I feel vaguely guilty for daydreaming about a historic building torn down over 40 years ago – a building I never saw – when there are so many languishing historic buildings across Kentucky that deserve attention. Yet in the course of researching something else (always the case!), I came across a photograph of this house, and haven’t been able to forget about it. The location of the house, and its unusual size and composition, all intrigued me. So I’ll shake my guilt off, and share the little bit I know about this early 19th century house that once stood at the northwest corner of Cleveland Road and US 60 (Winchester Road).
The Chiles House, circa 1979.
The 2.5-story frame house, documented by historians in 1979, appears to have been two piles deep – that is, two rooms deep. The surveyor speculated that it dated from around 1810. The dwelling, described as “massive,” was not in good shape at the time of the survey, and if you peer closely at the above photograph, you can see that the house appears a little worse for the wear. It was purported to be the dwelling of Richard Chiles, who gave his name to Chilesburg.
Undated photograph of the facade of the house. Image from the Clay Lancaster Slide Collection at the University of Kentucky.
The four bay wide house has a window/door/window/window arrangement of windows and doors on the first story of what I assume is the façade. This is not what I would expect to find on a Kentucky house from 1810 – while it is symmetrical (to a degree), the fenestration suggests an interior floor plan of two rooms side by side, otherwise known as a hall-parlor plan. While the first story windows appear elongated and narrow (a shape often seen in the late 19th century while the Italianate style was popular), the second story windows, with their 9/6 sash, retain a very Federal period appearance.
The circa 1803-1804 Dr. Ephraim McDowell House in Danville, Kentucky, displays a more typical fenestration and chimney placement for Kentucky houses in the early 19th century.
The two very large interior chimneys are another departure from what is typically seen on Central Kentucky houses of this time period. They sit behind the the ridegeline (and on the downslope) of the roof, rather than perpendicular with the ridgeline, as most chimneys from this period might (location at the gable ends for a house of this scale would be more common as well).
This makes me think that the chimneys were placed on the interior walls, parallel with the ridgeline of the roof, and heated two rooms, back to front. Oh, how I wish this house was still standing so I could see it in person! According to the 1979 survey, the house had been remodeled in 1902, perhaps due to a change in ownership.
A remodeling had already taken place after the Civil War, judging by the bracketed cornice and those long, narrow windows on the first floor facade.
The Garrard-Crittenden House in Frankfort, a timber frame with brick nogging building, is a double-pile side passage built around 1810. The placement of its main chimney is similar to the Chiles’ house.
Chilesburg, a crossroads community located at the intersection of what is now the Walnut Hill-Chilesburg Road (historically, just the Chilesburg Road) and the Winchester Pike, developed around a tavern operated by Richard Chiles. Located partly in the Brier Hill precinct, and partly in that of Athens, Chilesburg evolved from a “tavern stand” to a stop on the stage coach route between Lexington and Mt. Sterling.
In addition to the tavern, prior to the Civil War Chilesburg also had a blacksmith’s shop, general store, post office, and a shoemaker’s shop.[1] In 1831, the Lexington, Chilesburg, and Winchester Turnpike was granted a charter by the Kentucky legislature, and what had been a stage coach route (implicit with all the grievances such travel ensured) became a turnpike. Although Chilesburg would later move southwards after the Civil War, due to a new rail line, it was an important crossroads in the antebellum period.
Section of an 1861 map of Fayette County, Kentucky, showing the location of Chilesburg. The Chiles house would be the black square to the right of the number 98, at the northwest corner of the Cleveland Road and the Winchester Turnpike.
Was THIS house the tavern run by Richard Chiles?
I have no way of knowing the answer to that question, but it is an intriguing point to ponder. Use as a tavern may explain the scale of the building and some of the less common characteristics of the house.
The Chiles house up on wheels. Image from the May 13, 1977 issue of the Lexington Leader.
In 1977, the Richard Chiles House – all 95 tons of it – was lifted up on four hydraulic lifts and moved 75 feet back from Winchester Road. The owner at the time, Boyd Deaton, planned to “refurbish the house for sale.” I don’t know what happened after the house was moved, but the house was demolished between 1980 and 1981.
The movers of the house. Image from the May 13, 1977 issue of the Lexington Leader.
The once-rural environs of the Richard Chiles house have changed dramatically since its demolition – and with encroaching development along the corridor, very few people will recall that Winchester Road was once a turnpike road, and horse-drawn conveyances once bumped along its route – with houses like the Richard Chiles House keeping watch.
[1] William Henry Perrin, J. H. Battle and G. C. Kniffin. Kentucky: A History of the State. (Louisville, Kentucky: F. A. Battey and Company, 1888 History of Kentucky), 501.
My grandfather used to ride from his home at Avon on the Briar Hill Road to pick up his mail at Chilesburg. When he died in 1948, mail from his classmates at the University of Virginia came addressed to Chilesburg.
I’ve been in that house in the 1970’s. Court Gibson lived in the house and he was a friend of my father in law who went out there once or twice a week and ate dinner with Court. I had just gotten married in 1971 and Court seemed like an old man then. I think when he sold the property he moved to a dwelling on his son’s property in Avon till he died. I was only in the back of the house. There was an enclosed porch where the entrance to the kitchen was. I ventured into the living room which I don’t think Court used anymore. My husband said that when they widened US 60, the right of way went through the front of the house. Court was given money to take off the front of the house, but he had a lot of bills, and used the money to pay them off. There was a gas line put in and it went through the front porch. They just cut through the porch and laid the line and went on. He was a character. But I really didn’t want to stay in the house very long.
Wonderful piece — especially the sensitivity of the first paragraph.
When I saw the lead photo (especially after living in the Northeast for a good number of years), I thought, “That’s a New England house!”
KSR
I agree. Very reminiscent of a New England house. See Philip Walker House in East Providence, RI. Built c 1724
Sad story with questions that are intriguing. What do historians document if not a floor plan and details like those yu wonder about? Were the historians just volunteers from a local historical society group?
It depends on when and how the survey was carried out. The earliest surveys sometimes just had one photograph of a building, and they almost NEVER took photographs of outbuildings (barns, chicken houses, root cellars, and the like). I would have thought they would have gotten more pictures of this house because it was so unique and striking. Interior floor plans are only rarely completed, because there simply isn’t time (or the funds). Most of the buildings I document I never go inside, but I do try to get multiple photos from different angles.