Sometimes, work gets in the way of life – and definitely intrudes upon my blog writing time. Given my lack of mental acuity at this time, I thought I would share some details about three historic properties I recently nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. These nominations were approved on Monday, December 17, 2018, by the Kentucky Historic Preservation Review Board, and now journey to Washington, DC to be reviewed by the National Park Service.
The Ready-Twyman House in Versailles, Kentucky.
The Ready-Twyman House is a Greek revival dwelling updated with Gothic Revival elements. The house represents a common trend in Kentucky county-seat towns – the remodeling of an existing dwelling with modern and stylish details. While the Gothic Revival style appears to have taken hold in Versailles in the years after the Civil War, it was typically new construction that reflected the popular style. The Ready-Twyman House illustrates the evolution of a dwelling over several decades.
The side and rear elevations of the Ready-Twyman House.
This dwelling, based on property transfers (and the figures attached to those transfers), was likely built by Isham Ready, who purchased the property for $400 in 1832. Prior to that, the parcel had sold for $2,000- indicating improvements on the parcel that for some reason (fire? demolition?) were no longer in place by 1832. In the 1840 Census, Ready was listed as being engaged in manufacture and trade. There were seven white residents in his household, and four enslaved African American workers.
Detail of the entryway of the Ready-Twyman House.
Ready owned the house until 1844, when he sold it to Peter Yaker, a farmer hailing from Switzerland, for $2,500. It appears that Ready rebuilt or added onto an existing structure (most likely the rear room of the ell) during his tenure.
The Ready-Twyman House on the 1886 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map.
Yaker apparently lived on his farm just south of the town limits – and south of the nominated property. In a May 26, 1949 article in The Woodford Sun, Yaker was characterized as a “man of violent temper” and “possessed of a cruel disposition.” These qualities, apparently, led to Yaker’s murder on July 30, 1853, by three of his enslaved workers.
The property stayed in the Yaker family until 1859, when it was sold to Dr. Thornel W. Twyman. Dr. Twyman, a member of a prominent local family, retained the house until 1907. It is likely that Tywman updated the house with Gothic Revival detailing shortly after purchasing the property.
The Wright-Evans House in Clark County, Kentucky.
The Wright-Evans House in Clark County, Kentucky, is also a property that underwent change and transformation, but along a very different path. The dwelling began as a 1.5 story stone hall-parlor house, built in the second decade of the 19th century by Thomas Wright, a native of Staunton, Virginia. His farm of just under 500 acres included a mix of livestock and grain. After Wright’s death, the property passed to his son-in-law, Thornton Alpheus Lewis.
The floor plan of the original stone house. It rests on a raised basement, and the upper level is heated.
After Lewis’ tenure from 1855-1867, the farm and house was sold to John Evans. His son hired a local architect, John W. Crone, who practiced in Winchester, Kentucky, to design a brick house in front of and around the original stone structure.
Original blueprints for the 19225-26 addition to Thomas Wright’s stone house.
The Wright-Evans House spans two centuries of agricultural attainment within a known and familiar vocabulary of domestic architecture. The original stone house remained an important and functioning part of the rhythms of the 20th century household. The dwelling displays the comfortable conventions in which both owner and builder operated, and tradition-bound building and design choices that spans two radically different worlds.
Architect John W. Crone and his wife.
The Pettit Building is not only hours away from the previous two properties (in Paducah, Kentucky), but is an urban corner commercial building.
The Pettit Building in Paducah, Kentucky.
The building was constructed for Edward Jerome Pettit, a local pharmacist, between the years 1908-1910. Once part of a trio of corner commercial buildings, this building is the only one still standing. The Pettit Building is locally significant as a corner commercial building with an attached residential quarter.
Detail of the facade.
The corner store is distinctive – even those wholly unaccustomed to describing historic architecture can relate to the building and deduce its former function. Children and the elderly could safely make their way to a corner store. The corner store was not only a place of independent storekeepers and the capitalist dream but also a place for a friendly visit and some neighborhood gossip.
The corner commercial store linked the dwellings and the street and the residents together in a recognizable pattern in the days before one-way streets turned thoroughfares into speedways, and big box stores and online shopping opportunities rendered brick and mortar stores obsolete.
Original tile floor inside the Pettit Building.
There were 20 corner neighborhood drugstores identified in Paducah in 1906 – this excludes the downtown shopping district, since that is a different type of commercial building – only seven of those buildings still stand.
Almost all had residential space on the upper floor, or at the rear of the store – but some, like the Pettit Building, had a residential portion attached to the building that read as a separate, though harmonious entity, with a pronounced setback that allowed for a small front yard. It was clear that one side of the building was business and one side was home.
The entry hall to the residential side of the Pettit Building.
The owners of the Pettit Building want to use the historic tax credit to revitalize the building and help enhance the surrounding neighborhood. This is one of the most important aspects of listing in the National Register of Historic Places – it provides the opportunity for citizens to invest in their community, and preserve historic structures.
And as for me – I get to travel and research and learn about the lives of people very far removed from me in time – but also learn about the dreams of the people who keep these buildings functioning and standing. Even as the year winds to the close and I gasp for breath, I am grateful that this is my avocation – and know I am lucky to love what I do.
J-R, I love the Pettit house staircase and the tile floor! I hope it’s going to be restored. The old pharmacy building (corner) reminds me so much of one that used to be in Lexington on the corner of S. Limestone and Virginia Avenue. I think it bit the dust when UK went through and destroyed everything for new buildings! God, I hate progress! Check out another on the corner of Cramer and Walton in Lexington.
Good job Janie-Rice. Congratulations!
A fascinating article and congratulations to you for having the building you nominated accepted in Kentucky. Ive been watching a show called Restoration Man. In Great Britain they have a list of significant and endangered buildings. Maybe we need something like that here.