AASLH Member Since 1983
At their annual meeting June 19, the Board of Directors of the Jeffris Family Foundation announced that they have awarded a Challenge Grant totaling $375,000 to Historic Madison, Inc. of Madison, Indiana for the renovation and restoration of historic Shrewsbury-Windle House. The two and one-half story brick Shrewsbury-Windle House ca. 1846 – 1849 is designated a National Historic Landmark, the highest historical designation a building can attain in the United States.
The Foundation announced that they will make a gift of $1 for every $2 that is pledged to the project. The Foundation gift is designed to spur an additional $750,000 in private gifts and pledges toward the Shrewsbury-Windle House restoration. Thomas M. Jeffris, President of the Jeffris Family Foundation stated, “our Foundation is excited to be a part of the Shrewsbury-Windle House restoration. We hope that our gift will help spur the vital renovation of this American jewel.” The Jeffris Family Foundation is based in Janesville, Wisconsin and focuses on projects of national significance in smaller communities in the Midwest.
John Staicer, President and Executive Director of Historic Madison, Inc. stated “we are grateful for this wonderful gift from a national foundation as well-known and well-regarded as the Jeffris Family Foundation. This gift is a concrete demonstration of the importance of this project nationally, regionally and locally. I am confident that generous citizens, corporations and other foundations will respond to help us secure matching funds. The successful renovation of the House will enable us to preserve an important part of our past while we are also embracing the future.”
Designed by architect Francis Costigan, one of America’s outstanding architects of the mid-nineteenth century, the Shrewsbury-Windle House is a stunning work of nineteenth century classical architecture built of pink brick accented by finely carved stone and wooden details. Exterior design elements include ornate iron fencing and balconies, herringbone brick sidewalks, garden paths and stone curbing. A brick outbuilding includes a wash house with a stone floor, privies, a garden shed and stables.
The home features 12 rooms and 13 fireplaces. Interior design highlights include a fifty-three step free-standing spiral staircase that is a work of art and an engineering masterpiece in itself, and formal twin drawing rooms that may be the best preserved example of Greek revival domestic interior design in the United States.
Historic Madison, Inc. is now organizing an effort to approach individuals, corporations, and other foundations over the coming months to secure matching gifts to fund the restoration and renovation of the Shrewsbury-Windle House.
Historic Madison, Inc. is an award winning, member-supported, not-for-profit historic preservation organization founded in 1960. The organization owns, operates and maintains sixteen significant properties in Madison’s National Historic Landmark district, including four house museums, the Shrewsbury-Windle House and the Schroeder Saddletree Factory museum, and a pioneer garden.
For additional information, contact HMI at 500 West Street, Madison, IN 47250 or call (812) 265-2967 or visit .
