Every historic building has a story to tell
A beautifully detailed portico with Ionic columns and an entablature featuring Federal-period fretwork and guttae stands incongruously attached to a late 20th century metal commercial building in Mays Lick, Kentucky. This pairing is one of the most unlikely marriages of types I’ve ever seen. The modern commercial building, at one time home to a (read more)
Category: Mason County
Tags: #greekrevival, #historichouse, #kentuckyarchitecture, #MasonCountyKY, #mayslickky
I spent part of my Labor Day weekend ruminating over poetry and short stories written by my teenage self. An embarrassing endeavor, in parts, and a dusty one, as I was forced to tackle boxes in our attic, but my search proved fruitful when I came up with a typewritten page covered with wandering, (read more)
Category: Uncategorized
Tags: #journalism, #kennjohnson, #mtsterlingky
At 7:00 pm (EST) on Monday, August 31, 2026, an online auction for a late 19th century brick house in Lexington, Kentucky, will end. As of a few minutes ago, the current high bid was $26,000. The dwelling, one of four, identical, 2.5-story houses with Richardsonian Romanesque detailing, suffered damage from a fire in (read more)
Category: Fayette County
On a hot August day in 2019, I headed out for a site visit in Jackson County, Kentucky. Two months earlier, we had welcomed our son into the world, and this was my first venture out since his birth (not counting trips to the pediatrician). I relished driving slowly along the meandering road, the (read more)
Categories: Abandoned houses, Estill County
During my lunch hour yesterday, I documented a farm slated for development. Its well-drained, gently rolling topography will be manipulated by earthmovers and its soil suffocated by asphalt. The trees that provided shade to the farmhouse and shelter to livestock and wild creatures alike will be tossed in a pile and burned. The small (read more)
Category: Fayette County
Tag: #development
Plans were underway in May 1919 for the merger of two banks and the construction of a “handsome, modern building” in Berry, Kentucky. The merger of the Berry Deposit Bank and the Farmers Deposit Bank would give the the community “one of the most prominent banking institutions of the State.” Architect John Gillig of (read more)
Category: Harrison County
Tags: #berryky, #harrisoncountyky, #historicbank, #johntgillig, #kentuckyarchitecture
A quirky historic house in my hometown changed hands recently, and a zoning change possibly imperils the house. During my childhood, the dwelling was a curious and delightful aspect of the landscape as seen from the backseat window. The one-story house wasn’t like any of the other dwellings I saw, and from my vantage point (read more)
Category: Montgomery County
Tags: #hollowclaytile, #kentuckyarchitecture, #mtsterlingky, #spanishrevivalstyle
The march of student housing developments continues in Lexington, this time striking a blow in a new part of the Aylesford Neighborhood, near Woodland Park: the Woodland Triangle, once home to Ramsey’s, and a long-cherished collection of commercial buildings. There is a public meeting scheduled for Thursday, May 28, 6:30 pm at Woodland Christian (read more)
Category: Fayette County
Tags: #kentuckyarchitecture, #lexingtonky, #studenthousing, #woodlandtriangle, demolition
It’s the first day of May, and in Kentucky, it’s Derby time, but long before our Commonwealth celebrated the first Saturday in May, the date was a traditional agricultural-rooted holiday, celebrating the half-way point between the spring and summer solstices. Moving away from the racetrack and the farm, today also kicks off Preservation Month (read more)
Category: Historic Preservation
I’ve been playing catch up at work this year, which means my ability to channel energy and time into my blog is limited. Snow days, sick children, work – life has intervened. But it’s a constant struggle to rein in my wondering grey cells, especially when I spy interesting buildings while out and about. It (read more)
Category: Kenton County
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