Every historic building has a story to tell
Like so many people, I am saddened and horrified by the devastation in Eastern Kentucky brought on by unprecedented rainfall and flooding that hit the region July 26-28, 2022. If you are able to donate to help people whose lives have been completely torn apart, please, please do so! Kentucky Governor Beshear has established the (read more)
Categories: Kentucky history, Kentucky Places
Sometimes you are in the right place at the right time, and are blissfully oblivious of this fact. Last Tuesday, in my large straw hat, clutching two cameras, I made my way through downtown Greenville, Kentucky, the county seat of Muhlenberg County. I always take the long road home, visiting towns I don’t know, and (read more)
Categories: Demolition, Muhlenberg County
Tags: #greenvilleky, #kentuckyarchitecture, #muhlenbergcountyky, demolition
Salvisa, Kentucky is a tiny town of just over 100 residents in northern Mercer County, Kentucky, named for the Salt and Kentucky Rivers (the latter was originally known as the “Levisa”). Since the mid-20th century, school consolidation, new roads bypassing Main Street (and bisecting the town), and the decline of the farming economy and a (read more)
Categories: Historic Bank Buildings, Mercer County
Tags: #historicbanks, #kentuckyarchitecture, #salvisaky, banks
Oddly shaped and quirky bits of land formed from the intersection of rail lines and roads often lead to creative and distinctive buildings. The Fuller Building in Manhattan – better known as the Flatiron Building – is a good example. The 22-story triangular shaped building, designed by Daniel Burnham and Frederick Dinkelberg, is one of (read more)
The small town of Millersburg in Bourbon County, Kentucky, suffered a dreadful blow Wednesday afternoon as a fire destroyed a block of historic commercial buildings.* The densely built block of the west side of Main Street between West 4th and West 5th Streets, containing impressive late 19th century brick buildings and one wonderful 20th century (read more)
Category: Bourbon County
Louisville in the 1920s brimmed with energy and optimism. The horrors of the Great War were receding, and the economy, building projects, and the city boundaries all expanded. In 1922, nearly 12 square miles of suburban land to the east and south of Louisville (some 40,000 people) were added to the city’s tax rolls. Developers (read more)
Category: Louisville
Tags: #historicarchitecture, #historichouse, #kentuckyarchitecture, #louisvilleky, #oldhouses
Last September, I took the long way home and wandered though the middle of Hopkins County. One small rural community I passed through was Charleston, where in 1939 and 1940, the Works Progress Administration built a school. I saw no sign of this building as I drove north on Route 109, and my online search (read more)
Categories: Hopkins County, Works Progress Administration
Tags: #charlestonky, #historicschools, #kentuckyarchitecture, #kentuckyplaces, WPA
As longtime followers of this blog might know, I am an architectural historian, with a day job, a family, a farm, and I maintain this blog in my free time. My career allows me to combine three of my greatest passions: being outside (and gardening!), writing, and old buildings. I’m not interested in being a (read more)
Categories: Abandoned houses, Abandoned Kentucky, Warren County
Tags: #abandonedhouse, #kentuckyarchitecture, #warrencountyky
Spring/early summer is upon Kentucky, and this brief glorious period (before oppressive heat and humidity and worries about lack of rain sets in) coincides with my complete lack of attention to anything but the most pressing of matters – and my garden. My stack of library books gather cobwebs in the corner (I have a (read more)
Categories: Gardens, Kentucky Gardens
Tags: #garden, #gardenlife, #kentuckygarden, #kentuckygardener, #kentuckygardens, Gardening
My husband likes to regale me with stories of how he went on his first “date” at age 10 to the Kentucky Theatre. The parents conspired to make this happen and delivered the young couple to the doors of the movie house. I have no idea what the movie was, as I am usually busy (read more)
Categories: Fayette County, Theaters
Tags: #kentuckyarchitecture, #kentuckytheatre, #lexingtonky, #moviepalace, movies
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