I celebrate women’s history almost every day, first and foremost as a woman and a historian. The notion of containing the recognition of women and their role in our lives and communities to just one month seems stifling and almost silly, but I do recognize the immense value of Women’s History Month in educating the larger public.
Today’s post is timely on two fronts: a 19th century developer and real estate investor, who happened to be a woman, and the precarious fate of one of the houses she left behind, the only one of its kind remaining in Paris, Kentucky. This brick double house on Pleasant Street has not been treated kindly over the last few decades, and I fear that neglect may prove to be its demise – for it doesn’t appear that the owners are willing to sell the property to someone who would restore and utilize the building.
Façade of the one remaining double house on Pleasant Street.
It was the house, of course, that first intrigued me, long before I knew anything about its origins. The façade with paired windows topped by pedimented hoodmolds, and coyly peeking out at either side, a sumptuous delight of twin porches, celebrations of late 19th century architectural influences. The façade (Pleasant Street elevation) has no doors, for the entries are on the sides of the house.
This “double house” (the historic appellation for a duplex or multi-family house) was one of two investment properties built by Mary Catherine Williams Duncan – the one at the corner of Pleasant Street and Duncan Avenue was demolished sometime between 2004 and 2006. Sadly, survey forms were not required by the State Historic Preservation Office for properties within historic districts at that time, and I could not locate any photographs of the other double house.
Section of the 1890 Sanborn Fire Insurance map of Paris, Kentucky. The blue arrow denotes the extant building; its twin is on the left side of it.
But what I did find was evidence of a woman born and reared in a very traditional manner for early 19th century Kentucky “gentry,” but also a woman who grew into the circumstances life wrought, and left her mark on the landscape – at a time when most women were encouraged (and expected) to tend only to hearth and home.
At age 18, Mary Catherine Williams married James Scott Duncan in 1843. Six years later, at the age of 27, her husband was dead of cholera, leaving her a widow with four daughters under the age of six, and a considerable fortune. Until her girls (Kate, Winnie, Hannah, and Annie) were grown and married, she lived with her father-in-law, Major Jerry (or “Jerre”) Duncan on his farm on Stoner Creek just outside of Paris.
Major Jerry Duncan’s residence. Section of the 1861 Topographical Map of the Counties of Bourbon, Fayette, Clark, Jessamine and Woodford, Kentucky, by E.A. and G.W. Hewitt.
By 1868, Major Duncan “one of the wealthiest citizens” of Bourbon County, who “commenced life as a poor boy,” retired from farming and moved into town.* In 1870, the “city residence” of the Duncan family contained the Major, Mary Catherine, and all four of her daughters (as well the spouses of the three married girls). Four servants are also listed as part of the household in the 1870 census. (Please note: I have no idea whether the protagonist of my story went by “Mary” or “Mary Catherine,” but as a double first-name advocate, I shall refer to her as the latter!_
Following the death of her father-in-law in 1876, Mary Catherine downsized her household by ensuring that each of her married daughters had a newly built, fashionable house constructed on Duncan Avenue (previously known as Elm Street, but renamed in the Major’s honor in July 1878).** The city council discussed widening Duncan Avenue that summer, and planting shade trees on “one of the most beautiful portions” of Paris.**
A detail of one of the side porches.
While her son-in-laws were executors of the late Major’s estate, and listed his property – including the house where Mary Catherine had lived – for sale in December 1876 – Mary Catherine somehow ended up with the “most desirable, most convenient and best located residence in Paris.” But rather than to continue to live in the 16 room house, she rented the house to Mrs. John Gass, who ran it as private boarding house.
Mary Catherine moved in with her daughter, Winnie Duncan Bell, and commenced to travel. In 1877, she and her eldest daughter, Kate Duncan Chambers, spent the summer in Colorado. I think if I had essentially supported three son-in-laws for a number of years, I would travel too.
But in November 1886, a fire in the coal house spread and consumed the Gass boarding house.
Side elevation and facade.
Only a few weeks after the fire, Mary Catherine announced that she would built six residences on the lot formerly occupied by the burned house. I tend to get excited when I see notices of any building project in historic newspapers, but to find one that includes a woman ostensibly directing the project – that is beyond rare.
By January 1887, the anticipated number of buildings decreased to four, but on January 11, the Bourbon News announced that ” Mrs. Mary Duncan has contracted with Mr. John H. Erion, of Bracken County, to erect four handsome residences on her lot on Pleasant Street. One will be a large double residence, and has been engaged by Mrs. John Gass, for a boarding house. The other three are to be double-story bricks, and have been rented – with a dozen disappointed applicants for same.”***
Side and rear elevation.
Based on the Sanborn maps, it looks as though only two of the planned multi-family buildings were constructed; the other two lots fronting on Duncan Avenue that were part of the large lot Mary Catherine owned, appear to have been sold as just land parcels.
The double houses that were constructed were nice and desirable. Tenants procured a set of rooms; in the case of the remaining double house, it appears to have been divided into half equally for its prosperous residents. In August 1890, Mrs. W. S. Buckner, of Cane Ridge, announced her intentions to move into the city, and “occupy one-half of Mrs. Mary Duncan’s houses.”
Another view of the facade.
I would love to be able to draw a floor plan of the house, and figure out how it might have been divided up, both in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and also later, as large sets of rooms were were divided up into apartments. In the second half of the 20th century, there were approximately 6-7 apartments in the house.
Every time I go to Paris, I made sure to photograph this house and make sure it still stands. Neighbors of the double house cite its decline for the past 40 years – which flummoxes me. Not withstanding its attractions to a lover of architectural history, it is conveniently located, well-built structure – even allowing for deferred maintenance, you can’t build houses like this today. I’d be hard-pressed to think of a Kentucky community that doesn’t need more affordable apartments. And, it is a contributing resource in a National Register of Historic Places district – historic tax credits could be utilized for a renovation.****
There are so many positive preservation projects in Paris -and I am certain there are folks who would take this restoration on if the house could be sold for a reasonable and fair price. So why on earth is Mary Catherine’s double house being allowed to decay when it could be such an asset once again to the surrounding neighborhood?
*The Kentuckian-Citizen, December 16, 1868, page 3.
**The Kentuckian-Citizen, July 31, 1878, page 3.
***The Bourbon News, January 11, 1887, page 1.
****The NRHP nomination erroneously cites this as the “Taylor Double House, ” but that is understandable since one of Mary Catherine’s daughters, Hannah, married into the Taylor family, and inherited one of the double houses upon her mother’s death.
