Every historic building has a story to tell
Years ago, I fell in love with what I call the central cross gable, which looks like a peaked, triangular shaped projection on the long side of a side gable house. My great-great-great grandfather’s house, built in 1844, sports this feature (I like to call it a “CCG”) and I like how it can (read more)
Category: Woodford County
One of the things I love most about the study of vernacular architecture is how the same form or plan of a house can be built over long spans of time, so that a house built in 1831 in Nelson County, Kentucky, can look quite similar to a house built in 1805 in Fayette County, (read more)
Category: Nelson County
I am, to forgive a tired metaphor, drawn to moldering historic buildings like a moth to a dancing flame. Last year, while working in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, I encountered dozens upon dozens of great examples of architecture, but none captivated me like the Samuel Alwine House on East Pittsburgh Street. Though ill-used in the last few (read more)
Category: Other Places
Tags: #GreensburgPA, #historichouse, MansardMonday
Someone once asked me how I find all of the historic buildings I share via this blog and social media. The easy answer is that wherever I am, I find the middle of town – the courthouse square and historic district – and explore out from that point. The best way is to walk, but (read more)
Category: Knox County
Tags: #barbourvilleky, #historichouse, #kentuckyarchitecture
Louisville in the 1920s brimmed with energy and optimism. The horrors of the Great War were receding, and the economy, building projects, and the city boundaries all expanded. In 1922, nearly 12 square miles of suburban land to the east and south of Louisville (some 40,000 people) were added to the city’s tax rolls. Developers (read more)
Category: Louisville
Tags: #historicarchitecture, #historichouse, #kentuckyarchitecture, #louisvilleky, #oldhouses
One of the most rewarding aspects of my profession (and there are many) is the mandate to explore. Back roads, dirt roads, fording creeks, and braving masses of honeysuckle, poison ivy, and bindweed, can result in unexpected treasures. Many years ago, I spent a hot summer documenting historic resources in Bath County, Kentucky – a (read more)
One of the best parts of my Gardens to Gables endeavor is the freedom to research and write about whatever I wish. Sometimes though, I am left with only my imagination to fill in the multitude of unknowns about a historic place or building. This late-19th (or turn-of-the-century) house I spied from the road last (read more)
Category: Fulton County
Tags: #fultoncountyky, #historichouse, #kentuckyarchitecture, #oldhouses
When I am asked to talk about Kentucky architecture, I always stress the importance of recognizing style versus type or plan. Stylistic architectural details can be applied much later than the date of construction of a house – a “keeping up with the Jones” in architecture. But the type or plan of a house is (read more)
Categories: Abandoned houses, West Virginia
Tags: #historichouse, #westvirginia, Farmhouse
The Internet has made reams of historic data available for nerds like myself, digging into the nooks and crannies of old buildings, attempting to reconstruct a timeline and story for forgotten buildings. But for every National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) nomination I can retrieve on my computer, there are thousands and thousands of evocative (read more)
I have a confession to make. Although we are in a “new media” age, I remain dedicated to newspapers, and everyday, as I have for years, I read the comics – all of them. I was not expecting the melodramatic and long-running Rex Morgan, M.D. to contain a mention to my profession this morning. Yes, (read more)
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