by The Reitz Home Museum in Evansville, Indiana, doesn’t have an especially interesting history, but it’s got some over-the-top decorating and architectural details, and that’s enough for me!
The French Second Empire style home was built by lumber baron John Augustus Reitz in 1871, who lived there with his wife and eight children (two additional children were already married and no longer living at home).
The home passed to son Francis Joseph when the parents died in 1891, and he lived there with his four sisters.
The five adult children redecorated the interior, using every available space to add flourish: silk damask-covered walls, hand painted ceilings, patterned wood parquet floors, tiled marble places, and stained glass windows, not to mention the furnishings! Trust me, I showed great restraint in not putting 100 photos in this post.
Though spending lavishly on their own situation, the Reitz family was locally renowned for their philanthropy, donating millions to various charities and religious and educational organizations.
Much of the items on display are original pieces, as the surviving children had not married or produced heirs. The home and everything in it was left to the Daughters of Isabella (a women’s organization), who used it as a community center.
For 30 years in the mid-20th century it was owned by the Diocese of Evansville, who used it as a residence for their bishop (whose piety required the removal of one stained glass window that featured a topless Grecian woman) until they donated it to the Reitz Home Preservation Society in 1974, an organization formed for the purpose of saving and restoring the home.
As a result of this history, much of the ornate historical detail in the home is intact, at least from the time of the late 19th century renovations, making a visit to the home a real step back in time.
