New owner of Shackelford Mansion in Evansville plans boutique hotel
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now-
A rendering of the renovated Shackelford Mansion (image provided)
-
An exterior look at the Shackelford Mansion today (photo provided)
-
The revitalized building will include a renovated event center. (photo provided)
The new owner of the Shackelford Mansion in Evansville plans to turn the long-vacant historic building into a boutique hotel.
“Victorian-designed rooms, claw foot tubs and tile showers in the bathrooms, fireplace mantles in the rooms, floor-to-ceiling windows,” developer Brian Broyles said when asked to describe his vision for restoring the 1860s-era structure at 911 SE Second St. to its former glory.
Broyles purchased the 12,563-square-foot structure in the Haynie’s Corner Arts District in October for $392,275 through his Shackelford Mansion LLC.
Broyles, who lives in the area, already rescued one historic home in the neighborhood about 20 years ago. He had plans to buy a nearby church before deciding instead to buy the Shackelford Mansion.
“This property is a much better fit for me,” he said. “It’s a blessing that the church deal fell through because then I wouldn’t have been able to obtain the Shackelford Mansion.”
Broyles’ first idea for the building was an apartment complex, but a friend gave him the vision for a hotel. Plus, he wanted to save one of the mansion’s features.
“There’s a grand staircase in the middle of the original house. With the apartment concept. I’d have to rip out that staircase to make room for bathrooms. It’s the only way it could work,” he said. “If I do it as a hotel, I can keep the grand staircase, and it makes a lot more sense for the property. It seems like the property was designed to be that kind of platform. It’s got a really nice parking lot on the side, which is rare in this neighborhood.”
One of Broyles’ next steps is financing. But for now he is content maintaining the building as he pulls his plans together. He has set no firm timetable for starting the project.
Architect Adam Green, who designed earlier concepts for the building, said there’s a lot of funding available for an owner who’s interested in historic preservation.
“It’s missing some significant elements to its facade, like its original entrance portico and this elaborate cornice that once wrapped around the top of the building. Those are critical components to bring it back to its historic appearance,” Green said.
Who was Shackelford?
Brigadier General James Shackelford, a Kentucky attorney who served in the Union Army during the Civil War, built the mansion in the late 1860s after moving to Evansville and resuming his law practice. At the time, it was the largest private residence in the city.
“His big claim to fame was capturing Morgan’s Raiders,” said Kelley Coures, director of Evansville’s Department of Metropolitan Development. “John Morgan, who was a Confederate terrorist, and Morgan’s Raiders were sort of terroristic rampagers, but it was [Shackelford’s] cavalry brigade that captured and stopped Morgan’s Raiders.”
After Shackelford died in the early 1900s, the second owner sold the house to a Jewish men’s club in 1912.
“When it was built, it was a fine example of the Italianate style of architecture. Some of those details have been lost, but nothing’s impossible to put back. And some of the core details remain,” said Larry Bristow, a longtime resident of the area.
Mansion owners throughout the years
The Jewish men’s club owned Shackelford Mansion for the next 30 years. Bristow said it was during that time that the former house became more of a community center.
“[The Jewish men’s club] built the addition on the back that was like an auditorium, gymnasium, dance hall so that they could have dances and things like the country club had,” Coures added.
In 1941, a Masonic organization bought the Shackelford Mansion, cementing its reputation as the No-Ruz Grotto for the next 75 years. In 2016, the Warren family took ownership of the building with restoration intentions.
“They saw the amazing potential and the significance of the architecture and the scale of the building and its position in the neighborhood. It’s just so visible and such a dominant feature that they were just determined to make it a viable project,” said Green. “For several years, they shopped it around to out-of-town tenants, in-town developers and restaurants and just couldn’t find the right fit.”
In 2019, Indiana Landmarks brought its Preserving Historic Places Conference to Evansville, where students discussed ways to bring Shackelford Mansion back to life. Suzanne Rollins Stanis, Indiana Landmarks’ vice president of education, told Inside INdiana Business about the project.
“The charrette brought together students from Ball State University’s graduate program in historic preservation, University of Evansville, University of Southern Indiana and Purdue University to gain a hands-on, real-world experience saving a historic property through adaptive reuse,” she said.
“One of [the ideas] was an art colony, one of them was a school,” added Coures. “Then there was mixed-used commercial, like an interior commercial colony with little tea cozies and clothing and hair salon and all that.”
Restoration challenges
Broyles is now the third owner since No-Ruz Grotto to try to find a purpose for Shackelford Mansion.
“The interior is very rough, but it’s got so much raw potential,” he said. “I feel like I have the ability to look at a bunch of studs of plaster and see what the end result will be.”
Coures agreed, saying the building is solid and some work has been done inside, but the interior and the facade still need a lot of attention.
“The dance hall was badly damaged in a storm a few years ago when the Warrens owned it,” he added. “The insurance company came in and put on a new roof system, and then the interior was gutted. It’s a sharp little event space now with indirect lighting and a new floor, and it’s really nice.”
One of the primary restoration challenges is updating the mansion’ electric and plumbing systems.
“It hasn’t had any of its systems upgraded in many decades. In fact, much of the systems have been stripped out of the building,” said Green.
“The fact that it’s been vacant and unused for so long certainly means it has to be brought up to all current codes for whatever the proposed use will be,” Bristow added.
Green said the age of the building is a major challenge because construction methods have changed throughout the years.
“The materials are old, and when you replace them in old buildings, you need to replace them with materials of similar character. So repairing old buildings requires special attention and skills,” Green said.
Thomas Sutton, Evansville’s historic preservation officer, told Inside INdiana Business an old building like Shackelford Mansion is a good investment because the structure was built for longevity.
“If you want your building to be sustainable and last, it’s usually a lot more environmentally conscious to preserve an old building. They were built to be sustainable because they were built before electric and gas utilities existed. So they require less heating and air conditioning,” he said.
A finishing touch for the neighborhood
The restoration of Shackelford Mansion will complete the neighborhood’s revitalization efforts, Coures said.
“It’s really the last building in that area, the arts district, that has been relatively untouched by modern renovation,” he said. “Between 2014 and 2017, we invested about two and a half million dollars in that area to try and bring that commercial corridor back up.”
To blend into the arts district, Coures suggested Broyles begin a partnership with the Arts Council of Southwest Indiana to showcase local art.
“The walls, the common areas, even the rooms themselves could benefit from having a local art presence,” Coures said.
Those familiar with Shackelford Mansion have two main objectives in common: preservation and purpose.
“The reuse of the Shackelford Mansion needs to serve the community as well as have a reliable and sustainable revenue stream to ensure its continued preservation,” said Stanis of Indiana Landmarks. “Historic preservation is not about freezing a building in time. It’s about connecting the past to present-day needs and technology while honoring local history.”