Objects of Desire

By Sara Ann Corrigan
Photos By Bryan Leazenby

Eddie Erickson's historic home is a reflection of his lifelong passion for beautiful things

A good friend and frequent guest in Eddie Erickson's home in Evansville's Riverside Historic District notes the title of a book on the coffee table in his expansive library: "Opulent Restraint," she reads aloud. "That really does define what's going on in here, doesn't it?"

The opulent part is obvious to a first-time visitor. The subject of restraint might be harder to argue: Erickson has been a joyful – and sometimes aggressive – art and antiques collector for most of his life. A regular at estate auctions all over the Tri-State, he has been selling, as well as buying, for the better part of 30 years.

Since 1968, he has been using his considerable interior design skills to help clients select, and then incorporate, unique finds in their own homes.

He maintains a showroom, E. Erickson Design and Antiques, at 226 Main St. But a visitor to his residence can get a sense of what Erickson is all about: He has quite literally filled every nook and cranny in his 3,800 square-foot carriage house, on Oak Street between Southeast First Street and Southeast Riverside Drive, with beautiful things.

Mint julep cups? "I have about 75," Erickson says. Sets of fine china? "Ten. I think," he says with only a moment's hesitation. Prized Imari porcelain? A large drawer full.

Furniture and decorative objects of myriad design styles and ages crowd the floors, the horizontal surfaces, and most of the available wall space in Erickson's home. If there is restraint, it is limited to Erickson's gift for seeing how disparate objects can complement one another in close proximity without appearing like a hodgepodge of dust collectors.

There are stories attached to many of Erickson's things. His collection represents bits and pieces of Evansville's history and reflects some of the city's most prominent families from the past century.

"I have many beautiful gifts from dear friends," Erickson notes wistfully, adding he's only been remembered in a will once. A pair of small paintings on porcelain that hang in the master bedroom were left to him by the late Grace Guthrie, whose family owned Guthrie Office Supplies.

As with those paintings, Erickson's stories often include the name of the person from whom he has obtained a cherished item: The pair of Victorian-era Japanese Satsuma vases on the mantle in the living room, for instance, were obtained in a trade with Betty Boetticher, whose family helped launch the former Boetticher & Kellogg Co. wholesale hardware warehouse in Downtown Evansville in the 1860s. The vases had been converted into lamps and had once graced the elegant Riverside Drive home of the Viele family – among Evansville's wealthiest in the late 1800s.

The miniature cast iron toy soldiers – 341 of them – in and around a display case on the mantle in Erickson's library were a gift from a friend, Dr. William Ridgway, a retired ophthalmologist who donated Harlaxton Manor in Grantham, England, now site of Harlaxton College, to the University of Evansville in 1987.

The stunning Rookwood Pottery Co. vase in a second floor sitting room – signed by one of the internationally acclaimed company's artists, Ed Diers, – was obtained in a trade with Phyllis Igleheart, whose family started Igleheart Brothers milling company in 1856.

A pair of French engravings of monkeys, hanging in one of three stairwells, came from the late Evaline Karges, an interior designer with whom Erickson worked for many years. She was part of the Karges family that founded the Karges Furniture Co. in 1886.

Erickson is always in the mood to buy, and while he does sell much of what he obtains, he also has numerous acquisitions he would never part with, some dating back decades and others acquired within the last month. There is the Venetian mirror he bought when he was 18; it now hangs in his master bedroom.

Then there's the large set of fine china he picked up recently at an estate sale; it belonged to Betty Cook, whose husband, Fred, developed the exclusive Johnson Place neighborhood on Evansville's East Side.

Erickson fondly recalls the first collectible he ever bought – an art glass perfume bottle – when he was 14. "I paid a nickel for it. And I had to sell it when I was 18 to pay for a car I had wrecked. I got $75," he recalls.

Yet, when asked what his favorite possession is, Erickson does not hesitate. "It has to be this sterling silver trophy chalice," he says, reading from the engraved portion of the two-foot tall object: "Presented to F.J. Reitz on the occasion of his 80th birthday, July 7, 1921, by his fellow directors and officers of City National Bank of Evansville, Ind."

The engraved names of the gift givers seem to reach out through history: C.B. Enlow; A.F. Karges; S.W. Cook; David Ingle; A.L. Bernardin; Abe Strouse; C.F. Hartmetz; John H. Fendrich; Benjamin Bosse; John S. Hopkins; William Boetticher and D.H. Ortmeyer, among others – a who's who of Evansville's most influential leaders of the last century. (Here's a pop quiz: Name the businesses each of these men helped launch. Erickson would pass with flying colors.) "I have wanted this chalice for 25 years, and I finally had an opportunity to buy it last fall," he confesses. "When I brought it home it was full of sand – it had been used as an ash tray..."