Corner Commercial Buildings: The E.P. Thomas Grocery Store and House, Frankfort Avenue, Louisville, Kentucky

There’s nothing quite as striking as a historic, corner commercial building – one that catches the eye from multiple directions and enlivens its site with architectural detail and a balanced mass and scale. The Clifton Historic District is home to many outstanding historic buildings, but the E.P. Thomas Store and House, with its diagonal entry and fabulous turret, is especially distinctive. (The ghost sign on the east elevation is another reason to celebrate this great building.)

The side elevation (along Pope Street) and the facade (along Frankfort Avenue) of the E.P. Brown House and Store.

The 2.5 story brick building was constructed between 1899 and 1904 (best I can tell). In 1905, Edmond P. Thomas, a native of Henry County, Kentucky, was living here and operating a grocery store. Thomas later went into business as a developer/realtor (and restaurateur) so it is possible that he was responsible for the construction of this building.

The Thomas Store/House is a specific type within the realm of  corner commercial architecture, in that living space is located not just over the store, but within an attached, setback side section to the west of the main commercial space. The three bay wide portion of this section has a door/door/window fenestration pattern, with one door leading onto a staircase, and the second doorway leading into a first story space that may have been another commercial unit at one time, but is labeled as a “flat” (apartments) on the 1905 Sanborn.

Section of the 1905 Sanborn Fire Insurance map of Louisville, Kentucky, showing the building.

In January 1905, Thomas advertised a “new flat” for rent. The flat had three rooms, a bath, and furnished water, for $15 a month.

By 1913, it appears that Thomas had left the grocery business behind, but the building on its prime corner site, continued to be a busy spot.* One early tenant, H.G. Young, Druggist, appears to have still been in business there in the 1930s.

Circa 1938 photograph of Frankfort Avenue showing the Brown Store – then Young’s Pharmacy – on the left. Item Number ULPA CS_157879 in the Caufield & Shook Collection, University of Louisville Photographic Archives.

The open porch on the “Flat” side of the building appears to be enclosed in the 1938 image above; the enclosed porch was also present in 1984.

Façade of the Thomas Grocery and Flats.

Up until the decades between World War I and World War II, corner stores flourished, but a number of factors conspired to alter this neighborhood institution. Rising food costs, changes in transportation, and a growing trend toward consolidation in services all meant that the owners and operators of corner store establishments faced higher costs.

A 1927 view of the interior of Young’s Pharmacy. Item number ULPA CS_082250 in the Caufield & Shook Collection, University of Louisville Photographic Archives.

I don’t know about the individual trials of this building over the decades, and if it suffered during a time when many neighborhood businesses closed and building stood vacant. Currently, it looks fabulous and the owners deserve kudos for helping preserve such a significant corner building and keeping it as a functioning part of the neighborhood.  There’s a bar devoted to champagne and sparking wines in the former grocery/pharmacy section of the building, and it appears that the apartments on the upper story are renovated and in use. It’s a pleasure to pass by this building, and it’s a win for historic preservation in Louisville.