Every historic building has a story to tell
When I was a student at Centre College, I focused more on English literature (and some other less noble and spirited pursuits) than the landscape around me. But I remember a stark two-story brick house, near Duke’s Laundry on South Fourth Street (for $5, they would wash, dry, and fold an overflowing basket of laundry). (read more)
Categories: Architecture, Bluegrass, Boyle County, Historic Preservation, Kentucky, Kentucky architecture
Tags: Centre College, Danville Kentucky, demolition, Fisher-Byington House, Greek Revival in Danville, historic preservation, McClure-Barbee House, Old Centre, Robert Russel Jr., South Fourth Street
I am not an expert on ecclesiastical architecture, but you can’t study the history of Kentucky communities without encountering many a historic church building. The church is often the largest and most decorative building in a historic neighborhood, and I am partial to the interesting stylistic turns of early 20th century church buildings in our (read more)
My trips across Kentucky require no skill greater than the ability to drive, navigate, and gawk out the window, looking for a building with a story. Sometimes, it is a place with a story, like the small community of Arthurmabel in southern Magoffin County, Kentucky. The old store was what caught my eye – and (read more)
There is a small wooden chair in the front hall of my childhood home. Made of cherry or walnut, it is a nice little chair, but unremarkable except for its story. From an early age, I knew the chair traveled strapped to a horse through the Cumberland Gap in the 18th century. I fervently wanted (read more)
The story of an urban landscape, I think, is in part told by its roads. Historian John R. Stilgoe, in his treatise on the man-made American landscape, said that “16th century Europeans saw the road as not good or evil but as enticingly mysterious.”[1] I ascribe to that theory – and often explore both those (read more)
Last night, while having dinner with my parents, I groaned in mock despair, as the inevitability of genetics was driven home once again – there is no doubt whose daughter I am! Mannerisms, temperament – these traits can, sometimes, be traced back to our families of origin. And other things too, crop up in the (read more)
My bowling skills are near non-existent. At a nephew’s birthday party a few years ago, I demonstrated a spectacular lack of grace by falling face first onto the slippery bowling lane. Despite my public humiliation (my nephews found it incredibly amusing), I have a great appreciation for both bowling alleys and a very ancient sport. (read more)
Categories: Architecture, Historic Preservation, Kentucky architecture, Louisville
Tags: Bowling, Bowling Alleys, Butchtown, Louisville, St. Joseph Church, Vernon Club
Romance never goes out of style. Your views on the subject may change, depending on age and experience, but romance figures large in the human condition – and in architecture. The Romantic movement in America roughly spans the period from 1820 to 1880 – a time of great change in our young country. Even as (read more)
Too often, historic buildings are lost to the siren song of redevelopment, bulldozers sending dust and debris flying so quickly that it is hard to believe that generations of people used and occupied the structures so quickly tumbled to the ground. When I read in the paper this morning that the building at the corner (read more)
It’s been years since anxiety gripped me about getting lost in Kentucky. Back when I succumbed to those fears, it was my driving skills that should have caused nervousness, not the likelihood that a wrong turn would result in me getting hopelessly lost for days. County roads meander like a crop of morning glories across (read more)
Interested in a specific topic? Check out some popular categories below, or enter your search terms in the box.