Kentucky State Journal/American National Bank Building, Newport, Kentucky

There’s a striking, four-story brick building on the corner of West Fourth and York Streets in Newport, Kentucky. It’s easily the largest historic commercial building in the area (away from the new construction along the Ohio River), and easily visible, since it’s the only building left standing along York Street in this block. Built in 1886 as the home of the Kentucky State Journal, a weekly paper that started publishing in 1878, the building celebrates the late Victorian period with a mansard roof on its two primary elevations, and plenty of arches, corbelling, and other decorative details.

It’s not uncommon for mansard roofs, that hallmark of the Second Empire style in America, to only span one or two elevations of a building in Northern Kentucky. Is that a true mansard roof? Some readers of this blog might tear their hair out and scream “no!” but I think even the stylistic aping of the style deserves some recognition (it was a historic trend, after all – sort of like  reverse architectural mullet – party up front, practical at the rear)…so I am sticking with mansard.

The building housed the printing press and offices of the newspaper, as well as law offices and a lodge office. When the paper folded in the early 1890s, the German National Bank moved into the first floor, which is faced with stone.

There was a slight gap between the south wall of the building (seen above) and its now-vanished neighbors – and yes, this block was once densely built (see the Sanborn map below). Urban renewal (I assume) raised its nasty head in the 1960s and most of the other buildings came tumbling down.

The American National Bank moved in as the third main tenant of the building and remained there until the 1950s. The prime location – right across from the courthouse – meant that the space was ideal for lawyers, and the building became known in the late 20th century as the Lawyers’ Building. When I wandered up the building, drawn by its distinctive roofline from a coffee shop two blocks away, I saw the “For Lease Build to Suit” sign in the window, which caused me a twinge of concern.

Whether it qualifies as a mansard or a mansard mullet (I would be quite pleased if this term gained acceptance among architectural historians), this tremendous building is an asset to Newport, and I hope that it continues to stand for at least another 100 years.