Indiana Landmarks plans to move historic May House currently located on Memorial Hospital campus

Indiana Landmarks is planning to move a 92-year-old historic home located near Memorial Hospital of South Bend to the Chapin Park National Register District. The structure most recently served as the home to the Junior League of South Bend. South Bend-based Lykowski Construction will be performing the relocation.

This is the historic May House that is slated for relocation.

The move would start at 130 Park Lane and take this route: west on Park Lane, north on Lafayette Boulevard and west to Riverside Drive. After its planned relocation to the corner of Riverside Drive and Park Avenue, the preservation organization has plans to restore the house and make it available for sale.

These plans would move forward sometime in May pending South Bend city approvals.

Known as the Arthur and Elba May House, the 2,400-square-foot structure was designed in 1929 by architect Callix Miller and constructed by builder James Hanson. Miller designed the home in the Colonial Revival style of the times, and the home today remains nearly all original to its construction.

Arthur May, a local attorney with the firm Crabill, Crumpacker, and May, and his wife lived in the house for nearly 30 years. Arthur and Elba May inherited the property from Arthur’s aunt, Hannah Law Peck, who along with her husband, Elisha, raised Arthur following the death of his mother. Elisha Peck was a retired shoe store owner who had extensive real estate holdings. Peck sold property he owned west of Michigan Street in 1901 to the city of South Bend, and that land later became Leeper Park.

The house became locally designated by the South Bend and St. Joseph County Historic Preservation Commission in 2003. Recognizing its historic significance and architecture, Memorial Hospital, as the property owner, had granted its use in perpetuity to the Junior League and the structure became known as the Junior League House.

“Beacon Health System and Memorial Hospital are looking forward to working with Indiana Landmarks to preserve this important piece of South Bend history,” said Shane Galloway, director of properties at Beacon.

Find out more about Indiana Landmarks at www.indianalandmarks.org. For more information about historic preservation, please contact Todd Zeiger, Director, Northern Regional Office, Indiana Landmarks, at 574-232-4534 or tzeiger@indianalandmarks.org.