Window Treatment Serving Sheridan Downtown Commercial Historic District

Local Window Treatment Experience in Sheridan Downtown Commercial Historic District

38 contributing buildings from about 1880 to 1939

This is commercial and civic stock, not houses. The National Register nomination counts 38 contributing buildings and 1 contributing structure, two and three stories, with ground floor storefronts and upper floor space serving as offices, apartments or storage rather than as detached dwellings. Lots are zero lot line, built to the Main Street sidewalk, so there's no setback and no residential price band published for the district. No single developer built it either. Individual merchants did, H.J. Thistlethwaite and the Stanley Brothers among them, over roughly sixty years, which is why an Italianate front sits next to a Romanesque Revival one instead of a repeated elevation.

Upper floor unit sizes for the district aren't published anywhere we could reach, so square footage downtown gets measured rather than quoted. What is sourced is the period, about 1880 to 1939, and the two styles the nomination names. That range puts these buildings between 87 and 146 years old. In practice the difference between the 1914 bank building and the 1886 opera house block shows up in head height and in how much reveal you get above the storefront. Sheridan's whole footprint is 2.14 square miles and this district is a few blocks of it, so the entire commercial inventory can be walked in an afternoon.

Storefront glass at grade, deep masonry reveals above

Figure 6 to 16 upper floor openings per block on the street elevation, plus a full width display bay at grade with a transom band over it. That count is inference from the sourced building types rather than a survey. The shapes are era specific and they change the order: round arched Romanesque Revival heads and segmental Italianate heads on the upper floors, tall narrow upper floor openings with heads well above 80 inches, and a storefront transom band that is its own separate treatment. The Thistlethwaite Building carried an opera house and a lodge room, so its upper floors have assembly room openings rather than domestic ones, and they sit well beyond reach from the floor.

Then there's the age problem. Masonry openings between 87 and 146 years old measure differently at head and sill, and nothing repeats across a facade, let alone between buildings that went up decades apart. We measure three points each way and record head shape per opening, because a round arched head is a different order line from a rectangle. At grade the constraint flips from squareness to depth: the display frame gives almost nothing to mount into, and a shade over a bay 10 feet wide or more is a long roller that needs a center support bracket and a tube sized for the span.

What we specify for a building on Main Street

A Main Street building downtown is two jobs at one address: a display level that sells with light, and upper floors that need privacy after dark. We price them separately because the products are different. Pricing comes from national ranges, since no published window treatment pricing for Sheridan exists: custom treatments $250 to $2,600 per window, shutters $175 to $800, motorized $300 to $1,500 per window installed, retractable awnings $1,000 to $6,000 installed. Custom fabrication runs 2 to 5 weeks. On residential work over $150 the Indiana Home Improvement Contract Act (IC 24-5-11) requires a written contract stating scope, dates and total price, and we're insured and insured on the commercial work as well.

Main Street between East 2nd and the old Monon line

The district runs along Main Street from East 2nd Street south to the Old Monon Railroad right of way, the physical trace of the line that arrived in 1882 and built the place. North Main and South Main carry the storefronts, and East 1st and East 2nd Streets cross them. The 1912 Carnegie library, the 1886 H.J. Thistlethwaite Building and the 1914 American State Bank building are the anchors, while Greek's Pizzeria and the Twin Kiss Drive-In are the addresses people actually give. The Monon Trail corridor follows the old right of way south toward Westfield. Sheridan Community Schools serves the district, its own corporation rather than Westfield Washington.

What the 2007 National Register listing controls on Main Street

On current evidence, nothing that touches window treatments. The district was listed on 20 September 2007 with 38 contributing buildings, and National Register listing by itself doesn't restrict a private owner spending private money. Indiana Landmarks states that owners can modify their historic properties as they wish unless federal or state money is involved. No Sheridan preservation commission with Certificate of Appropriateness authority was verified, so an awning over a Main Street storefront is a facade and signage question for the town rather than a preservation permit. The honest caveat: the town's own website wasn't successfully read during research, so treat that absence as unconfirmed and check with the town before anything goes on the exterior.

Window Treatment Services in Sheridan Downtown Commercial Historic District

Every service Sheridan Window Treatments offers across Sheridan is available to Sheridan Downtown Commercial Historic District homeowners.

Communities Close to Sheridan

Sheridan Downtown Commercial Historic District is one of several Sheridan communities we serve. We measure and install across Sheridan, Hamilton County, and surrounding areas.

Sheridan Downtown Commercial Historic District Window Treatment FAQ

Questions we hear most often from Sheridan Downtown Commercial Historic District homeowners.