Wrecking Ball Watch: The Little Apartment Building (Blue Grass Apartments), Lexington, Kentucky

Affordable housing is a pressing matter – crucial even – for most communities in this country. So it strikes me as asinine that a well-built, conveniently located 12-unit apartment building in Lexington (1320-1324 Versailles Road) is slated for demolition – for another gas station? I am not sure how the Planning Commission thinks this will benefit the quality of life in Lexington, let alone help deal with the dearth of affordable, already constructed units inside New Circle (yes, property rights, I know). It’s not a little ironic that this building, with its links to one of Fayette County’s greatest philanthropists, Lucille Caudill Little, is summarily consigned to the landfill, yet if it were located in a different part of town – say 40502 – then I likely wouldn’t be writing this post.

At the end of World War I, the United States faced a housing emergency. There simply weren’t enough housing units to go around as the economy began to boom. Formerly multi-generational households split up, and “efficiency style” apartment buildings first made their appearance in Lexington. The resulting explosion in house construction during the 1920s came to an end with the Great Depression – and even as the country inched tentatively toward an economic recovery in the 1930s, there was still a housing shortage.

In 1930, the Little family of Lexington purchased a tract of land on Versailles Pike adjacent to their own considerable acreage (E.R. Little was a farmer and Thoroughbred breeder). Ground was broken in August 1936 on an apartment building adjacent to the Little family home. Overseeing the construction of the apartment building was young W. Paul Little. 

The two-story brick building, constructed on a full basement, was located within two blocks of a bus line when it opened in 1936. The building was designed by noted Lexington architect John V. Moore, and constructed by the Savage Lumber and Manufacturing Company.

The handsome, symmetrical building is divided into three sections on the facade, each three bays wide, with a central pedimented section offset by stone quoins. It sits on a high stone foundation, with large windows that provided the basement with ample light.  Moore chose the widely popular Colonial Revival style for the apartment building. Keystones accent the jack arches above the first story windows, while the three main entryways feature pilasters and more pediments.

Each apartment included a “large living room with rollaway bed, kitchen-dinette, dressing room, bath and clothes closest, and each unit facades the front. With each, an electric refrigerator and gas stove are furnished. Six recreation rooms, trimmed in knotty pine, laundry and storage closest are located in the basement, and individual garages are included a the rear of the apartment building.”

Leases on the new apartments went quickly, and were especially popular with newlyweds. Evolyn and William Magruder were some of the first occupants of the Little Apartments. William was an optician, and Evolyn graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1933. They resided in their apartment for three years.

Another pair of newly weds made their home in the new apartment building – W.P. and Lucille Caudill Little. After first meeting a cotillion in Mt. Sterling in the early 1930s, the couple married in 1937, and moved into Apartment #1, where they remained until they sold the apartment building in 1943.

Lucille dedicated herself to the arts community in both Lexington and her native Rowan County. If you’ve ever been in Lexington’s Central Library, then you’ve seen the world’s largest ceiling clock – a gift from Little.

Other residents in the Little Apartments in 1939 included a lawyer, a watch maker, an insurance adjuster, a linoleum layer, and an employee at the University of Kentucky.

By 1950, the building became known as Blue Grass Apartments, and an eclectic group of people called it home. Gussie V. Fuller was a US Attorney living in Apartment #6. The Little’s former apartment was now home to Cecil T. and Mildred Haggard. He was a repairman for the telephone company. Mrs. June C. DeTerra, a clerk for the Federal Housing Administration, lived in Apartment #4.

Since 1936, the apartment building has provided affordable, convenient housing for so many people – and the idea that it is going to be removed for yet another gas station is appalling. Yes, yes, I know all about property rights – but can’t we do better? How many well-built, conveniently located, affordable apartment buildings does Lexington have – and how many more gas stations does this town need?