scott Architectural Archives and President of The Prairie Works.
The unique Peters-Margedant House is just 552 square feet and was moved through the city of Evansville to UE’s campus from its original location on Indiana Street in August 2016. The home was built in 1934 by William Wesley “Wes†Peters, Frank Lloyd Wright’s primary assistant. An Indiana native and Benjamin Bosse High School graduate who studied at both Evansville College and MIT, Peters was accepted as Frank Lloyd Wright’s first apprentice at Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin in 1932. Peters would go on to work with Wright for the remainder of his career, becoming Wright’s right-hand man.
The small house was designed by Peters and displays many of the principles of the Usonian style, Wright’s architectural effort at creating affordable, efficiently designed homes for working families. The Peters-Margedant House showcases many specific Usonian characteristics and remains one of the style’s first examples, marrying affordability, accessibility, function, and efficiency of space – all qualities highly valued in the current Small House Movement of today.
A grant from the city of Evansville saved the Peters-Margedant house from demolition and additional funds raised by Indiana Landmarks and the Friends of the Peters-Margedant House group have made it possible to move the house to the University of Evansville’s campus where it will serve as a learning facility for both students and the community.
Directions to the Peters-Margedant House
The Peters-Margedant House is located on the northeast side of the Koch Center for Engineering and Science (building marked #38 on the campus map) on the UE campus. Parking is available in Lot C which is accessible from Weinbach Avenue or on the circle drive off of Lincoln Avenue.
