Vrydagh & Sons
By Nathan Hawkins
Farrington’s Grove has been the home of many illustrious Terre Hauteans over the past two centuries. Not many, though, have left such an enduring legacy as Josse A. Vrydagh (1833-1898), a prolific 19th-century architect.
Vrydagh was born on May 16, 1833 in Louvain, Belgium. He studied at the Louvain School of Arts beginning at age 14. In 1855, he joined a colony that intended to found a socialist eutopia in Dallas, Texas based on the philosophy of Charles Fourier. Unfortunately, this colony, named La Réunion, failed after little more than a year. However, it was during his time in Dallas that Vrydagh got his start in architecture, designing the city’s first building taller than three stories. Following La Réunion’s collapse, Vrydagh traveled throughout the South to study the institution of slavery. After a brief return to Europe, he was living in Decatur, IL, and then Cincinnati, OH, during the Civil War. In 1866, he moved to Terre Haute and opened his firm.
In 1875, Vrydagh built a house at 658 Farrington St. in Farrington’s Grove. Much about the home is distinct, from its unusual asymmetrical design to its elegant gable-ends and L-shaped rear extension. Vrydagh’s family resided there for the next few decades, and his firm worked out of the house as well. Thus, it is at 658 Farrington St. where the designs for several landmark buildings were born.
Vrydagh was one of the most prominent Terre Haute architects of the later Victorian era. Among his grandest accomplishments in Terre Haute were the original Indiana State Normal School building (1869), the Terre Haute Opera House (1870), and Wiley High School (1885). He also designed many commercial buildings and private residences in the city, though records are hard to come by. He received commissions in several other Indiana cities as well, notably Evansville.
Gaining renown outside of the Wabash Valley, Vrydagh submitted plans to a design competition for the building of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. In 1877, he received a 1000-dollar award from the US government for supplying the best plans for rebuilding the fire-damaged patent office building in Washington.
Unfortunately, most of Vrydagh’s work has been lost over the years. The old Normal School building and the opera house both burned down, and Wiley High School was demolished in 1971. Some buildings, however, still exist. Notable survivors include DePauw University’s East College building (1870), the Posey County Courthouse in Mt. Vernon (1874), and Terre Haute’s own Immanuel Lutheran Church (1885). Many Farrington’s Grove residents will be familiar with another of his works: the Ludovici House at 1000 S. 6th St, which celebrates its 150th year in 2023!
Vrydagh and the “Ring”
In the early 1870s, Vrydagh was commissioned to design a new courthouse for Vigo County. The original 1822 building was outdated, and the courts had moved in 1866 to a temporary facility at 3rd and Ohio Streets. Vrydagh’s proposal, at right, was known as the “Ring”. However, the $300,000 cost for the new courthouse was far higher than what most citizens wanted, and the project died amid the heated controversy that followed. Vrydagh later sued the county, demanding compensation for the effort he put into designing the unbuilt courthouse.
The “temporary” facility ended up serving for 22 years, until the current courthouse, designed by Cincinatti architect Samuel Hannaford, was completed in 1888.
Image from page 24 of the April 5, 1873 Saturday Evening Mail, accessed via Newspaper Archive.
The Vrydagh Sons
Two of Josse Vrydagh’s children, Robert and Jupiter, joined their father’s firm Vrydagh & Sons and became prominent architects following his death. The two brothers lived in adjacent houses on 8th St., just east of the Farrington’s Grove neighborhood boundary.
Jupiter was behind a number of Terre Haute landmarks. Works of his include St. Joseph’s Church, Greenwood Elementary School, and the White Block on Wabash Ave. He also designed Fairbanks Elementary School, and the Schultz Department Store at 4th and Wabash (both demolished). Ironically, the Schultz Department Store sat on the site formerly occupied by the Terre Haute Opera House, the work of Jupiter’s father.
In Farrington’s Grove, Jupiter Vrydagh designed the J. M. Tune house and the Charles Patton house. The Tune house was razed in 2022 after a period of neglect, but the Patton house, above, remains a proud contributor to the neighborhood with its colonial revival style and distinctive checkerboard brickwork.
Information sourced through research on Ancestry.com and Newspaper Archive databases at the Vigo County Public Library. See also: La Reunion, Greater Terre Haute & Vigo County, 658 Farrington