Tag: BGT

“A full book could be written on the structures that stand (or once stood) in and around Gratz Park. Most notably, the primary structure of what is now Transylvania University once stood in the center of the park. Designed by architect Matthew Kennedy, the three-story academic building was constructed in 1816 but burnt to the ground in 1829. After the fire, Transylvania retreated to the north side of Third Street.”

That’s a snippet from Chapter 1 of Lost Lexington – a chapter that discussed the Hart-Bradford House that once stood on the southwest corner of Second and Mill streets until its demolition in favor of a parking lot in 1955.

In the wake of that demolition, a committed group of committed citizens came together to organize what would become The Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation. And the city of Lexington established Gratz Park as the city’s first historic district three years later in 1958.

The effort to preserve the structures around Gratz Park, an effort begun by the 1955 demolition of the Hart-Bradford House, jumpstarted the historic preservation movement in central Kentucky.

For this month’s BGT deTour, we’ll explore the history of Gratz Park with guide Carolyn Hackworth, the leader of www.lexwwalkingtour.com. If you make it, please help the BGT promote the event before, during and after the deTour by using #BGTdeTours on social media! Thanks!

In the words of Kentucky architectural historian Clay Lancaster, “the park has charm, atmosphere, a sense of tranquility and of history, and it provides an oasis of planting tucked into the cityscape.”

And it has a lot of history.

After Gratz Park, the group will retire for a house tour of the newly-restored Thomas Hunt Morgan House where light refreshments will serve as tonight’s AfterHour. Thomas Hunt Morgan grew up in this ca. 1870 McMurtry-designed Italiantate which has had multiple additions, notably an auditorium (ca. 1912) and dining hall (ca. 1970) have left many more square feet than originally included in the McMurtry design. Utilized for many years by the Women’s Club of Central Kentucky, the house was deeded to the BGT in 2014 reuniting two parcels of John Wesley Hunt’s property once again. For more on the Thomas Hunt Morgan House and Nobelaureate Thomas Hunt Morgan, click here.

And although an RSVP isn’t necessary, you can join the event on Facebook:

The award-winning BGT deTours program is designed to provide tours of places you might not normally get to see, helping people interact with and learn about sites that make the Bluegrass special. For young professionals (and the young at heart!), deTours are always the first Wednesday* of the month at 5:30 pm*, and are always free and open to the public (*exception being holidays, weather and out-of-county locations).

John B. Wilgus House (aka Parker Place) at 511 W. Short St., Lexington. Mary Sloan.

It is rare to find such a plot of land in downtown Lexington, but there is the Parker Place on West Short Street. Once part of a much larger tract owned by Eliza Parker, the grandmother of Mary Todd Lincoln, the land was later acquired by Captain John B. Wilgus.

Capt. Wilgus, a Unionist during the Civil War, led the Lexington Blues. The Lexington Blues was a homeguard unit, the so-called ‘army of last resort’, purposed with protecting the life and property of the Union supporters in the event of an invasion by the Rebels. In business, Capt. Wilgus was active in various efforts and was a successful grocer and banker in Lexington.

In 1870, Capt. Wilgus retained John McMurtry to build, and likely design, an Italianate villa in Lexington’s Western Suburb on land he had acquired in the mid-1850s. Before Wilgus’ acquisition, McMurtry operated both a lumber yard and carpentry shop on the site.

Exterior of the Octagonal Room at Parker Place. Mary Sloan.

The design included an octagonal room on the two-story villa’s western side – a room that housed Wilgus’ extensive art collection. Following his death, the collection was auctioned off. At that time, the Lexington Leader described the collection as including “rare foreign and American paintings” as well as “the celebrated marble bust and pedestal of Augustus Caesar by Joel T. Hart.”

You may recall the name Joel T. Hart as being the noted Kentucky sculptor, born in Winchester, who spent much of his life in Italy. One of his noted works, Woman Triumphant, was destroyed when the old (fourth) Fayette County Courthouse was destroyed by fire in May 1897.

Capt. Wilgus himself succombed to cancer of the jaw in 1889. His condition had been the subject of the news, as reported on by the Lexington Leader, in yet another reminder of the style of the news from yesteryear: Mr Wilgus “has suffered with a growth on his face … He consented to a dangerous operation to remove the tumor this morning.”

The house itself was sold a few years before Wilgus’ death. It changed hands several times before it was acquired by the Lexington Orphans Society, which being established in 1833, was one of the oldest such societies in the nation. Parker Place served as an orphanage from 1907 until 1975.

The property, as noted above is within the Western Historic Suburb of Lexington and is included on the neighborhood’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register application describes Parker Place as being “by far the largest scale and most elaborate residential building in the neighborhood.”

On Wednesday, April 1, 2015, the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation’s deTour program will tour Parker Place. The group will begin gathering at 5:30 p.m. and parking is available behind St. Paul’s Catholic Church or behind the Greentree Tea Room. More details are available here. The event is free and open to the public.

Carrick House. (Photos by Peter Brackney, arr. by Whitney Rhorer)

The residence located at 312 North Limestone was commissioned by James Weir shortly before he passed in 1832 “intestate, unmarried, and without issue” according to the papers of Henry Clay. A nephew carried both his uncle’s name and vision beyond the grave so that the house was completed by James Weir (the nephew) by the early 1850s.

The list of craftsman who contributed to the completion of the Weir House is extensive as set forth in Dunn’s Old Houses of Lexington:

Construction costs enumerated by the administrators reveal the interesting facts that William “King” Solomon, James Lane Allen’s hero of the cholera plague of 1833, dug the foundation and latrine; Samuel Long, who build the famous house ‘for two Merino sheep’ for Samuel Trotter, did the carpenter work; Lailey Moore & co. furnished the timbers for Shyrock’s columns, E. Howes did the ‘turning’ and Elliott also furnished materials for the “portico”; J. Enrock and also Seeley had bills for plank and scantling; Eblig supplied the brick, Nixon “blew the well,” and Schakelford furnished the marbling. In addition to the brick for the residence, Ebling supplied brick ‘for the kitchen.’

While some of these names are recognizable in the lore of Lexington history (King Solomon, for example), others are less notable but who undoubtedly had their hand in a number of structures built during Lexington’s rise as the Athens of the West.

A View of the Carrick House’s Portico from within. (Author’s Collection.)

The two story, three bay brick Weir House features a “massive double portico” and has a wing on either side. The wings, each two bays wide, were once a single story but were raised to two stories through the years. As noted above, the architectural design is attributed to Gideon Shryock though much John McMurtry completed much of the project.

A Snowy Day at Carrick House. (Author’s Collection.)

According to the state’s historic resources inventory, the Greek Revival mansion would have once had a front door in the same tradition “with sidelights and transom.”

At one time, the Weir property encompassed the land from 3rd to 4th streets from Limestone to Walnut. (Nota bene: Walnut is now Martin Luther King Blvd. on the north side of Main Street while “the road to Limestone” referred to what is now called Maysville when passing north beyond Third Street. To the south of Third Street, the townspeople then called the road Mulberry).

When the younger Weir abandoned Kentucky for Texas in 1852, the property passed to Judge Thomas Marshall. Marshall’s vitae included a professorship in law at Transylvania University, four terms in the U.S. Congress, a stint in the legislature in Frankfort, as well as 22 years on the Kentucky Court of Appeals (which was then the high court of the Commonwealth.)

After five years Marshall sold the house to another accomplished lawyer, Richard Buckner, who kept the house an even shorter time before selling the property to a well-known Lexingtonian: Henry T. Duncan, Sr. It would pass through that family and through other hands before it would be received by the family whose name the property today bares: Carrick.

In 1910, Dr. James Cantrill Carrick and his wife, Anna Pearce Carrick, acquired the property at the northeast corner of North Limestone and Third Streets. The couple resided there until Dr. Carrick passed in 1954; in 1955, the house was donated to Transylvania University in 1955. Quickly, Transylvania liquidated the asset to the Whitehall Funeral Chapel. The mansion served as a funeral home for the latter half of the twentieth century.

In 2007, Jerry Lundergan acquired the property and it was converted into an event space. A significant addition to the rear of the structure was added in 2011.

Tonight (Wednesday, March 4, 2015)(Update: due to weather, the event is being postponed one week to Wednesday, March 11), the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation’s monthly deTour program will feature a behind the scenes, full-access tour of the beautiful Carrick House. Come explore!