Every historic building has a story to tell
The ache that engulfs me when a historic building is needlessly demolished pales in comparison to the visceral pain of seeing farmland chopped, desecrated, and turned into to miles of pavement. Lexington provides the perfect backdrop to examine this transition, but occasionally a vestige of those long-ago pastures and fields can be found along a busy road (read more)
Categories: Bluegrass, Fayette County, Historic architecture, Historic Preservation, Kentucky, Kentucky architecture, Lexington, Lexington Kentucky History
Tags: Bluegrass Conservancy, C.F. McMeekin, Clays Mill Road, Country Estates of the Bluegrass, Fayette Alliance, land conservation, PDR, purchase of development rights, race horses, rural growth, thoroughbreds, Urban service boundary
It’s nearly impossible to stay abreast of all of the changes to Lexington’s historic neighborhoods – demolitions, new construction, and remodelings that transform (for better or worse) the exterior visage of a building – small, minute changes occur everyday that can slowly enhance or erode the character of a place. Dramatic change sometimes happens in (read more)
Change, I think, is one of the most difficult things to accept in life, yet it is a constant force (just like death and taxes). Change moves and works on the landscape around us like the tide, ceaselessly lapping and ever so slightly shifting, until one day – everything is completely different. In March 2015, (read more)
Categories: Architecture, Bluegrass, Historic Preservation, Kentucky, Kentucky architecture, Lexington, Lexington neighborhoods
Tags: American Foursquare, black rot, burley tobacco, demolition, Dr. Valleau, Man of the Year in Kentucky Agriculture, planning and development, plant pathology, Rodes Addition, South Limestone, University of Kentucky, William Dorney Valleau
One of the things I love most about England is the sense of timelessness you get when hiking somewhere like the Lake District. The landscape seems so permanent and stable, subject only to grazing sheep and the forces of nature. I feel the opposite in the tiny world that forms most of my Monday through (read more)
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)
As a child coming to Lexington, I was always fascinated by the buildings I saw in the distance, even more so then the lovely historic homes that lined the roadway. North Broadway/Paris Pike was our main route into town most days, and back on Loudon Avenue was a large, brick angled structure with signs painted (read more)
Categories: Bluegrass, Farming, Fayette County, Kentucky architecture, Lexington
Tags: E.B. Drake, Night-Riders, tobacco, warehouse
I imagine the phrase “revolutionary architecture” conjures up a myriad of differing images for people – or maybe just a blank stare. Architects willing to experiment with materials, form, and site have transformed both our cities and domestic spaces, but a progressive design is not always so palatable to its neighbors, or indeed, the occupants (read more)
Memories have a funny way of not staying put. Earlier this week, there were some sly bumper stickers waiting for me on my front porch, poking fun at the yawning hole in downtown Lexington that is Centre Pointe. My life philosophy typically follows the “laugh rather than cry” method, and laugh I did. But rumination (read more)
Interested in a specific topic? Check out some popular categories below, or enter your search terms in the box.