Just to the south of Butler University, Berkley Road is a 3 block-long pedestrian street. This was first pointed out to me by our own Kirsten Eamon-Shine after I posted about Washington Court last year. Yesterday, my wife, daughter, and I biked over there via the Canal Towpath to see it for ourselves.
The houses along the street are mostly rentals for college students, so many of them have been altered. Regardless of the condition of the housing stock, it has to be an a attractive option to walk out the front door and linger among mature street trees and a grassy knoll:
Here’s a shot I took as the sun was setting:
And the end result of a nice quiet street is a happy baby:
It’s definitely a cool setting. Unfortunately, many of those houses have been neglected by deadbeat landlords and it’s only getting worse now that Butler has mandated every student must live on campus for the first three years. It’s opened up the rental market around campus to some less than desirable neighbors. Some of the houses are still really nice, though. Hopefully the student population will grow enough under the new president to the point where those overpriced aparments by the Bowl can be filled and students can still live off campus.
Loved my 4 years there, but that apartment village was poorly planned.
A little bit more about the insanely expensive apartment village:
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http://thebutlercollegian.com/2011/02/staff-editorial-housing-trouble-juniors/
Interesting backstory there, thanks to both of you. I was unaware of Butler’s housing policy.
Cute baby. She could be in one of those pudding ads.
There is another one near 32nd and Washington Blvd. It is not quite as big…but it has some nice houses on it.
There’s also a somewhat similar setup on the 2900 block of Broadway, but it doesn’t have the benefit of being an actual vehicle free street it’s just extends from the street to the alley to the east, but was really just a way to fit six houses on what would have been four traditional 40-foot wide lots.
I lived on Berkley for a couple of years. Great location – so close to IMA, Central Canal, etc. A neighborhood group, block party or small festival might be good for that little strip as something to bind the group together – it did seem like a transient population at the time I was there.