by Lilly House, also known as Oldfields, belonged to Josiah K. Lilly Jr, an Indianapolis businessman, collector, and philanthropist (who also happened to be the grandson of the founder of the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly).
The home was built between 1909 and 1913 for the Landon family, who lived there until 1932, when it was sold to the aforementioned Josiah. The home is presented to reflect the 1930s, though the Lilly family used it as their primary residence into the 1960s. In 1967, Josiah’s children donated it to the art foundation that also runs the Indianapolis Art Museum located on the property as part of the Newfields Campus.
The 22-room home is designed in the French Châteauesque style, and sits on a 26-acre estate, which had multiple gardens and areas landscaped by Percival Gallagher of the Olmsted Brothers firm. The estate was constructed during the “Country Place Era” (1885-1939), during which wealthy businessmen built large country estates outside of the city as a way to “return to the simpler life” (ha!). The famed Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina is the Queen Mother of this style of estate in the U.S.
Just the first floor was open for tours during our visit, and while we were there it was decorated for Halloween (in case you haven’t figured that out yet from the pictures)! This was actually rather unfortunate because it was very dark and much of what we wanted to see was covered up by decorations. On the other hand, I had been wavering about springing for the pricey tickets to attend the nighttime event, and this put an end to that. Nearly 90% of the furnishings and artifacts are original to the house and Lilly family.
