Historic Houses of IU

Beautiful structures of antique brick and lumber, the Bryan House and the Woodburn House remain untarnished gems ingrained in the history of campus. These homes retain threads of IU’s grand old history, and many students don’t even notice them.

Bryan House
The stately yet unassuming William Lowe Bryan House retains a calm sanctity despite sitting on a knoll two-minutes away from Ballantine Hall . In 1921 , the Board of Trustees declared it would commission someone to build “a suitable house for the president of the University; that it should be built for the future as well as the present,” according to the Offices of Residences. By 1924, the house was complete.
It served not only as official home of the president, but as a center for entertainment of notable guests and dignitaries. In an old house guestbook, Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg wrote poem verses. Eleanor Roosevelt signed her name “with good wishes.” In 1955 , Bryan died . Three years later , Herman B Wells took up residence, maintaining the house for the rest of his presidency.

Wells updated the house to include new plumbing , wiring and an elevator . The renovated kitchen, though small, can cook meals for up to 50; the basement can cater tea for 1,000. In 1987 , IU President Thomas Ehrlich and his wife, Ellen , restored the house to its original appearance after Wells’ renovations, making it a living example of 1920s Bloomington life.

The Bryan House is a treasure trove of history. Above the stairwell hangs a chandelier once used in the Indiana Memorial Union. A Steinway Piano made in 1900 lounges serenely in the living room, on long-term loan from the Jacobs School of Music.

A brass plate sits atop the stairway’s newel post, the names of past IU president engraved in a smooth, spiraling pattern. Today, it is still maintained as one of the official offices of IU’s president. Th e Bryan House is the crown of a legacy, a vault of antiquity and verve, bursting with stories, history and life.

Woodburn House
Built in 1829 , the Woodburn House is one of the oldest houses in Bloomington. Its deep red brick, a striking sight along old College Avenue , harkens back to the days when lumber was more difficult to obtain than clay. Bought in 1855 by James Woodburn , his son, James A. Woodburn eventually came to own the house. Woodburn, a prominent political science professor of the late 1800 s and early 1900s widely known today for his namesake, Woodburn Hall, added modern renovations and opened the house frequently to students, faculty, friends and neighbors.

In 1924 Woodburn retired and in 1932 , rented the house out to none other than Herman B Wells, who was still a young instructor in the Department of Economics.
While the house’s lower levels captured life during the Woodburn era , the upper floor divulges memories and mementos of Wells both before and after he Wells both before and after he became president. Amongst the menagerie of Wells memorabilia hangs an old Santa Claus suit Wells famously wore in the winter season .

Vintage publications are spread across the large, mahogany desk . Close by lurks one pair of Wells’s old spectacles , evoking images of “comfortable productivity”, according to the Office of Residences . In 1941 , Woodburn donated the house to the university , which  maintains it today.

The house has woven its way into IU history. In 1872 , the Delta chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority was founded here . In 1946, the home served as temporary housing for many displaced students during a post-WWII housing crisis.

Still today, the house welcomes many receptions, dinner parties and meetings within its old walls. Such examples harken back the house’s original motto: “hospes genius domi” , which means “the guest is the spirit of the house .”