Adam & Patti Toering
Adam
BA 2015, History
Historic Preservation Administrator
City of South Bend
South Bend, IN
Adam Toering advocates for the retention and rehabilitation of historic structures and architecture in northern Indiana where he serves as the Historic Preservation Administrator for the Historic Preservation Commission of South Bend and St. Joseph County. His work combines archival research and record keeping, architectural project review and oversight on protected structures, as well as coordinating and acting as a liaison between community stakeholders, nonprofits, and other government agencies to tackle complex problems like lead remediation and ailing municipal infrastructure. He has given lectures on local government archival research and community rehabilitation, as well as teaches workshops encouraging homeowners that they, too, can get-their-hands-dirty preserving their historic homes.
Adam helped create the 'Beer and Buildings' social group in South Bend to bring together historic homeowners to highlight the local 01preservation community and is an advisor to "South Bend TradeWorks", a 501c3 non-profit devoted to salvaging historic materials and promoting the much needed preservation trades. Prior to preservation work, Adam worked in the Marketing and Collections departments at "The History Museum" in South Bend, where he hosted afternoon teas in conjunction with the acclaimed "Dressing Downton" exhibit that toured the United States between 2016-2018. He and his wife Patti own three historic houses in South Bend's Howard Park neighborhood and are currently restoring the original windows and siding on their 1912 American Foursquare. Sadie the Goldendoodle supervises all projects and is never far away when Adam is twenty feet up on a ladder.
Patti
BA 2003, Interior Design
Project Leader
Kohler Company
South Bend, IN
Patti graduated from Purdue in 2003 with a degree in Interior Design, after which she decided to follow her passion for helping people improve their living spaces and studied Kitchen & Bath Design at Harrington College of Design in Chicago. While in Chicago she was able to gain experience both in design and luxury retail while working for Italian cabinet company, Valcucine & Restoration Hardware. While at Restoration Hardware Patti was approached to be on the team to open Kohler’s first company owned retail in Chicago’s Merchandise Mart. Her experience opening the Merchandise Mart location led to Patti being tapped to open & manage the company’s second retail store in a northern suburb of Chicago. These first Kohler store locations were the model for subsequent distributor run Kohler Signature Store locations across the US today.
In 2014 Patti again returned to RH at the flagship location in Indianapolis on the leadership team until being recruited to a design role for a local South Bend residential and commercial developer focused on the high-end market working on projects near the University of Notre Dame and in downtown South Bend. Wanting to go back to her passion for bathroom design Patti was introduced to her current position as Project Leader with Kohler overseeing the virtual bathroom design team. In her current position Patti can’t believe she is able to blend design, leadership, and innovation on a daily basis. When not working Patti and her husband spend time with their goldendoodle, Sadie, and are slowly renovating their historic homes in South Bend.