Every historic building has a story to tell
In the fall of 2020, mired in the uncertainty of the world and convinced we might never venture off the farm again, my daughter and I ordered some tulip bulbs. Tulips, while beautiful, have never been a mainstay of any of my gardens. They are too expensive to be treated like annuals, and yet that (read more)
Category: Kentucky Gardens
Tags: Gardening, Gardens, Kentucky gardener, tulips
It’s National Library Week and I feel the urge to ruminate on the public library, one of the most valuable institutions in this country. My love affair with the public library started very early, and fittingly it was with a historic house repurposed for use as a library. Once you walked in the front door, (read more)
Category: Montgomery County
Tags: #NationalLibraryWeek, libraries, library, public library
Over the years, I’ve learned that if I don’t stop when I see an intriguing building, I may never get the chance again. It’s been years since I regularly traveled south of Lexington, so two visits to Danville in less than a week provided a reacquaintance with a corridor that has grown – well, it’s (read more)
Category: Jessamine County
A Pandemic has a way of changing everything, even buildings. During the Influenza Pandemic of the early 20th century, the lack of adequate medical care in many Kentucky communities literally meant life or death for a large portion of the population. Members of the Elks Lodge in Middlesboro, Kentucky, occupants of a new and handsome (read more)
Categories: Bell County, Demolition
Tags: #kentuckyarchitecture, #middlesborohospital, #middlesboroky
Despite staggering changes over the years, East Main Street in Lexington retains some delightful early 20th century houses. One of the most picturesque is a 3.5-story brick and frame ode to the influence of the Shingle style. No matter the season, it brings a smile to my face, but especially as the world begins to (read more)
Category: Fayette County
The daffodils, yellow and bright against a gray February day, signaled to me to slow down. Then I saw the house, half hidden by trees, a small, frame, central passage dwelling on a stone foundation, with a brick chimney at either gable end. The weatherboard was still mostly white on the one-story house, but the (read more)
Categories: Abandoned houses, Abandoned Kentucky, Warren County
Tags: #abandonedhouse, #kentuckyarchitecture, #warrencountyky, Farmhouse
The loss of the 1890 census, any historian or genealogist will tell you, was devastating. When a fire broke out in the Commerce Building in Washington, DC in 1921, I don’t imagine many people thought about the results of that conflagration, and the destruction of the information gathered in the Eleventh Census. For me, trying (read more)
Categories: Kentucky architecture, Montgomery County
Tags: #shotgunhouse, Shotgun house
I took a stroll to get some bagels earlier this week, and might have also used the time to take some photographs of historic houses (shocking, I know). One of my favorite little oddities, at 384 Oldham Avenue, caught my eye as it has in the past. On a street of mostly T-plan cottages, this (read more)
Category: Fayette County
Last week, the historic United Brethren of Friendship Lodge Hall in Paris, Kentucky, suffered a partial collapse of its rear wall. The City of Paris Fire Department closed the road around the building and publicized the incident, but I am sure many people did not see beyond the decay of a long-neglected old building. It’s (read more)
The best example of Tudor Revival architecture I’ve seen recently wasn’t the typical 1930s house – but a former carriage house. The two-story brick structure has every embellishment one could wish for in this style of architecture: arches, faux half-timbering, mullioned windows, sharp gables and a steep roofline. When the Caulfield & Shook studio documented (read more)
Categories: Jefferson County, Louisville, Tudor Revival
Tags: #TudorTuesday, Amelia Place, Cherokee Triangle, Tudor Revival
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