Eclectic Cottage, Augusta, Bracken County, Kentucky

Although I write about houses for a living, most of my daily work does not inspire me to rhapsodize about buildings nor compare them to scrumptious sweet treats. Fortunately, I wander whenever I can, and try to capture historic buildings that do prompt me toward poetry. This delectable delight of a house, built between 1895 and 1901 in the riverside town of Augusta, Kentucky, not only caused me to sigh with longing when I first saw it, but brings a smile to my face just looking at the picture.

The first story of the house is brick, and the gables are frame, which allows for a wonderful array of ornamentation including bargeboard, spandrels, brackets, and drop finals. (Notice the “M” in the bargeboard on the facade? Perhaps the last name of the original owner?) The round arched windows offer a lovely contrast to the sharp lines of the gables. And that PORCH! Perfection.  

The house is a variation on the T-plan form, and employs a number of stylistic influences from the mid-to-late 19th century. The porch may scream “Eastlake!” to some students of architecture, while the Gothic Revival (and there is an impressive amount of Gothic Revival style houses in Augusta) certainly inspired the pointed arch window in the facade gable. (While I’m gable-gazing, what about that diagonally laid tongue and groove cladding?!) One could even make a plausible argument that the heavy arched windows on the facade owe their existence to the Richardsonian Romanesque style. Whatever style you might see, the sum of all of those parts is the beauty of vernacular architecture: combining pieces and bits with a traditional well-known form to create a house wholly its own eclectic self.

I took this picture in the spring of 2016, when my husband and I traveled (via car) along the Ohio River from Westport in Oldham County, Kentucky, to Augusta. I took 166 photographs in Augusta, which has a historic district teeming with picturesque historic buildings (there are about 145 resources in the district) that help tell the story of Augusta’s growth and development.

Sadly, the current owner states that this house is beyond repair with a foundation that has failed, and plans to demolish the building soon. I know nothing about the structural integrity of this house, nor any steps that have been taken to address its issues. The owner is not interested in selling the house.