BGT – Page 3 – The Kaintuckeean

Regional Look to Blue Grass Trust’s 11 Endangered List

Photographs of Select Sites on the Blue Grass Trust’s Eleven in Their Eleventh Hour List

Each year, the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation assembles a list of historic central Kentucky properties which are threatened. For the 2015 edition of the “Eleven in Their Eleventh Hour” list, the BGT has looked primarily beyond Fayette County to sites across 11 central Kentucky counties.

The list of counties largely resembles those included in the 2006 World Monument Fund’s designation of the Inner Bluegrass Region. The Blue Grass Trust included Madison County on its “11 Endangered List” while omitting Anderson County. All Kentucky counties, however, have “at risk” structures and deserve the attention of preservationists.

The BGT’s list is a great step toward recognizing that preservation can and should occur throughout Kentucky and not only in our urban cores. The 14 structures within the 11 counties also reflect that theme.

According to the BGT, “the list highlights endangered properties and how their situations speak to larger preservation issues in the Bluegrass. The goal of the list is to create a progressive dialogue that moves toward positive long-term solutions. The criteria used for selecting the properties include historic significance, lack of protection from demolition, condition of structure, or architectural significance.”

The sites are listed below.

Bourbon County – Cedar Grove & John T. Redmon House

Both Cedar Grove and the Redmon House are architecturally significant houses from the early 19th century. The circa 1818 John & John T. Redmon House has a steep roof more often found in Virginia than Kentucky and has lost its original one-story wings. Though both buildings are vacant, they have undergone partial renovations recently and the BGT believes these structures could be still restored.

Boyle County – Citizens National Bank & Dr. Polk House

Mostly empty for two-plus years, the Citizens National Bank building at 305 West Main Street in Danville was built in 1865 with a double storefront that housed First National Bank of Danville and a drug store. Bank-owned and listed for sale, a demolition (or partial demolition) of this structure could affect adjacent structures with which the building shares walls. Dr. Polk House at 331 South Buell Street in Perryville sits across from Merchants’ Row and is arguably the historic landmark most in need of restoration in the downtown. Built in 1830 as a simple Greek Revival house with two chimneys and two front doors, the structure was purchased by Dr. Polk in 1850. A graduate of Transylvania University, he was the primary caretaker of wounded from the Battle of Perryville and his 1867 autobiography details the gruesome battlefield.

Dr. Polk House in Perryville, Kentucky. Photo courtesy of the BGT.

Clark County – Indian Old Fields

Indian Old Fields in Clark County was the location of Eskippakithiki, the last known Native American town in what became Kentucky. Located on Lewis Evans’ 1755 map of Middle British Colonies, this highly important site was significantly impacted during construction of a new interchange (which opened September 2014) for the Mountain Parkway crossing KY 974 near the center of the Indian Old Fields.

The Kentucky Heritage Council noted in 2010 that “’Indian Old Fields,’ is a historic and prehistoric archaeological district of profound importance,” with 50 significant prehistoric archaeological sites identified within 2 kilometers of the interchange. These sites cover the Archaic Period (8000-1000 BC), Woodland Period (1000 B.C. -1000 AD) and Adena Period (1000-1750 AD), with several listed on the National Register of Historic Places. These include villages, Indian fort earthworks, mounds, sacred circles and stone graves. The site also has substantial ties to the famous Shawnee Chief Cathecassa or Black Hoof, Daniel Boone, and trader John Finley.

With the new $8.5 million dollar interchange now open, there are significant concerns that these sites with be under threat from pressure to further develop the area.

Fayette County – Modern Structures

The Blue Grass Trust’s 2014 “Eleven in Their Eleventh Hour” focused on the historic resources at the University of Kentucky. Many of those included on the list (and most of those demolished) were Modern buildings designed by locally renowned architect Ernst Johnson. Research into Johnson’s work by the BGT and others such as architects Sarah House Tate and Dr. Robert Kelley was joined with education and advocacy programming focused on his architecture and legacy as a master of Modernism. This research and programming led to other efforts by the Blue Grass Trust, namely working to educate the public on the historic value of mid-century architecture.

In our continued education and advocacy effort surrounding these structures, the Blue Grass Trust lists Fayette County’s mid-century Modern architecture as endangered. Often viewed as not old enough or not part of the traditional early fabric of Lexington and surrounding areas, the Modern buildings of the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s are being substantially and unrecognizably altered or demolished. It is important to recognize that buildings 50 years of age are eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, a length of time deemed appropriate by the authors of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 for reflection on an era’s importance. Read more from the Kaintuckeean’s earlier post on the People’s Bank branch on South Broadway.

People’s Bank in Lexington. Photo by Rachel Alexander.

Franklin County – Old YMCA & Blanton-Crutcher Farm

Both the Old YMCA in downtown Frankfort faces potential demolition and the Blanton-Crutcher Farm in Jett are slowly deteriorating from neglect and both structures are worth saving. The 1911 Old YMCA at 104 Bridge Street in Frankfort, designed in the Beaux Arts style by a a Frankfort architect, was a state-of-the-art facility featuring a gymnasium, indoor swimming pool, bowling alley, meeting rooms and guest quarters. While a local developer is hoping to transform it into a boutique hotel, there is also a push by the city of Frankfort to demolish this structure. If saved, this could be a transformative project in our capital city.

The Blanton-Crutcher Farm in Jett includes an architecturally and historically significant circa 1796 house built by Carter Blanton, a prominent member of the Jett farming community. In 1831, Blanton sold the farm to his nephew, Richard Crutcher, the son of Reverend Isaac Crutcher and Blanton’s sister, Nancy Blanton Crutcher. The 1974 National Register nomination for the farm notes: “The Crutchers were excellent farmers. Three generations of the family farmed the land and made improvements on the house until 1919 when the property was sold. It has remained a working farm with a large farmhouse, at its center, that has evolved over 180 years of active occupation.” In the 1880s, Washington Crutcher significantly increased the size of the house, turning it into the Victorian house that stands today (although the porches were removed due to deterioration and other modern features have been added).

Harrison County – The Handy House aka Ridgeway

The Handy House, also known as Ridgeway, is located on US 62 in Cynthiana, KY. The nearly 200-year-old house was built in 1817 by Colonel William Brown, a United States Congressman and War of 1812 veteran. The farm and Federal-style house were also owned by Dr. Joel Frazer, namesake of Camp Frazer, a Union camp during the American Civil War. In the 1880s, the house underwent significant renovations by W. T. Handy, the owner from 1883-1916 and for whom the house remains named.

The Handy House checks almost every box when it comes to saving a structure: an architecturally and historically important house in good enough shape to rehabilitate, a listing on the National Register of Historic Places, qualification for the Kentucky Historic Preservation Tax Credit, and a group, the Harrison County Heritage Council and a descendant of the original owner, willing to take on the project. Unfortunately, the Handy House is jointly owned between the city and the county. County magistrates voted to tear it down, and the city opted not to vote on it with the hopes that the new council will come to a deal with the Harrison County Heritage Council, which has offered to purchase and restore the house as a community center. Read more from the Kaintuckeean’s earlier post on Ridgeway.

Jessamine County – Court Row

Completed in 1881, Nicholasville’s Court Row is located right next to the Jessamine County Courthouse. Italianate in design and largely unchanged exterior-wise, Court Row is one of the most significant and substantial structures in downtown Nicholasville.

In a broad context, the listing of Court Row is a comment on the status of all the historic resources in downtown Nicholasville. Several threats exist that are culminating in drastic changes to the fabric of the town. Foremost, Nicholasville failed in 2013 to pass its first historic district, an overlay that would have encompassed the majority of the downtown and helped to regulate demolition and development. Then, within the past month, two historic structures were demolished, including the Lady Sterling House, an 1804 log cabin very close to the urban core. Additionally, Nicholasville is on the ‘short list’ for a new judicial center, the location of which has yet to be determined but will almost certainly have an effect on the downtown. Together, these threats present the potential for the loss of significant portions of Nicholasville’s charming downtown.

Madison County – Downtown Richmond

Preservation has had a lot positive movement in Richmond. The Madison County Historical Society is active; the beautiful Irvinton House Museum is city-owned and the location of the Richmond Visitor’s Center; and the downtown contains a local historic district. Like most local historic districts (also known as H-1 overlays), though, the Downtown Richmond Historic District protects historic buildings and sites that are privately owned. That means that city- and county-owned sites are exempt from the H-1 regulations.

The potential damaging effects of this can already be seen. In February 2013, downtown Richmond lost the Miller House and the Old Creamery, two of its most historic buildings. Both were in the Downtown Richmond Historic District and on the National Register of Historic Places. Owned by the county, the buildings were demolished with the hopes of constructing a minimum-security prison on the site that would replicate the exterior façade of the Miller House, according to Madison Judge/Executive Kent Clark. There are several other historic sites in the urban core that are owned by either the city or the county, leading to worry about the state of preservation in Richmond’s downtown.

Mercer County – Walnut Hall

Built circa 1850 by David W. Thompson, Walnut Hall is one of Mercer County’s grand Greek Revival houses. A successful planter and native of Mercer County, Thompson left the house and 287 acres of farmland to his daughter, Sue Helm, upon his death in 1865. In 1978, Walnut Hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places along with two other important and similar Mercer County Greek Revival houses: Lynnwood (off KY Highway 33 near the border of Mercer and Boyle Counties) and Glenworth (off Buster Pike).

The James Harrod Trust has notified the Blue Grass Trust that the house may be under threat of demolition, as it is owned by a prominent Central Kentucky developer known to have bulldozed several other important historic buildings.

Scott County – Choctaw Indian Academy

Located in Blue Springs, KY, off Route 227 near Stamping Ground, the Choctaw Indian Academy was created in 1818 on the farm of Colonel Richard M. Johnson, who served as Vice President of the United States under Martin Van Buren (1837–1841). The Academy was created using Federal funding and was intended to provide a traditional European-American education for Native Americans boys. (It was one of only two government schools operated by the Department of War – the other being West Point.) Originally consisting of five structures built prior to 1825, only one building – thought to be a dormitory – remains. By 1826, over 100 boys were attending the school, becoming well enough known to be visited by the Marquis de Lafayette in 1825. The school was relocated to White Sulphur Springs (also a farm owned by Colonel Johnson) in 1831. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Read more about the site from the Kaintuckeean’s earlier post on the Choctaw Indian Academy.

Remaining structure of Choctaw Indian Academy. Photo by Amy Palmer.

Woodford County – Versailles High School

Located on the corner of Maple Street and Lexington Pike in Versailles, the Versailles High School is a substantial structure built in 1928. The building operated as a high school for 35 years before becoming the Woodford County Junior High in 1963, operating as a middle school until being shuttered in 2005. After 77 years of continuous operation, the building has been empty for nearly 10 years.

With no known maintenance or preservation plan, concern exists that the historic Versailles High School will deteriorate from neglect and, ultimately, be demolished.

You can learn more about the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation on its website, www.bluegrasstrust.org.

Lexington Landmark: St. Paul’s A.M.E. Church

Lexington, Kentucky has fifteen historic districts and two historic landmarks. One of these two local historic landmarks is the St. Paul A.M.E. Church on North Upper Street.

Prior to 1826, a small number of blacks worshipped at the predominately white Lexington Methodist Church which was located “on the north side of Church Street, between Limestone and Upper streets” in the “large two-story brick Methodist Church, built in 1822” according to Wright’s Lexington: Heart of the Bluegrass. In 1826, however, the Methodists congregation aided their black brothers and sisters in the acquisition of an “old stable on North Upper Street.”

That mission on North Upper Street would become, over time, the St. Paul AME Church. This historically black congregation meets in a building that was erected on the site of the original stable in 1826. Today, that structure is said to be the oldest continually used house of worship in Lexington. Over the years, it was expanded to meet the needs of the growing church body. Significant renovations and expansion projects occurred in 1850, 1877, 1906, and 1986.

This historic house of worship was the site of the Blue Grass Trust’s February 2015 deTour.

Scenes from St. Paul AME, including the steps that once served as a station on the
underground railroad. Author’s collection.

African Methodist Episcopal Denomination

In 1787, a former slave by the name of Richard Allen helped establish the AME Church in Philadelphia as it split from the Methodist Episcopal Church. Six years earlier, Allen had purchased his freedom. Allen, along with his the Rev. Absalom Jones, regularly worshipped at Philadelphia’s St. George’s ME Church.

The church had separated its colored congregants by having them seated around the room’s perimeter. One Sunday in 1787, Rev. Absalom Jones, however, began his prayers prior to the service closer to the sanctuary’s center. A sexton ordered Allen’s friend to get up and advising that Jones “must not kneel here.” Interrupting Jones’ prayers, the sexton persisted. Jones ultimately responded to the sexton that he ought to “wait until prayer is over, and I will get up and trouble you no more.”

After the conclusion of their prayers, all of the congregants worshipping at St. George’s rose and departed the church. The moment is perceived as the beginning of the AME denomination.

Methodism in Lexington & the Beginning of St. Paul AME

The decade before, the ME Church began a mission in Lexington which ultimately would become what is today the First United Methodist Church on High Street. By 1803, the congregation had 47 white and 30 black members.

By 1820, several black members sought their own separate house of worship and a mission of Hill Street ME Church was started in a brick stable on North Upper Street. Six years later, the St. Paul ME Church was formally established and the deed to the stable was acquired a year later. In 1830, a small brick church was built (though a portion of the original stable remains in the extant church’s foundation).

The church began to grow both in numbers and in assets as additional property was acquired. Soon after the Civil War concluded, St. Paul (along with another 300 predominately black ME churches) withdrew from what was then known as the ME Church Conference of the South, or simply ME South).

Within a year, St. Paul affiliated with the AME Church. And for many years the church continued to grow and build.

A Pillar of the Community

St. Paul’s legacy extends far beyond its walls. During the era of slavery, the church functioned as a station on the underground railroad. Although not safely accessible today, a narrow twisting staircase behind the chancel rises to a small hidden room above the sanctuary which once served as a place of refuge for slaves on their way toward freedom.

Following the Civil War, the church hosted discussions about the education of black Kentuckians. Members of St. Paul AME helped organize both the Colored Orphan Industrial Home and the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA. An 1885 assembly at St. Paul AME on the subject of black education led toward the creation of what became Kentucky State University.

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 at 5:30 p.m. Learn more details about this exciting group on Facebook! You can also see Kaintuckeean write-ups on previous deTours by clicking here.

TONIGHT: BGT deTour of St. Paul A.M.E. Church

Lexington’s St. Paul AME Church. Photos by M. Sloan, arr. by W. Rhorer.

This month’s Blue Grass Trust deTours program is tonight, Wednesday, February 4! It will feature one of two Lexington landmarks as designated by the city: St. Paul AME Church at 251 North Upper Street.

St. Paul AME moved to this location in 1820, when they began renting a stable on the site. In 1827, the congregation purchased the stable and surrounding lot for $280. Significant updates to the lot and building occurred in 1850, 1877, 1906, and 1986. It is believed that asection of the original stable is thought to be in the basement. And the church was also a stop on the Underground Railroad!

The event is free and open to the public. deTourians begin gathering at 5:30 pm, and the tour starts at 5:45 pm. A social AfterHour will follow at the Atomic Cafe, 265 North Limestone.

Parking is available along Third Street or in the parking lot at the corner of Upper and Mechanic Streets. On Facebook? Let your friends know you’ll be at the deTour and encourage them to come, too! Just click through on the event below and say “I’m Going!”

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Post by Kaintuckeean.

A deTour of Temple Adath Israel TONIGHT

Lexington’s first Jewish congregation was and is the Temple Adath Israel. It was established formally in 1904 “for the purpose of religious services, a Sabbath school and other matters pertaining to the moral elevation among the Jewish people of Lexington and Central Kentucky.”

Temple Adath Israel is affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism. According to reformjudaism.org, that movement of Judaism aims “to introduce innovation while preserving tradition, to embrace diversity while asserting commonality, to affirm beliefs without rejecting those who doubt, and to bring faith to sacred texts without sacrificing critical scholarship.”

Tonight at 5:30 p.m. the Blue Grass Trust’s deTours program will host its monthly event at Temple Adath Israel’s historic sanctuary which is located in Lexington at 124 North Ashland Avenue. Specific event details are available at www.facebook.com/BGTdeTours or by calling the BGT office at (859) 253-0362.

The congregation first met in 1903, before charter in “a rented lodge hall on short Street in downtown Lexington, where a dozen of the it’s most prominent Jewish residents met to hold services, listen to the lecture of a visiting rabbi, and set in motion the establishment of a new congregation” according to the book The Synagogues of Kentucky. The congregation constructed and began worshiping in a synagogue on Maryland Avenue in 1904 in what was the first physical synagogue in Lexington; that structure is still standing.

Temple Adath Israel Sanctuary prior to remodeling. UK Libraries.

The only physical sign that the Maryland Avenue synagogue was a Jewish house of worship was “nothing more than a wooden sign near its door.” That sign has been on display at the Ashland Avenue synagogue since the congregation relocated to the location in 1926.

Sanctuary of Temple Adath Israel, ca. 2014. Author’s collection.

The Ashland Avenue facilities were expanded in 1950 and 1955, but those additions were removed when the entire complex was remodeled in 1984. At that time, the sanctuary was also partially remodeled with changes including the removal of the old pipe organ.

The congregation and its members have played a vital role in Lexington’s growth as well as our community’s commercial and spiritual activities.

We hope to see everyone tonight at the Blue Grass Trust deTour which begins at 5:30. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/BGTdeTours or call the BGT office at (859) 253-0362.

Lost Lexington Hits Shelves & Tonight’s Event

Lost Lexington is front and center at the
Morris Book Shop

Today’s Monday morning update includes a few notes about Lost Lexington, which will officially be available tomorrow (November 4).

But you don’t need to wait: you can pick up the book at tonight’s book signing and discussion on historic preservation hosted by the Blue Grass Trust (details below) on shelves at local bookstores like Morris Book Shop.

For information about all the upcoming author events and for information about where you can purchase the book, visit Lost Lexington’s page. You can (and should) also “LIKE” Lost Lexington on Facebook!

And in case you missed it, check out Tom Eblen’s awesome write up about Lost Lexington in yesterday’s Lexington Herald-Leader.

Now a few details about tonight’s event at the Blue Grass Trust:

The Blue Grass Trust presents Peter Brackney and his book “Lost Lexington” Monday, November 3 @ 5:30 pm: Book Signing, Panel Discussion, and Sip & Nosh, at the Thomas Hunt Morgan House, 210 N. Broadway.

The evening will begin at 5:30 pm at the BGT’s newly-acquired Thomas Hunt Morgan House at 210 N. Broadway with Sips & Nosh and a Book Signing.

Thomas Hunt Morgan House, site of tonight’s event. Photo: BGT

At 6:00 pm, Mr. Brackney will speak about his book “Lost Lexington”, followed by a panel discussion about preservation in Lexington and the Bluegrass. The book signing, and sips & nosh will conclude at 7:30 pm. Event guests may take advantage of free parking in the lots at both the Thomas Hunt Morgan and the Hunt-Morgan Houses. A portion of the proceeds will go to benefit the programs of the BGT.

You can RSVP for this event by calling the BGT at 859/253.0362 or on Facebook.

About Lost Lexington: Lexington has dozens of well-restored landmarks, but many more are lost forever. The famous Phoenix Hotel, long a stop for weary travelers and politicians alike, has risen from its own ashes numerous times over the past centuries. The works of renowned architect John McMurtry were once numerous around town, but some of the finest examples are gone. The Centrepointe block has been made and unmade so many times that its original tenants ae unknown to natives now. Join local blogger, attorney and preservationist Peter Brackney as he explores the intriguing back stories of these hidden Bluegrass treasures. The foreword of “Lost Lexington” was penned by Mayor Jim Gray.

Donation reunites two parcels of Hunt-Morgan history

Thomas Hunt Morgan House – Lexington, Ky. Blue Grass Trust.

At Second and Mill streets is the home built by John Wesley Hunt, Hopemont, that later became known as the Hunt-Morgan House. Around two corners from Hopemont’s iconic Palladian window is 210 North Broadway.

The latter building has been home to the Woman’s Club of Central Kentucky since 1965, but both the building and that organization have longer lineages. WCCK is now celebrating its 120th anniversary and in celebration has “made an extraordinary preservation gift to the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation.”

In 1870, 210 North Broadway was built for Capt. Charlton Hunt Morgan and his wife, Mrs. Ellen Key Morgan. At the helm of design and construction was one of the finest architects of time and place, John McMurtry. The land on which the Hunt’s built was once a part of Hopemont’s more significant acreage. It has been announced that WCCK is donating the North Broadway property to the Blue Grass Trust. The BGT, already the owner of the Hunt-Morgan House on North Mill, will reunite these two parcels again under common ownership.

Historic marker outside

Born at Hopemont in 1866, Thomas Hunt Morgan was a young boy when his parents moved into 210 North Broadway. It was here that young Thomas began to show his interest in biology and naturalism as he gathered birds, birds’ eggs and fossils. By the age of 16, he was enrolled at the State College, later the U. of Kentucky, from which he would graduate as the valedictorian in 1886.

A professorship at John Hopkins University was followed by the same at Columbia University. While at Columbia, Dr. Morgan created his infamous “fly room.” Using the inexpensive and fast breeding species, he studied heredity at a chromosomal level.

In 1933, Dr. Morgan received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for “his discoveries concerning the role played by chromosomes in heredity.” He was the first Kentuckian to receive the Nobel Prize and he is known as the “Father of Modern Genetics.”

After earning his Nobel Prize, Dr. Hunt was named the president of Caltech. He would pass away in 1945 in Pasadena, California.

His childhood home at 210 North Broadway would forever bear his name as the Thomas Hunt Morgan House. Over the years, various additions have been made to the property as it has seen various uses since it was the Morgan family residence. Specifically, an auditorium (ca. 1912) and dining hall (ca. 1970) have left many more square feet than originally included in the McMurtry design.

The buildings future is secure as it will become the new home for the Blue Grass Trust in the spring of 2015.

Historic Preservation, the University of Kentucky, and Legos

Funkhouser Building of the University of Kentucky in Lego.
Though not on the BGT’s Endangered List, many of the campus structures by its
architect (Ernst Johnson) are slated for, or at risk of, demolition.

For Christmas, I received the Lego Architecture Studio. It is truly a Lego set for adults, especially those with an interest in architecture. And even though I have no training, I’m always up for a little fun. With a bourbon in hand, one of my first “projects” was to recreate, in Lego, some of the historic structures in Lexington. Of particular interest were those properties slated for inclusion on the Blue Grass Trust’s “Eleven in Their Eleventh Hour” list for 2014.

The BGT’s focus for 2014 was on historically significant structures located on the campus of the University of Kentucky. Many, though not all, of these buildings are modern in design (which is well suited for the Lego Architecture Studio, I might add) and the architectural beauty and significance of such mid-20th century structures have been discussed with much greater detail than prior properties listed on endangered lists. The release of the BGT’s 2014 list dovetailed with UK Trustee meetings on which the same very buildings’ fate would be determined. Within a short time, the wrecking ball will strike several of these unique structures.

The Kirwan-Blanding Complex was designed by architect Edward Durell Stone. UK has not
confirmed whether these 1967-era, 23-story towers and surrounds will survive. Of them and
their architectural style, Tom Eblen wrote that while “modernist buildings [are] not
for everyone … they’re worth saving anyway.”

Once the fate of the buildings had been determined, the BGT reiterated a Plan B: “documenting [the buildings] thoroughly … provid[ing] an opportunity for preservation and design students to become involved and educated [and to leave] behind an accurate and detailed record for future research.” UK’s own VisCenter and historic preservation programs could make great effort together to accomplish these aims.

Wenner-Gren Aeronautical Research Laboratory in Lego is slated for immediate demolition.
Built in 1940, the stories related to Wenner-Gren are numerous and its importance huge.
It was designed by architect Ernst Johnson, a noted Lexington architect. A chapter in the
book accompanying the Lego set discussed the concept of scale, something I practice with
my interpretation of the Wenner-Gren Laboratory.

Though my Lego interpretations are hardly accurate or detailed of the original structures, they show how these campus facilities can be a source for imagination and inspiration if given the opportunity. Though preservation of the structures is no longer an option, I do hope that each building can be fully documented.

VisCenter Opens Eyes to New Ways of Seeing the World

Davis Marksbury Building at the University of Kentucky – Lexington, Ky.

~~If you’ve ever~~ Whenever you watch a college football or basketball game, you always see the commercial for the university. Typically in three parts, the school’s marketing team includes a scene from the school’s athletics tradition, a scientist looking into a microscope, and a group of students helping those in a third world country. Insert a tagline and maybe a #hashtag, and you’ve aced college marketing.

But in some corners of academia, really cool stuff does happen. At the University of Kentucky, one of those places is the Center for Visualization & Virtual Environments located in the Davis Marksbury Building. The VisCenter, as it is called, is a multi-disciplinary center charged with changing the way in which we view the world. (And the Marksbury Building, opened in 2011, was the first LEED Gold building on the UK campus.)

The applications stretch through medicine, security and defense, engineering, and the humanities. On last month’s Blue Grass Trust deTour, we were given access to this tremendous (and largely unknown) resource right in the heart of UK.

The advances occurring in facial recognition and the research being done to help educate those with autism is amazing, but the focus of our visit was on the visualization possibilities on urbanization and historic preservation.

Illustrating a stage in the photogrammetric 3D reconstruction process at the VisCenter

Photogrammetric 3D Reconstruction utilizes two-dimensional photography to reconstruct three-dimensional structures with precision by having a camera that can properly gauge distance. (I’m not the one to explain this, go to the VisCenter’s site for a better description). As it was explained, one could imagine the proper technology being mounted to a vehicle to create full 3D measurements of a structure or some other resource. Precise models of historic or natural sites could be created so that, if necessary, a model or recreation of the site could eventually made. At a minimum, the data utilization is endless!

In the realm of preserving relics and documents, consider the following explanation of the research on Digital Preservation and Visualization of Historical Artifacts: We are in race to use 21st century technology to preserve the traces of ancient cultures before the relics disappear forever. The EDUCE project (Enhanced Digital Unwrapping for Conservation and Exploration) is developing a hardware and software system for the virtual unwrapping and visualization of ancient texts. The overall purpose is to capture in digital form fragile 3D texts, such as ancient papyrus and scrolls of other materials using a custom built, portable, multi-power CT scanning device and then to virtually “unroll” the scroll using image algorithms, rendering a digital facsimile that exposes and makes legible inscriptions and other markings on the artifact, all in a non-invasive process.

Images from the all-digital Porgy & Bess set design.

All of these advances are quite remarkable. So, too, is the technology that created an all-digital backdrop for a UK Opera production of Porgy & Bess. The technology trekked to Atlanta for use by the professional Atlanta Opera. Images of that technology were visible to those of us on the deTour on a giant touchscreen table similar to what you might see on election night on CNN.

A trip to the VisCenter for an adult is like a visit to Disney World for a child. The sense of wonder is overwhelming as you imagine a different way of seeing the world.

More photographs from the VisCenter are available on flickr.

Bell Court is one of Lexington’s loveliest neighborhoods

The BGT deTour of Bell Court – Lexington, Ky.

About one mile east of the courthouse is one of Lexington’s small, closely knit neighborhoods: Bell Court. Upon even a cursory exploration of the neighborhood, one can understand a portion of its history. The presence of the impressive mansion at the heart of this little community bears witness to the pattern common in Lexington of “subdividing the parks and pleasure grounds of its great antebellum houses.” Birchfield, 83.

A collection of photos of properties in Bell Court as well as our guide, Jim Birchfield.

The good news is that in the case of Bell Court, the original mansions were not razed. Note that the plural is used because two of the old mansions remain. Each is surrounded by examples of early twentieth-century architecture of the Queen Anne, Romanesque, Arts and Craft and Colonial Revival architectural styles.

And like its variety of architectural styles, the neighborhood has drawn a variety of middle- and upper- class Lexingtonians from different walks of life to create a vibrant sense of community that has been enhanced by a strong neighbhood association (active since 1964).

And while each house in Bell Court has its own beautiful story, constraints now limit their telling. What follows are the stories of Bell Place, Clay Villa, and the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd.

Bell Place (ca. 1890)

The primary property in the neighborhood is Bell Place which was constructed on the foundation of Woodside. Woodside had been designed and built by local architect Thomas Lewinski for Henry Bell on thirty-five acres of land which Bell had acquired for $8,750 in 1845. The land had originally been part of the 1,000 acres owned by Col. John Todd.

The planning and building of Woodside required eighteen months work and was completed in 1846. In 1848, Mrs. Abraham Lincoln visited with her mother and wrote in a letter to the future President:

Ma & myself rode out to Mr. Bell’s splendid place this afternoon to return a call. The house and grounds are magnificent. Birchfield, 87.

Upon his death in 1883, Henry Bell conveyed the thirty five acres and Residence to his only son, David Davis Bell (D.D. Bell). Lewinski had passed the year before and was thus unavailable to help D.D. Bell in rebuilding the family home after it burned in 1884.

Photos of the Bell House – Lexington, Ky.

Bell retained Cincinnati architect Samuel Eugene Des Jardins whose 23-page specifications for construction contains frequent “superlative of adjective and adverb [but] nowhere any requirement for economies.” Birchfield, 90-91. In other words, cost was not an issue.

The wealthy Bell was an attorney and an astute observer of Lexington’s growth. To these ends, he formulated a plan in the early 1890s to have a portion of his lands (retaining several acres around the residence) subdivided. D.D. Bell died, however, before this could be accomplished though a directive in his will prompted his widow to accomplish these aims with profits being placed in trust for their only child. Clara’s life and wealth were well-documented in a post on Bricks + Mortar.

Clay Villa (ca. 1846)

The earliest home in Bell Court was the contemporary to Woodside. In fact, Thomas Lewinski’s journals indicate that he worked on designing both Woodside and Clay Villa contemporaneously.

Clay Villa illustration by Clay Lancaster, “Vestiges of the
Venerable City,” 1978.

The Lewinski design was commissioned by Henry Clay for his son, James. (Interestingly, Clay also took the opportunity to commission Mansfield for son Thomas at also at the same time. Lewinski must have been quite busy in the 1840s!).

From the National Register application, we observe that Clay Villa is

Italianate in style with Greek Revival details, [it is] a square symmetrical brick house with hipped roof and four long interior panel chimneys; its walls are divided into three sections by applied segmental arches between wide pilaster-like forms with narrow vertical panels. NRHP.

Collage of Clay Villa. With a Forest Avenue address (frontage at top), the original
configuration would have faced Main Street (lower left).

It was James who would, after his father’s death, raze and rebuild Ashland which had reputed to have fallen into disrepair.

Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd –
Lexington, Ky.

Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd (ca. 1925)

Formed as a mission of the Christ Church in 1888, the cornerstone for the Episcopal Church at Main Street and Forest Avenue was laid on August 30, 1925. The tale told of the funding of its construction is interesting, as told in the National Register application:

The fortunes of the church were given a great boost in 1924 when the Reverend Thomas L. Settles became the first and most effective clergyman to speak to the State Legislature against the anti-pari-mutual bill, thus gaining the support of followers of the turf. Wealth and prominent leaders of the horse industry, many not members of the church, began to support the ambitious building plans of Settle and the building committee, and the sanctuary was completed in 1926.

There are 39 major stained glass windows in this beautiful Gothic Revival house of God.

Additional photographs of the Bell Court neighborhood and its magnificent resources can be found on flickr.

Again, special thanks to our tour guide of Bell Court: local historian and curator of rare books in Special Collections at the UK Library, Jim Birchfield.

A House With A Story to Tell: The Willis Green House

Willis Green House – Danville, Ky.
Photo: The Blue Grass Trust

On a 2.5 acre plot of land in Danville sits a house steeped in Kentucky history. It is owned by a consortium of preservation-minded groups who purchased the property at auction earlier this year in order to save this important part of history. With preservation easements added, it is again for sale. Details of this wonderful, historic structure are available at willisgreenhouse.com.

This is the story of those who lived here.

Willis Green House – Danville, Ky.
Photo: The Blue Grass Trust

While surveying a portion of central Kentucky, Willis Green found several thousand acres of land which pleased him greatly. He named his property Waveland after the “undulating terrain.” And it was here that he built his magnificent home around 1800 on the land which was held by the Green family nearly 130 years.

Willis Green

Headstone of Willis Green.
Photo by Yvonne at Findagrave.com.

The patriarch of this important Kentucky family was born around 1754 in Shenandoah County, Virginia, to Duff Green and Ann Willis. His maternal grandfather was Col. Henry Willis, the founder of Fredericksburg Virginia. But Willis was not content to remain in Virginia. He instead followed the call to head west into the wilderness of Kentucky.

Willis Green married fellow Virginian Sarah Reed on December 23, 1783, in “one of the first Christian marriages ever solemnized on Kentucky soil.” Together they located in a smaller home on Green’s acreage which was believed to have been located about 500 yards northwest of the historic site. Their fruitful marriage would yield a dozen children, each being born on the property.

It’s no surprise that Willis Green was involved in the earliest days of Kentucky’s statehood. His proximity to Danville gave him a front row seat to the nine constitutional conventions held there. But a front row seat was not enough for a man so committed to the Commonwealth.

Established with a family in Kentucky, Willis Green travelled back across the mountains to Richmond where he represented Kentucky County in the House of Delegates. Like so many Kentuckians of his day, Green believed in Jeffersonian democracy and pursued a more local governance for those Virginians living west of the Appalachians.

To these ends, Green participated in no fewer than two of the Kentucky Constitutional Conventions. His service included nearly thirty years as the Clerk of Lincoln County (1783-1813), with such term punctuated by three absences while he served as a judicial clerk twice for the Supreme Court of the Kentucky District and once for the Danville District Court. He was also involved in the Danville Political Club – a highly influential organization in which men discussed, and likely resolved, many issues of the day. Additionally, Willis Green served as one of the original trustees of the Transylvania Academy which was first located in Danville prior to its relocation to Lexington as the Transylvania College.

Willis Green departed this earth in 1813, leaving a life estate in Waveland to Sarah. Upon her death in 1816, the property was sold to their son, Judge John Green.

Judge John Green

Headstone of Judge John Green.
Photo by Yvonne at Findagrave.com.

John Green was the eldest son born to Willis and Sarah (Reed) Green, having been born in 1787. He studied the law under Henry Clay and was an aide-de-camp to Kentucky’s first governor, Isaac Shelby.

Governor Shelby was both the first and the fifth governor of Kentucky. During his second administration, the nation warred with Britain in the War of 1812. During this conflict, Shelby designated a number of important Kentuckians as his “aides-de-camp,” titles given to those attending a general officer. In Kentucky, aides-de-camp to the Commonwealth’s Governor are more regularly known as Kentucky Colonels. Among this honorable order, Judge John Green was among the first.

Judge Green served multiple terms in both houses of the General Assembly and was elected Circuit Judge. His first marriage was to Sarah Fry, the daughter of leading educator Joshua Fry. A second marriage was to Mary Marshall, the daughter of Capt. Thomas Marshall and niece of Supreme Court Justice John Marshall.

He was a “judge” by virtue of his service as a Circuit Judge. He also helped to establish both Centre College and the Kentucky School for the Deaf. When Henry Clay would visit the regions south of the Kentucky River, he would often stay at Waveland in the home of his friend, Judge Green.

Judge John Green died in 1838. Waveland, however, would remain within the family.

Dr. William Craig

Martha Eleanor Green, the youngest daughter of Willis and Sarah (Reed) Green, married Dr. William Craig. Craig, a native of Augusta County, Virginia, matriculated through Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) and learned medicine at Transylvania College and the School of Medicine in Philadelphia.

Dr. Craig purchased his wife’s family’s estate upon the passing of her brother, Judge John Green in 1838.

Though a successful physician, Dr. Green was also active in the community having served in the state legislature and as president of the Branch Bank of Kentucky at Danville. A notable addition to Dr. Craig’s vitae was his role as one of the first trustee’s on the board of Centre College. He also helped to organize Anaconda, Danville’s literary and social club, in December 1839.

When Dr. Craig died in 1854, his son – “a capable gentleman farmer” – became the owner of Waveland.

John James Craig

Headstone of John J. Craig.
Photo by Karen at Findagrave.com.

After his father died, John James Craig acquired the estate on the outskirts of Danville known as Waveland. Born in 1832, J. J. Craig lived at Waveland for all of his days except the first six years of infancy. To be sure, he must have also fallen for the undulating terrain which had first captivated his grandfather. J.J. Craig married Amanda Goodloe on December 18, 1855 in the bride’s native Madison County.

Mr. Craig was widowed in 1908 when Amanda died and he passed away in 1914. The couple is buried at the Bellevue Cemetery in Danville.

Outside the Family

According to the property’s National Register application, the property was sold outside the Green-Craig family for the first time in 1924 when it was acquired by Mr. J.D. Erskine. The chain of family members who owned the property during the intervening 130 years since Willis Green first fell in love with the rolling terrain was broken.

‘Ruin Porn‘ of the Willis Green House – Danville, Ky.
Photo: The Blue Grass Trust

Waveland passed through the Erskine and Benedict families with little change. Martin and Dorotha Thompson purchased Waveland at the end of July 1975. It was entered on the National Register May 6, 1976.

After Mr. Thompson passed away the home was abandoned and has since deteriorated to its present condition.

Other Notable Occupants of Waveland

Lewis Warner Green
Photo: Centre College

And though they didn’t own Waveland, it was the home to a series of other notable members of the Green family. Chief among this list was the youngest son of Willis and Sarah (Reed) Green, Lewis Warner Green.

Born at Waveland in 1806, Lewis Warner Green was the youngest of Willis and Sarah’s twelve children. He was considered an orphan with his parents both having passed by the child’s tenth birthday. He was cared for by his much older brother and neither his stature nor studies suffered. His early tutelage was under both Joshua Fry and Duncan F. Robertson, but he was sent to the classical school (Buck Pond) in Woodford County at age thirteen.

He followed a short stint at Transylvania College in Lexington by attending Danville’s newly opened Centre College in 1822. In 1824, he was one of two members of Centre’s first graduating class.

Lewis Warner Green then went on to study law under his brother who had raised him, Judge John Green. Lewis must have found the practice of law unappealing, for he had soon shifted his professional training to medicine under the direction and advice of Dr. Ephraim McDowell.

Neither the law nor medicne nor theology retained Lewis’ interest professionally; his attendance at Princeton Theological Seminary lasted only a year. Even so, he would become a minister ordained in the Presbyterian Church. His return to Danville in 1832 was coupled with a professorship in both “belles-lettres and political economy.”

A two-year sabbatical through three European universities gave Lewis Green further opportunity to study theology, language, literature, Biblical archaeology, and natural sciences, before returning to the United States. Within a year, he would return to Danville as vice-president of Centre and as co-pastor of Danville Presbyterian Church.

In 1840, however, Rev. Dr. Green would leave Danville for another seventeen years passing through academia and pastorals in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. The familial call to Kentucky was strong and he returned here, first for a year as President of Transylvania University, and finally on January 1, 1858, to the presidency of Centre College.

Under Green’s leadership, Centre succeeded despite the hardships incumbent with an ongoing Civil War. A drop in attendance was never accompanied by a cancellation of classes. In nearby Perryville, a great battle of that War raged in October 1862 and after which battle Green’s campus was utilized as a hospital by both Armies.

The following May, 1863, Rev. Dr. Lewis Warner Green would die of illness. After his passing, the faculty of Centre passed a resolution calling Rev. Dr. Green “one of [Centre’s] oldest and warmest friends.”

Some of the most influential leaders in the history of Centre College, of Danville, and of the Commonwealth have called Waveland home. It is a treasure in Kentucky’s history.

Willis Green House nestled in a Danville, Ky. neighborhood.
Photo: Blue Grass Trust

For more photographs, please visit willisgreenhouse.com.