Louisville in the 1920s brimmed with energy and optimism. The horrors of the Great War were receding, and the economy, building projects, and the city boundaries all expanded. In 1922, nearly 12 square miles of suburban land to the east and south of Louisville (some 40,000 people) were added to the city’s tax rolls.
Developers and real estate speculators rushed in to create new housing subdivisions – and many a grand old 19th century home fell to the wrecking ball, and its field and pastures sprouting single family homes in popular new architectural styles. Occasionally, however, the existing house was spared – and today presents an incongruous profile among a sea of bungalows and Tudor Revival dwellings.
The Bullock-Clifton House, Louisville, Kentucky.
The Bullock-Clifton House, a Federal style house with late-19th century Italianate addition, is one such survivor. Its four-story tower rises fairly majestically over the landscape of charming early 20th century homes – I’d just photographed a sweet bungalow when I turned my head and wham! I was wholly unprepared for the effect of said tower and the accompanying bargeboard on the facade. Fortunately, I recovered quickly.
Detail of said tower and bargeboard.
William Bullock, a lawyer, legislator, and lobbyist for the Kentucky School for the Blind, purchased 79 acres on the Bardstown Pike in 1834. Construction on his house began shortly thereafter. The two-story, frame, central passage house was two rooms deep and had a hipped roof. It faced north, roughly toward the Bardstown Pike.
Bullock sold the property to a minister by the name of Francis Thornton in 1839. Only five years later, however, perhaps suffering the after-effects of the Panic of 1837, Thornton sold the property to William B. Clifton, a local businessman. Clifton in turn rented the house back to Thornton until 1869.
Section from an 1858 Map of Jefferson County, Kentucky, by G.T. Bergmann and Korff Brothers.
Although Clifton’s name is appended to the “official” name of the house (as it is listed in the National Register of Historic Places), he never lived in the house. His son, Charles H. Clifton, was a bit more hands-on when he inherited the property, and embarked on a major remodel of the house.
Clifton didn’t stint on expense. A portion of the original house was removed, and a new, 2.5-story house (not counting that distinctive tower!) was added on the east side – making the original house the rear of the new, expansive dwelling. Bay windows, bargeboard, hoodmolds, porches – the new addition may have encompassed just four rooms on each floor (and a central hall), but it boasted the latest architectural motifs and ornamentation.
The rear three bays (at right) are a portion of the original house. Circa 1982 photograph from the NRHP files.
At the same time, it wouldn’t do to have an 1830s look to even the rear of such a stylish new edifice, so the windows in the “old” part were lengthened to mirror the slim, elongated windows of the new addition.
Side elevation of house.
Perhaps Clifton was simply seeking to drive up the price of an eventual sale, as he sold the property to its last owner before its subdivision. John E. Norris could afford a price marked up for renovations – the wealthy stock trader was involved in the Bourbon Stockyards and was the president of the Ohio Falls Dye and Finish Works. Norris lived in the house until he died in his hammock in the pleasant 32-acre yard in 1918.
An ad for the estate of John E. Norris, from the September 8, 1918 edition of the Courier-Journal.
William F. Randolph, of the Wakefield-Davis Realty Company, one of Louisville’s most active firms in the 1920s, quickly bought the Bullock-Clifton House and its enticing 32 acres of land. Randolph exemplified the professionalization of the real estate business during the boom years of the 1920s, when he and other real estate professionals “laid out carefully planned subdivisions, sold lots to individual home builders or speculators, and used deed restrictions to control the quality, value, and style of construction.”[1]
Circa 1982 photograph of the Bullock-Clifton House from the NRHP files.
Thankfully, Randolph didn’t demolish the house so that he could maximize his number of building lots. It was bought in 1920 by a family that called it home for 57 years, and it stands today, the still-elegant former “manor house” (I borrowed this term from the NRHP nomination) for the surrounding neighborhood.
[1] Carl Kramer, A History of Eastern Louisville, 129. Unpublished manuscript on file at the Louisville-Metro Historic Preservation Office, 1978.
