One architectural marvel sat within another.
Inside the Rotunda at the Indiana Statehouse, visitors and officials gathered around a display covered with a black cloth. Nearby, Greenwood artist Jimmy Landers watched patiently.
He had come to see one of his most impressive works unveiled to the public. For nearly a year, he worked on a scaled-down replica of the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site — painstaking gluing on more than 48,000 tiny bricks, adding 5,000 slate shingles, attaching ornate Italianate architectural flourishes and wiring it with electricity.
Now, the work of art had found a home.
“It’s a privilege to have it here at the (Statehouse) because it is a historic home, and my intention in the future is to build historic homes only,” he said.
Landers’ most recent creation has been put on temporary display at the Indiana Statehouse, offering a unique look at the home of Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd President of the United States, in miniature scale. He joined officials from the Harrison site, young Indiana leaders and a re-enactor of President Harrison in a ribbon cutting and dedication Wednesday.
The structure, which is 6 feet long, 3 feet wide and 4 feet tall, will be on display at the Rotunda through the end of August. Afterward, it will move to other prominent locations around Indianapolis. With such unique artistry on display, it was important to share it with all Hoosiers, said Charles Hyde, president and CEO of the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site.
“We’re so proud of the amazing work Jimmy has done, and how it’s a testament to our shared American story and certainly to America’s Hoosier president,” he said.
Seeing the miniature building up close, it’s hard to believe how realistic it is to the Harrison home. The site is the former home of Harrison, as well as his family, before and after becoming president. Harrison and wife Caroline Scott Harrison began construction on their 10,000 square-foot Italianate home 150 years ago this year in what is now the Old Northside neighborhood of Indianapolis from 1874-1875.
It was from that property in 1888 that Harrison ran his famous “front porch campaign” for the American presidency, giving 80 speeches and addressing more than 300,000 people from across the country.
Landers’ miniature captures the look, feel and importance of the building.
“You could say the structure before you is 150 years in the making,” Hyde said during Wednesday’s unveiling.
Both structures feature over 40 windows, eight columns lining the front porch, four chimneys and real slate roofs. The original home was built of 380,552 bricks, whereas the replica required 48,000.
The marvel of Landers’ creation is in the detail. He ordered specially made miniature bricks from Stacey’s Miniature Masonry, a company in England he had worked with in the past.
All of the dimensions of the home are true to the actual presidential site. The columned, wrap-around porch features 400 hand-lathed balusters and is decorated with red, white and blue bunting. Tiny light fixtures and uplighting on the exterior replicate the appearance of the Harrison house in real life. A friend 3D-printed a tiny historical marker to replicate the sign mounted outside the house in Indianapolis.
Nearly 5,000 pieces of trim had to be painted and glued to the structure.
“This is probably the most challenging piece I’ve ever built,” Landers said.
Throughout his career, Landers has built a reputation as one of the foremost creators of miniatures in the world. He has crafted incredibly lifelike models for years, ranging from a Victorian doll house to a 1909 general store to an 1891 Tudor home, with a wrap-around veranda.
His entrance into the world of miniatures world started in 2006. A longtime regional manager for an international environmental corporation, the Greenwood resident had retired and was looking for new adventures and projects to fill his time. His wife had a longstanding hobby of collecting dollhouses, and she asked him to create one for her.
Since that time, Landers has expanded his focus into different architectural styles for more than 25 finished pieces.
Last year, Landers was offered the opportunity to create a reproduction of the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site by organizers from the Museum of Miniature Houses in Carmel. The museum contacted him about working on a centerpiece project for their planned new addition. Unfortunately, plans for the expansion fell apart while Landers was in the middle of construction.
“I didn’t expect that; there was a time when I didn’t know where it was going to go. It was in limbo,” Landers said.
Earlier this year, he searched for a place to display the replica that would have the room to show it. The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site stepped forth to help.
“That led us to Jimmy, and connecting to find prominent places where it could be shared,” Hyde said.
With this being the 150th anniversary of the start of the home’s construction, local officials from the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site thought it was fitting to use the miniature to spotlight its role in American history.
The site is “a structure that has local importance and national significance for its role in sharing American stories,” Hyde said.
Following its appearance at the Statehouse, the replica will be on display at the Indianapolis International Airport, Landers said. Plans are in place to showcase it in other areas around the region as well.
“This is the first of several prominent places that it will be featured. We’ll be announcing some of those other places later this summer,” Hyde said.
