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 give an otherwise unadorned façade a bit of whimsy and character.
Façade of the Branham-Evans House (WDM-56), Midway, Kentucky.
As we passed through Midway on Sunday night, and I played one of my favorite games entitled “how many worthwhile photos can I snap from the moving car,” I spotted a lovely historic house sporting a CCG.*
The two-story, three bay wide frame dwelling has a CCG with a trefoil vent and a bracketed cornice. The dwelling, originally the home of the Branham family, was built around 1868. The angularity of the CCG is nicely set off by the paired, round arched windows (long and narrow, suggesting the influence of the Italianate style) on the first and second stories of the facade.
The house on the 1903 Sanborn Fire Insurance map – it had an ice house and several other outbuildings in the rear yard.
The dwelling likely has a central passage plan, with interior gable end chimneys and a two-story ell extending to the rear. Midway is one of the prettiest historic railroad towns in Kentucky, and is well worth a visit – and there are many buildings deserving of a photograph not taken from a moving car.
*At the completion of this fun game, which has only one player (me), I share with my captive audience how many photos I captured, and tally how many are in focus, how many I will save, and remark often how glad I am that I did not drop my phone from the open window whilst snapping like mad. It’s a good time for everyone.
You are invited to the Holt/Giltner house any time.
Your dad was a fraternity brother at UK.
We’ve met. I’m a friend of Patrick Kennedy
who speaks well of you.
My house is a combination Greek Revival 1859 house later enlarged in 1880 in the American Gothic style. It’s on the National Register. I’d love to hear your
detailed analysis of its features.
When you’re in the neighborhood, let me know and I’ll give you the tour.