Every historic building has a story to tell
On Saturday, May 8, 2021, the Waller Sharp House in Sharpsburg, Kentucky, will go on the auction block. The once-elegant 2.5 story brick house, built 1903-1905 for the Honorable Waller Sharp Sr., has suffered the indignities of neglect over the past few decades. Pigeons, water, and decay may have waged an insidious campaign against the (read more)
When I was in graduate school, I wrote a very bad paper about the changes wrought on one block of East Main Street. Every time I walk past what was once known as the “Ben Snyder Block,” I cringe at the memory of my poor research skills, lack of engagement with the assignment, and procrastination (read more)
My mind has swum with stories and names since, I feel, before I was born. Somehow, the storytelling urge passed to me, and I cloaked it in various academic guises first as an English major and then during my graduate school days. I never thought to enter those stories myself, but quite by chance (if (read more)
My oldest sister insists I possess hoarder tendencies. I disagree, of course – I recycle my newspapers, you can see the floors in our house, and I regularly donate bags of stuff to Goodwill. But when it comes to photographs, the charge might ring true – I take lots and lots of pictures and squirrel (read more)
Categories: Bracken County, Historic architecture, Historic Preservation, Kentucky architecture, Schools, Vernacular architecture
Tags: Augusta College Echo Hall Association, Augusta Kentucky, Echo Hall, historic preservation, Kentucky Trust for Historic Preservation, National Register of Historic Places
May 1, 2016. You may have many items on your calendar for today, and for the rest of the month. My old Farmer’s Almanac calendar (you can take the girl off of the farm, but you cannot remove the farm from the girl) informs me that it is May Day, or Beltane, the Gaelic holiday (read more)
Science was not my strongest subject in school, but chlorophyll always fascinated me. In my mind’s eye, scores of thirsty plants absorbed the rays of the sun with zeal after winter’s gloom – nothing short of magic. Not unlike those plants, I too gravitate toward the light streaming from the sky this time of year. (read more)
When I was a student at Centre College, I focused more on English literature (and some other less noble and spirited pursuits) than the landscape around me. But I remember a stark two-story brick house, near Duke’s Laundry on South Fourth Street (for $5, they would wash, dry, and fold an overflowing basket of laundry). (read more)
Categories: Architecture, Bluegrass, Boyle County, Historic Preservation, Kentucky, Kentucky architecture
Tags: Centre College, Danville Kentucky, demolition, Fisher-Byington House, Greek Revival in Danville, historic preservation, McClure-Barbee House, Old Centre, Robert Russel Jr., South Fourth Street
Historic preservation can sometimes be a troubling, even divisive term. I haven’t heard it used in a while, but the term “hysterical” preservationist was bandied about quite a bit, and I am sure still is in certain circles. A common misconception is that preservation supporters want to stop time, and freeze every historic building so (read more)
Never has plywood seemed so threatening and ominous then when it appears to sign the death warrant of another (usually historic) building in Louisville, Kentucky. I’ve been lucky enough to work in many neighborhoods in the Derby City, and one of highest densities of interesting architecture (and plywood) is located in West Louisville. A few (read more)
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