Blossom Heath, the estate of Carl G. Fisher
| Dates: | 1911-1913 |
| Location: | Marian College, Cold Springs Road, Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Architect: | unknown |
| Alterations: | c.1928, 1956-1957 |
In between the Wheeler and Allison estates was the Fisher estate, called “Blossom Heath.” Carl G. Fisher was one of those really sensational individuals who changed the history of the United States. Fisher started out as a bicycle dealer in Indianapolis and then founded the Prest-O-Lite gas headlight company with James Allison. They started with $2,000 in 1904 and sold the company in 1913 for $9 million, a year before the technology was replaced by electric headlights. Carl Fisher used large publicity stunts to promote his projects and products. In 1908 he attached Stoddard-Dayton automobile to a hot air balloon and flew it over Indianapolis. Another time he pushed a car off a building and then drove it away to prove that it was durable.
Fisher and his friends James A. Allison, Frank H. Wheeler, and Arthur Newby decided to build a racetrack for testing automobiles in Indianapolis. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway opened in 1909, but crashes resulted in the death of five people and many more were injured as the asphalt track broke apart under the cars. Fisher funded repaving the track with brick and it reopened with the new Indianapolis International 500-mile Sweepstakes in 1910. Two years later the Indy 500 became the highest paying sporting event in the world with a first prize of $20,000.
Fisher then began plans for a transcontinental highway across the United States. The Lincoln Highway was to connect New York City and San Francisco—and be built with private funds. Fisher also initiated the construction of the Dixie Highway in connection with his other developments. He was responsible for the development of the interstate highway—and the projects were later finished by the U.S. Government, which proceeded to build a network of similar highways.
In 1912 Carl Fisher purchased a worthless peninsula near Miami, Florida, containing an avocado farm and a swamp. Fisher had the land built up and renamed the peninsula Miami Beach. He initially offered free parcels of land on the beachfront to prospective hotel-builders, but no one accepted. It was thought that Miami was too far for Americans to travel for vacation. The construction of the Dixie Highway helped make Florida more accessible to the rest of the United States. Fisher promoted Miami Beach with publicity stunts, including photographs former President Warren Harding playing golf with an elephant named Rosie as his caddy. When the real estate boom in Miami Beach came in the 1920s, Fisher was estimated to be worth $50-$100 million. He traded a portion of Fisher Island to his friend William K. Vanderbilt II in exchange for Vanderbilt’s yacht and $1. Fisher’s friend and neighbor from Indianapolis, James Allison, also built a house in Miami Beach and invested in the development.
He then took his profits and built Montauk Beach on Long Island, New York. It was intended to be the Miami Beach of the north, but its success was cut short by the stock market crash of 1929. The Great Depression brought on severe financial difficulties for Fisher and he ended up working as a promoter for some of his former business partners in Miami Beach.
Fisher’s estate in Indianapolis, “Blossom Heath,” was completed in 1913. The house included portions of an earlier house on the site and featured a 60-foot-long Living Room with a 6-foot-wide fireplace where logs burned all day. There were twelve bedrooms and a huge glass-enclosed sun porch. Fisher built a house for his mother on the southern part of the estate. The estate also included a five-car garage, an indoor swimming pool, a polo course, a stable, an indoor tennis court and gymnasium, a greenhouse, and extensive gardens. The house was featured in a newspaper article on February 2, 1913, which described its simple dignity. Unlike the new homes of his friends and neighbors Frank Wheeler and James Allison, Fisher built a large but simple house which was decorated primarily in yellow, his favorite color. It did not contain exotic woodwork, elaborate carvings, or extensive decoration. Most of the furniture was purchased in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Fisher preferred heavy masculine furniture.
In 1928, after the Fishers moved permanently to Miami Beach, the Fisher Estate in Indianapolis was leased to the Park School for Boys. The Park School later purchased the property. The Fisher mansion was damaged by fire in the 1950s and the rear portion of the house was demolished and replaced with a classroom wing during 1956-57. The property was sold to Marian College in the 1960s. The college combined the Wheeler, Fisher, and Allison estates into one large 110+ acre campus.
Today the Fisher house (Fisher Hall), garage (Kavanaugh Hall), pool house (Art Annex), stable (Padua Hall), Mrs. Fisher’s cottage (Civic Theatre Offices), and a small outbuilding remain on the Marian College campus.
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| The former sun porch and the sleeping porch (now enclosed) | View of the 60-foot-long Living Room wing |
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| The these doors faced the huge fireplace | The 1956-57 classroom addition is at right |
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| View of the Pool House (now Art Annex) | West facade of the pool house |
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| Note shed at right which was connected to the building c.1960s | The Garage |
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| Another view of the Garage | This was originally the stable for the polo horses |