Longtime South Bend candymaker's home to avoid demolition, move to historic district
SOUTH BEND — The longtime home of the Poledor family, who ran a popular candy store in downtown South Bend for 71 years, will avoid demolition and move to a vacant lot in a nearby historic neighborhood this June.
A plan to move The Poledor House, built around 1913 at 211 W. Marion St. just south of Memorial Hospital, two blocks west to a site in the Chapin Park Historic District earned the city of South Bend's approval Tuesday. The proposed move date is Thursday, June 20, according to an agreement passed by the Board of Public Works.
The home currently sits near the newly announced Madison Lifestyle District, the largest planned investment in downtown South Bend's history that's set to transform two city blocks south of the hospital into apartments and a hotel.
St. Clair Development, a local real estate firm, bought the Marion Street property for $200,000 in 2023, property records show. The company then donated the house to Indiana Landmarks, a nonprofit dedicated to historic preservation, to make way for future development, according to Todd Zeiger of Indiana Landmarks.
Members of the Poledor family had lived in the home for more than a century until Ted Poledor died in 2022 at age 90, Zeiger said. The family ran The Philadelphia, a downtown store with a soda fountain and lunch counter that sold ice cream, chocolate and candies from 1901 to 1972.
The building that housed the shop at 116 N. Michigan St. was torn down the next year. The site is now home to a DoubleTree by Hilton hotel.
The Poledor House will transform its new lot, at 402 W. Navarre St., from an unsightly parking lot into one of the city's best examples of American Craftsman architecture, Zeiger said. The home stands out on Marion Street because it's one of two left standing amid parking lots and vacant lawns.
"It's a survivor, and the relocation really puts it back into its context that's been lost over the last few decades," Zeiger said. "It survived primarily because the same family owned it ... It's a survivor, and this is a greater opportunity to put it back into its context."
The firm Wolfe House Movers plans to move the house on June 20 from 8 to 10 a.m., according to its agreement with the city. Portions of Marion Street and its intersection with Portage Avenue will close during that time.
The city forester has approved the removal of eight trees in the city-owned tree lawn along the route and near the new site on Navarre, the agreement shows. Zeiger said he expects fewer trees to be removed. Moved on hydraulic dollies, the home will weigh 200 tons and be 60 feet long, 40 feet wide, 37 feet tall.
Email South Bend Tribune city reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @jordantsmith09
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Historic South Bend home owned by candymaker to move
