A Destination Urban Park with a Distinctive Sense of Place That

TARKINGTON PARK MASTER PLAN

a destination urban park with a distinctive sense RUNDELL ERNSTBERGER of place that celebrates the community’s diverse ASSOCIATES history and culture, attracts a wide variety of URBAN DESIGN + LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE | www.reasite.com users, and provides a distinctive park experience

Community Design Workshop | July 10 - 13, 2012 MLK Community Center North United Methodist Church Tarkington Tower 40 North Tower Midtown Butler Tarkington Neighborhood Association Meridian Kessler Neighborhood Association Meridian Street Foundation Mapleton Fall Creek Development Corporation Watson-McCord/Historic Watson Crown Hill Development Corporation Indianapolis Museum of Art Butler University RUNDELL Children’s Museum ERNSTBERGER Indiana State Fairgrounds ASSOCIATES Central Indiana Community Foundation URBAN DESIGN + LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE | www.reasite.com Indiana Landmarks Department of Public Safety Public Works Indy Parks & Recreation Economic Development Metropolitan Development City County Council Parks Board Community Residents TARKINGTON PARK | design team & park stakeholders 1. Study the Existing Park 2. Midtown Indianapolis Initiatives 3. Stakeholder Input a. Park Neighbors b. Community Groups c. Potential Partners d. City Employees e. Open Public Session 4. Present Conceptual Alternatives 5. Prepare DRAFT Master Plan 6. Present Master Plan to Stakeholder Groups

Midtown Conceptual Plan 7. Master Plan Adopted by the Board of Parks & Recreation

TARKINGTON PARK | master planning process Butler University White River

Indianapolis Canal Pennsylvania Avenue

Christian Meridian Street

Theological Illinois Street Elwood & Mary Seminary Andrew Ramsey Black Park Park Indiana State Crown Hill Fairgrounds Cemetery Monon Rail-Trail Indianapolis Tarkington Park James Whitcomb Museum Riley School#43 of Art

38th Street Fall Creek Parkway

Woodstock County Club Watson Road Bird Preserve Crown Hill Bertha Ross Cemetery McCord Park Park

LEGEND Religious Center

Fall Creek Greenway Fire Station

Library

Education

Police Station

North

TARKINGTON PARK | vicinity map Meridian-Kessler Neighborhood Association Pennsylvania Avenue Illinois Street Meridian Street Foundation Michigan Street Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association

Tarkington Park Monon Rail-Trail

Maple Road Development Association 38th Street Fall Creek Parkway

Watson-McCord Neighborhood Association

Crown-Hill Community Development Corporation Fall Creek Greenway Mapleton-Fall Creek Community Development Corporation

TARKINGTON PARK | community connections Martin Luther King Tarkington Tower Community Center

40th Street

Parking Former Picnic (22 Spaces) Tennis Shelter Shelter Location 40 North Tower

Multi-Age Resurfaced Tennis Courts Playground Tree Nuvo Grove

Parking Large Commercial (26 Spaces) Basketball Hill top Strip Court Shade TreePlantings Kenwood Avenue Meridian Street Illinois Street Tarkington Park & Berm United Way Open Grass Field

Former Baseball Diamond

Double 8 Foods Shade Tree Plantings

39th Street

Commercial North United Node Methodist Church

TARKINGTON PARK | existing features Martin Luther King Tarkington Tower Community Center

40th Street

40 North Tower

Nuvo

Commercial Strip Kenwood Avenue Meridian Street Illinois Street United Tarkington Park Way

Double 8 Foods LEGEND

Hydrant 39th Street Water Line Sanitary Man Hole Sanitary Line

IPL Power or Light Pole North United Commercial IPL Power Easement Node Methodist Church North TARKINGTON PARK | existing utilities Martin Luther King Tarkington Tower Community Center

40th Street

40 North Tower

Nuvo Kenwood Avenue Meridian Street

Illinois Street Tarkington Park United Way

LEGEND

Ash

Sycamore

Red Oak

Double Sweet Gum

8 Foods Hackberry

Sugar Maple

39th Street White Pines White Spruce

Austrian Pine

Red Bud Commercial North United Node Methodist Church Crabapple North North TARKINGTON PARK | existing vegetation Martin Luther King Tarkington Tower Community Center

40th Street

736 40 North Tower 732 734

730

734

730

Nuvo

730 Kenwood Avenue 742 Meridian Street 732

Illinois Street 734 740 736 738 United Way

Tarkington Park

730

736 734

Double 734 8 Foods 732

39th Street

Commercial North United Node Methodist Church

TARKINGTON PARK | existing topograhy 1937 1956 1961 1976

1986 1995 2002 2010 TARKINGTON PARK | aerial photography

at 85% at 40% National National Average Average Education Attainment built before built 20+ 1969 90% of homes % % 19 % 81.1 36.4 % 10 to 79.7 33.2 High % % 9 School or GED Degree College 5 to 33 81

4 unit house 68% live in a one live Units per Building Housing Types at 46k at 33% National National Average Average At or Near Poverty %

$55.2

31.6 % detached 1 1 2 3 or 1 2 3

$54.1 33.1

$ attached $54.9 30.6 apartments are 2nd most common.

4 or less

77% live in units live Park.

60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% Percentage of Living within 1, 2, and 3 miles of Tarkington Tarkington of miles 3 and 2, 1, within Living of Percentage graduated high school. are single unit homes built before 1969. 20+ The majority of housing types near Tarkington Park Rental at 11% at 20% at 67% Vacant National National National Ownership Type Ownership % % % 20 % % 38.3 41.7 % 22 37.6 39.4 % % % K Home Owner R Renters A 20 P The study area is a split between rental and ownership

N 40.1 39.9 TO households. Further, 1 out of 3 live near poverty but 80% G IN K R RK A PA T N M TO O G R IN F K R S A U I T D M A O R R F E 3 mile S ithin of Ta IL w rk IU KINGTON PA es ing M R R t D TA K om on 3 A OM h es within 2 m P R R m m ile a F o ho o rk E S fr f L U m Ta I I ly ro m r D l f m ho es w ki M a ly fro ith n A u l y i g 2 R a ll n n a 1 to E u u L n n n m n I a n n ile P M t a a a n t t o r 1 e n n f k e e T p a s p p s s r k 0 0 i 1 5 n

5 0 7 g

9 1 9

$ $

Park a

r k Tarkington Expenditures Entertainment Cost of Entertainment Park spend slightly less on entertainment every year. Those who live closer to Tarkington Study area shown within 1, 2, and 3 mile radius from Tarkington Park. Tarkington from within 1, 2, and 3 mile radius shown area Study

demographics and housing

3.1%

3.2% 3.5% 85+ Work at Home

84 75 to 7.0%

22.1% 74 8.4%

65 to

% 8 8% 9.0% one car per household. to work on average own 0.8% 0. 64 55 to Those who drive or carpool Public Trans.

45 to 4.5%

35 to 3% 5.4%

1.3% 1.3 Resident Age 42.7% 34 7.3% or younger. 25 to Population Age 20.7% Bike or Walk 24 6% 6 15 to 7.6% 7.6

14 25.5% 12.6%

10 to 13.7% Transportation Modes to Work 9

5 to

The median age is 33.4 and nearly half the surrounding population is 35 14.0% 4 0 to Car Pool

who live within 2 or 3 miles from the park. 5%

25% 20% 15% 10% Percentage of Age within 1, 2, and 3 miles of Tarkington Park. Tarkington of miles 3 and 2, 1, within Age of Percentage

72.8% 69.3% 5

Those who live closer to Tarkington Park drive alone less, and % 66.2% black carpool and use alternative transportation types more than those 2.3 average under 3 67% 49 TARKINGTON PARK | Drive Alone houshold size of residents are of residents are Newton Booth Tarkington (July 29, 1869 – May 19, 1946)

Born in Indianapolis to a family of moderate wealth and with Small towns in Indiana were the setting for many of his important political connections, Booth Tarkington is best novels. Woodruff Place, the Indianapolis neighborhood remembered for his two Pulitzer Prize-winning novels, The where he once lived, was the inspiration for and . Having started . Designed to provide residents with a park-like writing plays and short stories at an early age, he continued his writing into adulthood, eventually becoming one of the most a gradual decline in the late 1910s as a result of increased popular American novelists of his time. His published works automobile use. Tarkington’s forward-thinking on the impact of include over 50 novels, plays, essays and short stories. Many automobiles upon society was expressed through the dialogue of his novels have been adapted for the stage and screen, of characters in the novel: including and , both originally published as , was also published in installments before eventually being reprinted and translated into six languages. Two of his novels were annual best-sellers nine times, and The (the second book of his trilogy) In addition to being an author and playwright, he was also an was named one of the 100 best English-language novels of the actor, illustrator, editor, art collector and Indiana legislator. He 20th century. viewed public service as a responsibility of gentlemen in his socioeconomic class; and, although he served only one term Through the trilogy (, , and ), Tarkington portrays the adult life. His political experiences were the basis for changes that occurred in the American social landscape , a collection of short stories. between the Civil War and World War I, a period of rapid industrialization. The declining fortune of the aristocratic He attended Purdue University and Princeton University, and Amberson family is contrasted with the “new money” of the was awarded honorary degrees from both institutions, as well industrial tycoons. as from Columbia University and several others. Buildings named in his honor include Indianapolis Public Elementary Believable characters and a focus on typical middle-class School #92, Purdue University’s Tarkington Hall, and the Booth families were the result of a shift in Tarkington’s writing from Tarkington Civic Theater in Indianapolis. romance to realism. His stories depicted people and society as they really were, often dealing with the foibles of the American !"' class system. The comical adventures of young Penrod he began losing his eyesight, he dictated to his secretary, and novels, were based on the antics of continued writing the rest of his life. Although he spent many Tarkington’s nephews and his own boyhood memories. of his later years at Seawood, his home in Kennebunkport, Maine, he maintained a home at 4270 N. Meridian Street in Indianapolis from 1923 until his death. His long-term residency there, and the fact he is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery, which lies on the southern boundary of the Butler-Tarkington area, "*" named in his honor. TARKINGTON PARK | Booth Tarkington EDWARD D. PIERRE (May 22, 1890-1971)

/<=>*??@QXYZ'*[* Valparaiso University, then transferred to Illinois Institute of Technology (formerly Armour Institute), where he earned a degree in architecture in 1915. After working two years in Detroit, he served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War I, then moved to Indianapolis where he practiced until his retirement.

The principles Pierre championed are perhaps most accurately described by his own words written in the “All American Resolution,” a program he developed in response to President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s challenge in @X\Y][= to “impress upon young people the progress that free men can make by intelligent planning;” to encourage “full participation by all Americans in an effort to erase slums and blight from the nation’s cities and country- side;” and to concentrate on “solving the big decisions which face every community, as well as those of the nation.” His personal efforts to meet these goals were apparent in the work he performed throughout his professional career as an architect, as well as in his civic involvement in public service activities. Throughout his life, he successfully integrated good design with good citizenship.

His architectural works include not only grand up-scale homes such as those in Meridian Kessler and Williams Creek Estates, but also small, affordable housing for lower-income families. During his partnership with George Wright (Pierre & Wright, 1925-1944), he designed several commercial and [] Bush Stadium, the Sears Roebuck building, the Old Trails Insurance building, and the elegant Indiana State Library and Historical Building. Many of the buildings Pierre & Wright designed are now landmarks listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The partnership was also responsible for initiating the now-traditional “Christmas on Monument Circle” – decorating the circle and monument with lights.

In 1944, the partnership with Wright was dissolved, and Pierre established his Pierre and Associates. From this time until his retirement, Pierre "[ the master plan for downtown development in 1953, and the Tarkington Park tennis shelter, built in 1957.

P thinkers in regard to the beauty of Indianapolis” (by former mayor, Richard Lugar), and “the greatest architect the state of Indiana ever produced and probably the greatest visionary architectural professional Indiana has ever known” (by an executive director of the Indiana Society of Architects).

TARKINGTON PARK | Edward Pierre The Design of Tarkington Park should incorporate these Major Themes....

Provide a unique urban park experience Celebrate Booth Tarkington & Edward Pierre ! "$'" Incorporate Public Art and Programs '''*+:'"'':<=":> Audiences, others ?'*@++ Q?

TARKINGTON PARK | what we heard..... Design features of Tarkington Park should include....

?: '] '! @!]< ?V+'!" VX" XY< @" Performance Space ]+$" V*:"' <' Pads, Interactive Water Elements + "Z[* "^] \$+ @" ]?! @_`'! +V z'+ >[*!]

TARKINGTON PARK | what we heard..... CONCEPT ONE MLK Community Center (Shared Parking for Large Events) @ Gateway & & Gateway Improved 40th Street Crossing Lawn Lawn Court Court Urban Dog Park Tennis Courts

Reshaped Mound & Art Playground On-Street Parking w/Bump Outs

Event Spray Cafe & Lawn Plaza Stage Meridian Street

Illinois Street Basketball

Shelter & Market Gateway & Gateway & 39th Street Improved X+!+ Improved Crossing Crossing }'\'"'' (Shared Parking for Large Events) CONCEPT ONE | site plan CONCEPT ONE| section CONCEPT ONE | circulation diagram CONCEPT ONE | shade CONCEPT ONE | public art Lawn Lawn Court Court

Tennis Court

Half Court Basketball

+X *$: and Frisbee

Basketball Courts

CONCEPT ONE | recreational sports Innovative playground Half Court Basketball

Spray Plaza

CONCEPT ONE | play areas Urban Dog Park

Climbing Wall Half Court Basketball Innovative Rain Gardens and playground Sitting Gradens Half Court Basketball Climbing Wall

Rain Gardens and Water Wall Sitting Gradens Spray Cafe & Events Lawn & Plaza Stage +XQ

Shaded Sitting Gardens

Basketball Courts

CONCEPT ONE | enlarged plan Cafe & Stage

CONCEPT ONE | shelters & shade structures CONCEPT ONE | cafe CONCEPT ONE | cafe & stage CONCEPT ONE | before Stop Light & Gateway

Shelters & Plaza Cafe & Stage Events Lawn Opened Views

Basketball Courts Spray Plaza Playground Dog Park Tennis Courts & Shelter

$]!Q

CONCEPT ONE| after CONCEPT ONE| playground CONCEPT TWO MLK Community Center (Shared Parking for Large Events) @ Gateway & & Gateway Improved 40th Street Crossing Picnic Area Picnic Area

Lawn Pillow Playground Tennis Courts

Shelter

Cafe & Spray Plaza Restrooms Lawn

On-Street Parking w/Bump Outs Sloped Lawn

Event Pavilion

Event Lawn Meridian Street

Basketball Illinois Street

Event Shade Structure & Plaza Gateway & Gateway & 39th Street Improved On-Street Parking & Market Space Improved Crossing Crossing North United Methodist Church (Shared Parking for Large Events) CONCEPT TWO| site plan CONCEPT TWO| section CONCEPT TWO| circulation diagram CONCEPT TWO| shade CONCEPT TWO | public art Tennis Court

Pick-up Football, Soccer and Frisbee, etc.

Basketball Courts

CONCEPT TWO | recreational sports Lawn Pillow Playground

Spray Plaza Lawn

CONCEPT TWO | play areas Tennis Courts Lawn Pillow Playground

Rain Gardens and Native Plantings

Spray Plaza

Lawn Sloped Lawn

Lawn Rain Gardens and Native Plantings

Basketball Courts

CONCEPT TWO| enlarged plan Cafe

Performance Pavillion

Shelter

Cafe and Restrooms Spray Plaza Shelter Event Lawn Event Pavillon

Basketball Courts Event Shade Structure Art

a destination urban park with a distinctive sense of place that celebrates the community’s diverse history and culture, attracts a wide variety of RUNDELL ERNSTBERGER users, and provides a distinctive park experience ASSOCIATES URBAN DESIGN + LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE | www.reasite.com Community Design Workshop | July 10 - 13, 2012