Every historic building has a story to tell
As is often my practice when confronted with issues outside my control (Covid-19, the weather, potty-training a recalcitrant toddler), I turn either to a good book or to musings about historic homes. Today I am fixing my thoughts on this 1911 design of a quintessentially quixotic dwelling from Sears, Roebuck and Co. The two-story house (read more)
In today’s visual media, a photograph can be everything. In my world of historic architecture, a photograph may be all that remains of a building – the only tangible evidence left of its existence, and by extension, the lives of the people that resided within its walls. Some of the most beautiful historic photographs I (read more)
Category: Historic architecture
Tags: CWA, HABS, Historic American Buildings Survey, New Deal, WPA
When I was in graduate school, I wrote a very bad paper about the changes wrought on one block of East Main Street. Every time I walk past what was once known as the “Ben Snyder Block,” I cringe at the memory of my poor research skills, lack of engagement with the assignment, and procrastination (read more)
Categories: Fayette County, Historic architecture
Tags: #adaptivereuse, #artdeco, #kentuckyarchitecture, #lexingtonky
This not a post about Miley Cyrus and her 2013 hit – although there are some similarities between the breaking of a relationship and the fracturing of a neighborhood. Demolitions, neglect, absentee landlords – each element chips away at the structure and fabric of a community, and as buildings fall, a piece of that community (read more)
I’ve enjoyed a lifelong love affair with mail-order catalogs. The arrival of the mail meant a 1/4 mile hike down the gravel driveway to the big metal mailbox (an enticing target for mailbox baseball players), and back up the hill again holding the treasure (secured by at least two large rubber bands) of three daily (read more)
Dr. Zirl Palmer’s Pharmacy at the corner of East Fifth and Chestnut Streets, most recently the home of the Catholic Action Center, is a building significant for the role it played in segregated Lexington, and for its design – but neither attribute will save it from demolition. Lexington doesn’t have the best record for valuing (read more)
Architecture is more than just shelter – and to those of us who love historic buildings – architecture is more than just ornament. Architecture is imbued with symbolism by the people that create and shape it, and historic buildings serve as artifacts of the time in which they were built. In that way, historic buildings represent (read more)
Years before a farm on the northern side of Lexington, Kentucky, was billed as the University of Kentucky’s “premier business location in the heart of the world-famous Kentucky Bluegrass Region,” it was a storied horse farm “where thoroughbred Derby winners were raised for many years.” In between these two seemingly disparate roles, Coldstream Farm served the (read more)
What makes place so important to some people? And what is it about some places in Kentucky that draw former residents home, again and again? Learning about the connection between people and communities, people and place is one of the perks of my job, and one that I will be exercising soon during an oral (read more)
Categories: Architecture, Harlan County, Historic architecture, Kentucky architecture, Kentucky history, Oral History
Tags: Appalachia, Coal mining, Lynch, oral history
The rusticated concrete blocks arrived at Helena Junction on the train from Carlise, Kentucky. Church members transported the blocks in their own horse-drawn wagons to the site of their new church. The stained glass windows – in various sizes and shapes – were made in Paris, Kentucky. I hope the sun was out the day (read more)
Interested in a specific topic? Check out some popular categories below, or enter your search terms in the box.