The Cabbage Patch Settlement House just south of Central Park on 6th Street in Old Louisville has dug itself into a hole. An extensive $7 million renovation and addition to the campus is currently under construction at the facility, but you’d hardly know it from the sidewalk. The new buildings are all sited behind the historic houses and gym that make up the Cabbage Patch complex.
The project includes doubling the current educational space with two new classrooms, a new kitchen, and expanded game rooms and meeting rooms to allow programmed activities to be help concurrently. Currently, there are major scheduling conflicts between activities like the drama club, chess club, and arts & crafts. A large Community Room and Fellowship Hall will further create space on the campus.
Plans also call for the renovation of existing facilities. Already, repair work has begun on the houses fronting 6th Street and one has been repainted. The original 1920s gymnasium will undergo a substantial upgrade and handicap accessibility concerns will be addressed in all buildings. A new landscaping plan is also being developed.
The new design reflects the historic quality of the neighborhood. Careful attention was paid to the scale of the project and new buildings were all designed with their future lifespan in mind. The entire campus has been laid out so it could potentially return to residential use at some point in the future, although the Cabbage Patch has no plans for moving any time soon. We appreciate how the new buildings along the alley will take on the form of the traditional carriage house and help define a well-proportioned enclosed courtyard for children’s play.
Campus improvements are coming in preparation for the organization’s 100th Anniversary in 2010. The Cabbage Patch was originally founded three blocks west on 9th Street, but the organization has been located at their current home since the late 1920s. The project was designed by K. Norman Berry Architects of West Main Street and is expected to be finished this fall.
- Cabbage Patch Settlement House (Official Site)
- K. Norman Berry Architects (Official Site)
