An Immigrant’s Success: David Ades and the Ades-Lexington Dry Goods Building

Ades Dry Goods Building – Lexington, Ky.

At age 13, David Ades left his native Russian homeland ca. 1895. Born in Kovno in what is modern-day Lithuania, Ades arrived penniless at the port of Baltimore, Maryland but was destined to join his brother in Lexington, Kentucky. Brother Simon owned a wholesale dry goods business and employed his younger brother for $2/day and board.

Signature of David Ades

David thrived. In addition to a full work day, the young Ades attended night school taking instruction from names like Breckinridge, Hunt, Clay, and Gov. Morrow. By the spring of 1908, Simon had announced that he as leaving Lexington for Louisville; within months, it was known that David would succeed his brother in Lexington’s wholesale dry goods market.

Within a year, David Ades had relocated the family business from Short Street to the 400 block of West Main and had broken ground on a four story building at 237-239 East Main Street. Occupation began in August 1910. According to Kentucky History (1922), business growth surpassed all “sanguine expectations.”

Despite his business successes, personal tragedy struck in 1911. Sarah Fox, his wife originally of Baltimore, birthed their first child. Premature and stillborn.  This must have caused much grief and dispair, but it did not appear to shake Ades’ resolve. He and Sarah went on to have other children and he continued to grow his dry goods empire. David Ades also was quite involved in the community, with Masonry, the Odd Fellows, and the Elks. Absent from the laundry list of community accolades in Kentucky History is any mention of Ades having been a founding member of the Ohavay Zion Synagogue or his important role as a leader in Lexington’s Jewish community in the early twentieth century. He also served on the planning commission and later, as a city commissioner of Lexington.

In 1925, Ades acquired a controlling interest in the Lexington Dry Goods Building – and with it, put his name on 249 West Main Street, our subject building. By year end, Ades had consolidated his wholesale dry goods businesses under the name Ades-Lexington Dry Goods Company.

Lexington Dry Goods Building
from the Asa Chinn Collection (KDL)

The original 249 West Main Street – the Ades Dry Goods Building or the Lexington Dry Goods Building – is a 5 story, 5 bay brick commercial building in the Chicago School style. A 3 bay addition was constructed in in 1920. After David Ades died in 1965, the Ades family ultimately closed the dry goods business (1977) as it was out of fashion and converted the building to storage. In 1987, the structure was sold to be redeveloped as a mixed-use residential/ commercial structure.

Ultimately, the residential units were removed and today it is the home of Portofino’s, the Thomas & King Company, and Cornett Integrated Marketing. The redevelopment was completed under the direction of Omni Architects, and representatives of Omni, Thomas & King, and Cornett were all available for questions and to discuss the building during our January 2013 Blue Grass Trust deTour of the building. Each of the occupants, was passionate about being downtown and found terrific benefit in being in a historic structure that had been transformed for today’s use.

Thomas & King Mail Room

In the Thomas & King mail room, as well as other first floor areas, the original tin-stamped ceilings remain visible while the high ceilings make what is normally a tight fitting area seem spacious.

The building rests upon a raised basement with a stone facing above the sidewalk. Above the total eight bays of the first floor are glass transoms which rest below a “masonry band in a simplified running dog motif across the entire façade at the base of the second story windows.” Architects of the original structure were Herman L. Rowe and Arthur Giannini, the former being the “dean of Lexington’s late 19th century architects” and the latter being his partner in later years.

Additional pictures can be found on flickr.

Sources: ancestry.com, Bricks+Mortar, Downtown Building Inventory, Fayette PVA, KDL, Kentucky History, NRHP.


The Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation hosts a monthly deTour for young professionals (and the young-at-heart). The group meets on the first Wednesday of each month. Our March 2013 gathering will be at the Federal Building on Barr Street. Join us there at 6:30 p.m.; learn more details on Facebook! You can see Kaintuckeean write-ups on previous deTours by clicking here.

This Just Happened, a weekly roundup

The last farm on Lexington’s Nicholasville Road is on its way out. Owned by the same family since the Revolutionary War, the Fritz Farm is being turned into a shopping center. A barn on the site dates to 1892. [WKYT]

Proposal for Town Branch Creek (courtesy: Herald-Leader)

SCAPE/Landscape Architecture was selected from finalists to transform downtown Lexington’s Town Branch Creek which flows underneath the busy streets. The Town Branch is Lexington’s historic core, the city having been designed around its banks. The proposal “envisions a linear collection of pocket parks, rain gardens, pools and fountains.” [BizLex]

Disco Kroger is going to be demolished. And replaced with a new, bigger, better Kroger. With parking on the roof. Oh my! [WKYT]

The state legislature is fast-tracking a bill to allow universities to issue bonds for capital improvement projects, including significant enhancements to UK’s Gatton College of Business and Commonwealth Stadium. [cn|2]

The old Centenary Methodist Church is another fine example of Lexington’s ecclesiastical architecture

The old Centenary Methodist Church, ca. 1979
Photo: National Register file

former Centenary Methodist Church – Lexington, Ky.

Local historic preservationists recognize the year 1955. It was in that year that the John Wesley Hunt residence was razed and the Blue Grass Trust was formed. Nearby, a local church congregation made another decision which ultimately led toward historic preservation. Today, a step toward preservation is once again needed at 154 North Broadway. It is an important step, as the old church – along with others in the immediate area – comprise what is described in the National Register as “an outstanding group of downtown ecclesiastical structures.”

Organized in 1866, the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church dedicated its sanctuary at 154 North Broadway on July 24, 1870. Designed by Cincinnatus Shryock, the Venetian Gothic church cost to $32,000 to erect. Other descriptions of the style include High Victorian Gothic and Northern Gothic. Labels aside, the sanctuary’s exterior is bounded with sloped buttresses. The belfry actually shrinks as it reaches toward the heavens on account of the acute gables that impose great character for the octagonal bell tower.

Sanctuary

As is often the case with churches, the historic newspaper archives at the public library prove quite informative. A March 1889 Sunday evening service was dismissed early “because of furnace smoking out audience.” The phraseology indicates that churchgoers to the church were accustomed to some smokiness, but that this Sunday it was too much to bare. Today, any smoke beyond incense would be cause to bring in the fire department!

Of course, this smoke could have caused damage which required repairs for, in either event, the church underwent “elegent improvements on the interior” later in the month with “lovely frescoe work.”

Another renovation in 1908 saw the installation of thirteen large windows – “five on each side and three in front [each] of beautiful art design add[ing] both to the interior and exterior beauty of the building.” These windows were installed at a cost of $1,000.

Charred timbers above the sanctuary.
Photo: Laryn Karsnitz

In 1923, a fire caused $15,000 damage to the structure evidence of which is visible from the belfry. Of course, the visible damage could also have been caused by other more recent fires. The author recalls firefighters responding to a fire above the chapel in recent years.

Oh, yes. 1955. In February 1955, “the fate of Lexington’s 90-year-old Centenary Methodist Church … will be decided within the next two months. … The church expects to either relocate, remodel its present building, or consolidate.” We know not what a remodel plan would have looked like, but it would be likely to have caused serious disruption to the Venetian Gothic structure standing at the northeast corner of Broadway and Church streets.

The congregation decided to consolidate with another church, Trinity Methodist Church with the consolidated church assuming the Centenary name but using the Trinity facilities on South Limestone (since demolished, Centenary relocated again in 1992 to Tates Creek Road). The merger was completed in May 1955 and the old Centenary Church was sold in October 1957 for $29,025.

The following year, another church – Everybody’s Church – purchased the old Centenary Methodist for $30,000. Everybody’s Church had previously worshipped at the downtown Ben Ali Theater since being founded in 1927 by the former minister of Maxwell Street Presbyterian, Rev. J. Archer Gray in an attempt to “reach ‘the man of the street.'” By 1998, Everybody’s Church had fallen on hard times and shuttered with the historic structure being purchased by Broadway Christian Church in 2003 for $25,000.

Today, the historic Centenary Methodist Church is again for sale. The listing and our recent deTour with the Blue Grass Trust revealed “incredibly preserved geometric style stained glass, flat level hardwood floors, [and] very high ceilings.” It is listed for $680,000 and the listing includes certain preservation-minded easements.

During the deTour (December 2012), the pipes of the organ were exercised once again filling this once-holy space. The space above the sanctuary reveals some charred timber evidencing the fires described above. But the space also reveals the building’s strength with some beams being appx. 18″ thick. And it A spacious, open chapel on the second floor behind the main church is ripe with potential.

Explore additional pictures of this beautiful Shryock-designed church by clicking here.

Sources: Downtown Building Inventory; Fayette PVA, Jim McKeighen, local.lexpublib.org, NRHP (Northside N.A.)


The Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation hosts a monthly deTour for young professionals (and the young-at-heart). The group meets on the first Wednesday of each month. Our February gathering will be at the Oldham House on South Limestone Street with an afterHour at Joe Bologna’s. Join us there at 6:30 p.m.; learn more details on Facebook! You can see Kaintuckeean write-ups on previous deTours by clicking here.

This Just Happened

Louis Bickett is profiled by Cheryl Truman in a terrific piece on both he and his work – photographing Lexington. Spectacular photography on his facebook page. [Herald Leader]

A national group committed to exploring and sharing the importance of urban sacred spaces, particularly as attendance and funds decline, visited Covington and Lexington. The president of Partners for Sacred Places believed that the “philosophy of sacred places and their potential impact on a local economy can apply to Covington as well.” [River City News]

Boone County‘s library is using QR codes around town to link people to the history of the building, memorial, or historic site at which they are looking. Great, low-budget use of technology. [N. Ky. Enquirer]

The Madison County Historical Society is seeking to renovate and reuse two historic structures located on Richmond’s Courthouse Square. Both buildings are listed in the National Regsiter [change.org]

Disco Kroger (Euclid Ave., Lexington) is finally prepared to announce its plans for expansion. Interested in knowing what’s going on? Aylesford Neighborhood Association meeting, Feb. 5 at 7:00 p.m., Woodland Christian Church. [AceWeekly]

Martin County is feeling the love. Lovely and Beauty (those are towns for the uninitiated) have been selected by the U.S. Postal Service for special Valentine’s Day postmarks. Suck that, Santa Claus, Indiana. [WKYT]

Two Churches and a School Added to the National Register

St. James AME Church – Danville, Ky.
Source: NRHP File, Ky. Heritage Council.

On January 23, 2013, the National Park Service approved three Kentucky sites for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. Two of the properties are historic African-American churches in Danville while the third is a historically black high school in Hopkinsville that has been closed since the 1980s.

Danville’s Second Street Christian Church and St. James AME Church remain as the town’s only African American congregations meeting in their historic buildings. Previously, the area of Danville was predominately African-American, but 1970-era urban renewal decimated the neighborhood identity.

St. James AME, 124 E. Walnut St., was organized shortly after the Civil War and the present building was completed in 1882 in the Gothic Revival style. Alterations through 1922, including the loss of a bell tower, largely changed the style of the structure to one characterized as Colonial Revival. It is the oldest continuously used African American church in Danville. (NRHP File 12001198, courtesy Ky. Heritage Council).

Second Street Christian Church – Danville, Ky.
Source: NRHP File, Ky. Heritage Council.

The Second Street Christian Church, 228 S. 2nd St., was erected in 1908 out of the newly popular concrete block. This inexpensive building material could be given texture through the use of stamped block faces which were generally available, including through the Sears Roebuck catalogue. With the exception of the obviously filled-in arched window (done in the 1960s), the exterior of the church remains largely unchanged. Originally constructed as the New Mission Baptist Church, the building was purchased by the Colored Christian Church (now the Second Street Christian Church) in 1927. (NRHP File 12001197, courtesy Ky. Heritage Council).

Attucks High School – Hopkinsville, Ky.
Source: Crispus Attucks Comm. Assoc.

Hopkinsville’s first African American school, the Attucks High School, 712 1st St., was built in 1906. In 1957, Christian County schools began the integration process which resulted in the conversion of this building to an integrated middle school in 1967. Since 1988, it has been vacant though an effort is underway to convert the historic structure into a community center. The materials of the two-story brick school were reclaimed from the Clay Street School and reformed into the present largely Italian Renaissance style structure at a cost of $17,640. The architect was John T. Waller and construction was completed by the Forbes Manufacturing Company  (NRHP File 12001199, courtesy Ky. Heritage Council).

Lexington Children’s Theatre Ended a 60 Year Nomadic Existence with West Short Street Home

The Main Stage at Lexington Children’s Theatre – Lexington, Ky.

In 1978, the Sleepy Head House furniture store expended $350,000 on renovating a warehouse at 418 West Short Street. Sleepy Head House billed itself as “The South’s most complete Factor-Furniture Store.”  Years later, the facility closed as consumer trends didn’t bring consumers downtown to buy mattresses.

Another group acquired the old warehouse  after their “nearly 60 years of nomadic existence that scattered its operation among the Opera House, ArtsPlace, and a warehouse off Winchester Road.” The Lexington Children’s Theatre purchased the old Sleepy Head House in 1996 and immediately launched a $3 million capital campaign to create the theatrical complex the organization required.

The Lexington Children’s Theatre was not a new game in town. It’s 60 year “nomadic existence” began in 1938 to “present educational entertainment for children and to provide the opportunity for creative expression.” The following spring, the theatre’s first production, Noah’s Flood, hit the stage.

So by 1998, LCT had moved into its permanent home and in September of that year opened its new stage with The Riddling Child. It remains an incredible part of central Kentucky’s arts scene and introduces the stage to children throughout the region. During our visit, costume and set designers (all done in-house) were busy at work preparing for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

The four street addresses (416, 420, 422, 426 W. Short) consist of two 3-story and two 2-story multi-bay brick buildings. The properties are carved out from the surrounding Victorian Square indoor mall. While some question has arisen to Victorian Square’s future, the LCT owns its own structures and its future is wholly independent.

Check out the other photos from our visit to the Lexington Children’s Theatre in the following slideshow. Photos are also available on flickr.

Sources: Bricks+Mortar, Lex. Children’s Theatre, Lex. H-L


The Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation hosts a monthly deTour for young professionals (and the young-at-heart). The group meets on the first Wednesday of each month. Our February gathering will be at the Oldham House on South Limestone Street. Join us there at 6:30 p.m.; learn more details on Facebook! You can see Kaintuckeean write-ups on previous deTours by clicking here.

This Just Happened

The Ashland Park Neighborhood in Lexington has received approval for an H-1 zoning overlay by the city council. The neighborhood was designed by the Olmstead Brothers from land originally part of the Henry Clay Estate (Ashland). Design through completion took place from 1904 to 1930 and the neighborhood was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. [Ace Weekly]

Two historic properties on Constitution Street are being restored for commercial/office space by developer Chad Needham. He has previously restored several buildings in the North Lime/Sixth Street area, including those housing Arcadium and North Lime Coffee and Donuts. [Tom Eblen/H-L]

On Monday, President Barack Obama was sworn into office for a second term. Four years ago, I got to attend the inaugural parade where Kentucky’s parade representative was a Corvette driven by the Warren County Sheriff’s Office. This year, Kentucky was well represented by the Letcher County Central High School marching band. Awesome! [HLN]

Lexington’s St. Peter Claver Catholic Church is a beautiful facility constructed in the 1940s. Ground has broken on a new education wing and the mid-century sanctuary is set to be demolished as part of the second phase. No word on the ca. 1887 parish center. [Merlene Davis/H-L]

Lexington’s Central Fire Station

Lexington Central Fire Station – Lexington, Ky.

On East Third Street, just east of Martin Luther King Blvd, is Lexington’s Central Fire Station. It opened in 1929 and replaced an earlier central fire house on Short Street. According to a January 1926 article in the Lexington Leader, the old Short Street fire station was “not only unsightly and dilapidated, but a ‘menace to life and property.'” A good case for new construction.

So the city hired J. Graham Miller to design the Central Fire Station which was constructed by the Skinner Brothers and the Perry Lumber Company. It remains Lexington’s most active fire house nearly 85 years later.

The  ‘Lil Kaintuckeean and his grandmother

During our BGT deTour of the station house, we explored the living areas, the boiler room, offices, and kitchens of the fire house where our first responders spend so much of their days and nights.

One notable feature of this fire station is that there are four working fire poles. To demonstrate, one of the firefighters went down a pole while those assembled watched. We all wanted to join in, but only my four year old was able to slide down the firehouse pole.

At least to the extent his grandmother could lift him! It was a fun time for even the youngest among the crowd!

After the firehouse, we explored the nearby Old Episcopal Burying Grounds as well as the London Ferrell Community Garden. Needless to say, the ‘Lil Kaintuckeean kept me from listening and photographing.


The Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation hosts a monthly deTour for young professionals (and the young-at-heart); the Central Fire Station was our deTour in Oct. 2012. The group meets on the first Wednesday of each month. Our February gathering will be at the Oldham House on South Limestone Street. Join us there at 6:30 p.m.; learn more details on Facebook! You can see Kaintuckeean write-ups on previous deTours by clicking here.

What Kicks Ass? Kentucky Does.

Remember that attempted Super Bowl ad a couple years ago? The failed $3.5 fundraiser to promote Kentucky brought a lot of attention to Kentucky for Kentucky, an group of brilliant marketing gurus who love our Commonwealth.

Their latest effort? Realizing that “Unbridled Spirit” just isn’t cutting it, they’ve recommended to the Kentucky Tourism Cabinet a new tagline: “Kentucky Kicks Ass.” Awesome, right? Officials didn’t think so:

We certainly would not sanction or endorse that phraseology. These guys are Kentucky natives and they love the state. But they have a different constituency. Which is no one.

Ouch. No one? We’ll see. Which one do you think represents Kentucky? Unbridled Spirit or Kentucky Kicks Ass. To help you decide, watch the video after the jump. And this evening at Lexington Beerworks, check out the Kentucky for Kentucky Pop-up Shop where you can support this great new branding effort!


Kentucky Kicks Ass – Rebranding Kentucky from Kentucky for Kentucky on Vimeo.

South Elkhorn: The Little Church with the Red Doors

South Elkhorn Christian Church – Lexington, Ky.

Under Moses, the Israelites left Egypt for the Wilderness to ultimately arrive at the “promised land” – one where they could practice their faith freely. History has a funny way of repeating itself, usually noted through the metaphors of a historian. George W. Ranck, in his 1891 Account of the Baptist Exodus from Virginia to Kentucky in 1781 employs a host of metaphors to describe the emotions felt by the old congregation of the Upper Spottsylvania (Baptist) Church in September 1781. With the use of a quote attributed to Daniel Boone, the churchgoers found their own “promised land” as “heaven must be a Kentucky of a place.”

Only a few decades ago, South Elkhorn Christian Church was a country church a few miles from Lexington. Today, it is located between several of southwest Lexington’s suburban enclaves. Surely, it is this transforming location that has allowed South Elkhorn to continue to grow in numbers while other “country churches” have either shrunk or closed. In 1973, church leadership purchased about ten acres of land adjacent to their two acre tract providing significant opportunities to grow for the congregation.

As noted above, the church originated as a Baptist congregation and it remained so until the early 1830s when a theological divide in the church surfaced leaving the remaining congregation as part of the ‘new’ Restoration Movement.

While other congregations in central Kentucky were not so lucky, South Elkhorn seemed to remain largely intact during the Civil War. According to Pope’s history, the church’s minutes “make no mention at all of the [Civil War] or its issues.” Silence is bliss?

After the war, the South Elkhorn Christian Church demolished its old meeting house and a new brick rectangular church was built at a cost of $4,000. This 1870 structure features two front doors opening into a high ceilinged room with a raised platform on the opposite end. Originally, the center pews were divided with a wooden barrier (women and children on one side, men on the other), but this division was removed in 1958. Baptisms (by immersion in both the Baptist and Restoration traditions) were originally conducted in the nearby creek until a baptismal was installed under the floor of the raised platform.

The names of members and ministers alike are recognizable to those familiar with local history. Elijah Craig. J.W. McGarvey. Alexander Campbell. Others I recognize, but identity confirmation is only by conjecture. Col. Meade. John Curd.

The history of South Elkhorn is incredibly rich, which lends its hand to the excellent histories for which it is the central topic. Ministers Ward Russell (1933) and Richard Pope (1983) both penned a history of the church, and the current minister, Mickey Anders, is presently compiling an updated third history. So more to come…