Posted: Friday, August 19, 2016

A press conference will be held on Monday, August 22 at 1:00 p.m. to announce details of the Peters-Margedant house’s move through town to the University of Evansville campus. The press conference will be held at the Melvin Peterson Gallery on the corner of Lincoln and Weinbach Avenues across from the University of Evansville campus.

UE president Tom Kazee, local architect Adam Green, UE associate professor of art history Heidi Strobel, and Friends of the Peters-Margedant House representative James Renne will be available for comment following the press conference.

Tours of the home’s future site on the UE campus will also be available and refreshments will be provided.

The unique Peters-Margedant House is just 552 square feet and currently sits at 1506 East Indiana Street in Evansville. The home was built in 1934 by William Wesley “Wes” Peters, Frank Lloyd Wright's primary assistant. An Indiana native and Benjamin Bosse High School graduate who studied at both Evansville College and MIT, Peters was accepted as Frank Lloyd Wright's first apprentice at Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin in 1932. Peters would go on to work with Wright for the remainder of his career.

The small house was designed by Peters and displays many of the principles of Usonian style, Wright's architectural effort at creating affordable, efficiently designed homes for working families and the common man. The Peters-Margedant House showcases many specific Usonian characteristics and remains one of the style's first examples, marrying affordability, accessibility, function, and efficiency of space - all qualities highly valued in the current Small House Movement of today.

A grant from Indiana Landmarks saved the Peters-Margedant house from demolition and additional funds from the Vanderburgh County Community Foundation and the Friends of the Peters-Margedant House group have made it possible to move the house to the University of Evansville’s campus where it will serve as a learning facility for both students and the community. Timeline and details of the move from Indiana Street through town to the UE campus will be announced at the press conference.

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