Mansard Monday: The Late Shelburne-Cox House, Taylorsville, Kentucky

Of all of the hashtags that flit about social media, I think my favorite is “#MansardMonday.” The Second Empire architectural style, to which this hashtag most often refers, is not common in Kentucky, and it is typically a feast for the eyes of any historic architecture lover. Today is Monday, and one in which the social media platforms owned and operated by Facebook (Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and of course, Facebook) are down and not working (and #deletefacebook is trending).

I use Facebook and Instagram every day to share photos and stories about historic architecture and historic preservation – and I must admit to feeling…relieved that I don’t need to tend to those accounts. Social media, even in pursuit of sharing my love for Kentucky’s historic buildings and landscapes- just isn’t much fun anymore. So I will simply take a few minutes to write, and send out this #MansardMonday ode the “old-fashioned way.”

The facade of the Shelburne-Cox House in 1991. Image from the NRHP files, photograph by Carolyn Brooks.

Around 1840, the “best high-style antebellum house ever built” in Taylorsville was under construction for Mastin B. Shelburne, a farmer and one of the first EuroAmerican settlers to reside in the area. He served as the local postmaster for many years, as well as a Trustee for the young town, and a Justice of the Peace.

His two-story brick house embodied all that was fashionable and desirable for domestic architecture in Kentucky at the time. The five bay wide house rested on a limestone block foundation, with the facade laid in Flemish bond. The central entry door features a three-light transom, and sidelights separated from the panel door by fluted Doric columns. Originally, the dwelling had a typical side gable roof – the mansard roof would come later.

The front door, with a late-19th century wooden screen door. Circa 1991 photo from the NRHP files, photograph by Carolyn Brooks.

In 1853, the house was sold to another prominent local resident, Joseph B. Cox, the first president of the Bank of Taylorsville. The dwelling, only two blocks from the Courthouse and the heart of downtown Taylorsville, would have been the perfect setting for a man who identified himself as important and prosperous. The fortune’s of the house, one of the largest in town, changed in 1877, when the property was sold to the Spencer County Educational Association.

Interior of the house- the photographer is in the west front room on the first floor, looking toward the central hall. Circa 1991 photo from the NRHP files, photograph by Carolyn Brooks.

The house transitioned into a high school – first known as the Spencer Institute. It was at this time the mansard roof was added, perhaps in an attempt to create more room in the attic for boarding students. A public high school was not built in Taylorsville until 1911, so for over 30 years this building (with a series of different names, the last being “Mrs. Overstreet’s School) provided the only higher (higher than the 8th grade, that is) education available in the community.

Facing west in the first floor central hall. Circa 1991 photo from the NRHP files, photograph by Carolyn Brooks.

Beginning around 1923, the once-elegant house served as a doctor’s office and apartments. At the time it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1991, it had been vacant for almost a decade and was “deteriorating rapidly.”

Rear elevation of the house. Circa 1991 photo from the NRHP files, photograph by Carolyn Brooks.

That deterioration, noted 30 years ago, led to the eventual demolition of the house. What was once one of the most significant pieces of 19th century architecture in the small town of Taylorsville is now just a vacant lot.