A horticultural and residential renaissance is in progress at 1501 Kessler Boulevard East Drive. Owner Chip Bondurant discussed the home's history and current renovations.

"I purchased this 1890 farmhouse at auction last September from the Karl Theilig family,"

Bondurant explained. "I was struck by its simple beauty and awesome potential. You just don't find features like wide plank hardwood floors, walnut pocket doors and 10 foot ceilings in contemporary homes. I thought I was getting an intriguing house with a garden," he said. "Specifically, the home was owned by Karl's daughter, Helen Theilig Landsem and is well known in this neck of Broad Ripple as "the Flower House." It sits on two city lots and for years, the Theilig family sold perennials, bedding plants and bouquets on the premises. The garden was included in the book Indianapolis by Howard Caldwell, a longtime WRTV6 news anchor. Karl Theilig purchased the foreclosed property in 1935 and it remained in his family until last year when Bondurant deemed it to be in good shape, just needing a little "freshening up." Therein lies the beginning of the next chapter of Broad Ripple's "Flower House."

Every home tells a story, but the tale of 1501 Kessler Boulevard reveals something of the history of Indianapolis as well as the Theilig family. Bondurant purchased family furniture along with the house and was fortunate to be briefed by Mrs. Landsem. Helen related that her dad Karl was one of eight children from a German family living in Flensburg at the very northern tip of Germany during the early 1900s. At the tender age of 11, Karl was orphaned and forced to live on a working farm where he earned a wage. While Karl saw little future on the farm, he did save enough money for passage to America along with many of his countrymen. In 1927 at age 20, he arrived in New York during the ticker tape parade for Charles Lindbergh, the famous aviator. Sponsored by an Indianapolis Lutheran Church and a German American family living on Bluff Road, Karl gained experience as a landscaper until he could start his own gardening business. Thanks to hard work and a saving mentality, Karl managed the purchase of the north side home in 1935 and shortly thereafter, married his sweetheart, Bessie Hills, who was a professional pianist. Bondurant is now the proud owner of a turn of the century King Upright Grand piano courtesy of Bessie Hills Theilig!

Bondurant is not new to the restoration process. "It takes a village to make this work," Chip explains. "I've been through the process once before in Richmond, Indiana where my wife and I restored a Queen Anne Victorian home in 1995 and opened the Philip W. Smith Bed & Breakfast on the National Road. It was a gorgeous home with stained glass windows and intricate woodwork and continues to run as a bed and breakfast to this day." Bondurant currently works as a tennis pro at the Carmel Racquet Club and relies on skilled professionals to address the needs of 1501 Kessler Boulevard. Last fall started with heating, cooling and electrical systems and beginning in April of this year, the new owner experienced the Indiana growing season. "The garden is all new to me," Bondurant admits. "It has been a thrill to witness the progression of flowers blooming - crocuses, poppies, peonies, loose purple strife and the list goes on and on," he added. Fortunately, Mrs. Landsem tapped her encyclopedic knowledge of horticulture and provided a list of 67 plants and flowers to watch for. "What a show," says Bondurant, who is bound and determined to carry on the Theilig tradition of offering aromatic and colorful bouquets to the public. "Step by step" is his motto. This summer, two high school students began the organizing process by weeding, grouping flowers and re-establishing the stone paths through the garden meadow. In the last few weeks, skilled masons have completed a retaining wall and Bondurant looks forward to completing the exterior stone work in the near future. He envisions an orderly, colorful garden with a detached garage and clearly has made strides in that direction.

Very soon as the weather cools, the new owner will again focus his energies on the interior of the house. Walls and floors are almost done, but the kitchen and bath remain an idea on paper while furniture is stacked up and the pieces come together. "Yes, it is a project," Bondurant explains. Actually, it is many projects and the one he really looks forward to is documenting the history of the house. Legend has it that the original foundation at the southeast corner of the home was a cabin in the 1860s and Mr. Charles Dawson Sr., owner of the Dawson Lumber Mill in Broad Ripple built the wooden home in 1890 as a wedding present for his daughter and her new husband. Evidently the house stood on a large parcel of land, approximately 80 acres. Can you imagine? Well, research is yet to be done, but fortunately title abstracts remain. Step by step.

If the residence of 1501 Kessler Boulevard could talk, its stories could write a bestseller in the memories created there by Charles Dawson's and Karl Theilig's families. Chip Bondurant will share some of those accounts of the "Flower House" where Broad Ripple and Meridian-Kessler meet.