It’s been 84 days since our last Demo Watch roundup, where we recounted a troubling number of shotgun houses meeting the wrecking ball. Today’s Demo Watch is much the same, still dominated by shotgun houses, and properties in general west of Ninth Street. In all, there are 51 dwelling units (including one duplex) that have already been or are slated to be torn down in those 84 days, meaning Louisville loses a unit every 38 hours. And that’s not including these historic buildings in Downtown that also bit the dust.
The hardest hit neighborhood is Russell, where 12 houses are slated for demolition. The Chickasaw and Park Hill neighborhoods are not far behind. Following in line with Taylor Shelton’s article about vacant properties in the West End, mapping the location of these 50 structures reveals a similar pattern as the city’s vacant property heatmap—and, indeed, most of these Demo Watch properties were abandoned, many with deceased owners.
Among the properties listed for demolition is a log cabin in southern Louisville’s Heritage Creek neighborhood (formerly Minor Lane Heights) that sits on the former site of Trinity Pentecostal Tabernacle on South Park Road. That site is being cleared by the Louisville Regional Airport Authority for its Renaissance South Business Park. A listing for the 5.5-acre property doesn’t say much about the cabin other than that it contains “a log cabin (which can be removed).” Another set of three houses set on large, grassy lots on Bardstown Road in Buechel are going to be razed for a mini-storage facility.
As usual, many of these properties have reached the “point of no return” and are not salvageable, but it’s important to see just how much of Louisville’s urban fabric is disappearing before our eyes. We’re not advocating that all of these buildings be saved, just that we see the changing face of the city.
Preservation Louisville also counts these properties on its social media platforms as “intent to demolish” notices are announced as part of its “#TearDownTuesday” campaign. You can follow the group on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
And if you’d like to get involved in stopping a demolition, reviving a vacant property, or just be more active in preservation? Marianne Zickuhr, director of Preservation Louisville, wrote Broken Sidewalk from a preservation conference in Utah to tell us how.
We have been telling people to get in touch with Jeana Dunlap and her staff at Metro VAP. We have been trying to educate people and let them know that not all of our #TearDownTuesdays are Metro owned and some have weird back stories, like absentee owners out of the city, owned by a bank, or the owner is deceased. Many folks don’t know that this many demos are happening all the time. It’s a real epidemic for our housing stock and that’s why I started the campaign on social media. Many people thought Preservation Louisville only cares about things like Whiskey Row, and that we are always causing an uproar about some building, but I find they have no idea how many buildings are getting demolished and how few I even have the chance to try and save.
Take a look at the full roster of demolitions below, organized by neighborhood.
412 South 27th Street
Neighborhood: Russell
Owner: John A. Sweatt
Demolition can take place after: May 3, 2015
540 South 17th Street
Neighborhood: Russell
Owner: Constance E. Jackson
Demolition can take place after: June 15, 2015
1824 West Jefferson Street
Neighborhood: Russell
Owner: William Rose
Demolition can take place after: June 15, 2015
1942 West Chestnut Street
Neighborhood: Russell
Owner: Terry L. Readus
Demolition can take place after: June 15, 2015
1920 Pirtle Street
Neighborhood: Russell
Owner: Dennis & Denise Bouvier
Demolition can take place after: June 15, 2015
2030 West Market Street
Neighborhood: Russell
Owner: Shirley Catlett
Demolition can take place after: May 20, 2015
2725 West Chestnut Street
Neighborhood: Russell
Owner: Ernest D. Gober, Jr.
Demolition can take place after: May 20, 2015
426–428 South 28th Street
Neighborhood: Russell
Owner: Dollie Mae Hamilton; Nelson Toney III
Demolition can take place after: June 4, 2015
1933 Magazine Street
Neighborhood: Russell
Owner: William Miller (Deceased)
Demolition can take place after: June 3, 2015
527 South 27th Street
Neighborhood: Russell
Owner: Elizabeth Jessup (Deceased)
Demolition can take place after: June 15, 2015
2417 Cedar Street
Neighborhood: Russell
Owner: Jocque Q. Thaxton
Demolition can take place after: May 3, 2015
409 South 28th Street
Neighborhood: Russell
Owner: Marguerite Harris (Deceased)
Demolition can take place after: April 24, 2015
611 North 17th Street
Neighborhood: Portland
Owner: Jay Chestnut
Demolition can take place after: June 20, 2015
2521 St. Cecilia Street
Neighborhood: Portland
Owner: Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville
Demolition can take place after: April 16, 2015
2745 West Main Street
Neighborhood: Portland
Owner: Kevin Goodlett
Demolition can take place after: April 30, 2015
1621 Bank Street
Neighborhood: Portland
Owner: Theretha R. Vincent (Deceased)
Demolition can take place after: April 17, 2015
916 Cecil Avenue
Neighborhood: Chickasaw
Owner: Household Finance Corp II
Demolition can take place after: April 30, 2015
819 Dearborn Avenue
Neighborhood: Chickasaw
Owner: James & Elnora Moore
Demolition can take place after: May 7, 2015
4153 Hale Avenue
Neighborhood: Chickasaw
Owner: Stonecrest Investments
Demolition can take place after: April 17, 2015
813 South 38th Street
Neighborhood: Chickasaw
Owner: Angela Story
Demolition can take place after: June 15, 2015
3329 Garland Avenue
Neighborhood: Chickasaw
Owner: Frank G. Wilson, Sr.
Demolition can take place after: June 15, 2015
821 South 33rd Street
Neighborhood: Chickasaw
Owner: James N. Unseld (Deceased)
Demolition can take place after: April 17, 2015
303 South 38th Street
Neighborhood: Shawnee
Owner: Reena Stevenson
Demolition can take place after: June 20, 2015
670 South 35th Street
Neighborhood: Shawnee
Owner: Derrick D. & Catherine Smith
Demolition can take place after: May 20, 2015
2632 Hale Avenue
Neighborhood: California
Owner: James Kirkland Batson
Demolition can take place after: June 15, 2015
1828 West Ormsby Avenue
Neighborhood: California
Owner: JTC LLC
Demolition can take place after: May 20, 2015
1619 & 1629 West Ormsby Avenue
Neighborhood: Park Hill
Owner: Georgia Alvis (Deceased); Aaron M. Elliott
Demolition can take place after: May 3, 2015
1722 West Ormsby Avenue
Neighborhood: Park Hill
Owner: Theron & Tamar Poole
Demolition can take place after: May 20, 2015
1776 Dumesnil Street
Neighborhood: Park Hill
Owner: John W. Young
Demolition can take place after: May 3, 2015
1310–1312 Baldwin Street
Neighborhood: Park Hill
Owner: Fannie W. Purvis (Deceased)
Demolition can take place after: May 3, 2015
1812 Bolling Avenue
Neighborhood: Park Hill
Owner: Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church
Demolition can take place after: April 24, 2015
1616 Hale Avenue
Neighborhood: Park Hill
Owner: Anissa Butler
Demolition can take place after: June 3, 2015
1750 Dumesnil Street
Neighborhood: Park Hill
Owner: 1750 Dumesnil Street Land Trust
Demolition can take place after: June 3, 2015
1547 Gallagher Street
Neighborhood: Park Hill
Owner: Jubilee Christianity Outreach
Demolition can take place after: June 15, 2015
1105 Logan Street
Neighborhood: Shelby Park
Owner: Anna & Richie Westmoreland
Demolition can take place after: April 12, 2015
1045 South Jackson Street
Neighborhood: Shelby Park
Owner: James Earl Goff, Jr.
Demolition can take place after: April 12, 2015
749 South Clay Street
Neighborhood: Smoketown
Owner: Doris Manion
Demolition can take place after: June 15, 2015
823 East Chestnut Street
Neighborhood: Phoenix Hill
Owner: Bobby Frank Cagle
Demolition can take place after: June 3, 2015
2518 South Fourth Street
Neighborhood: South Louisville
Owner: Ark Land Trust
Demolition can take place after: May 3, 2015
2500 South Park Road
Neighborhood: Heritage Creek
Owner: Louisville Regional Airport Authority
Demolition can take place after: May 1, 2015
3818–3824 Bardstown Road
Neighborhood: Buechel
Owner: Self Storage of Kentuckiana
Demolition can take place after: June 4, 2015
6317 River Road
Neighborhood: Prospect
Owner: Mary Lang Properties
Demolition can take place after: June 4, 2015
1521 Berry Boulevard
Neighborhood: Taylor Berry
Owner: Knights Athletic Club
Demolition can take place after: July 2, 2015
4201 Bramers Lane
Neighborhood: Southwest Louisville
Owner: John Earl Hartlage
Demolition can take place after: May 27, 2015
200 East Southland Boulevard
Neighborhood: Southside
Owner: Underhill Associates
Demolition can take place after: June 21, 2015
1309 Cleo Avenue
Neighborhood: Lynnview
Owner: Millie Hudson (Deceased)
Demolition can take place after: April 17, 2015
It’s OK – Mayor Fischer has personally inspected everyone of these houses and deemed them unworthy of trying to salvage.
I thought that we had a shortage of “affordable” housing in Louisville.
Unfortunately, many of these houses are “unbuyable” – because 1) there is no one legally available to sign a deed (owners dead, estate never probated, etc.) or 2) the owner would have to have cash to make repairs, since banks won’t loan money on properties that don’t have sufficient value to support the loan. (They’ll loan hundreds of thousands for new construction in the East End, but not a 1/4 of that to repair an existing structure in the West End.)
One comment unrelated to the pros or cons of the demolition. The property listed at 2500 South Park Road is not in Heritage Creek nor was it is Minor Lane Heights. This information probably came from the RAA. The city of Heritage Creek exists in its own right in the Highview area on Cedar Creek Road, several miles to the east of the former city of Minor Lane Heights. The building in question, which I was in a few times as a teenager, is in unicorporated Jefferson County in an area which was once known as South Park. It has been vacant for many years.
Thanks for the update, Jeff. Do you know any of the history of the log cabin? How old it is?
I SEE A LOT OF HOMES THAT HAVE A GOOD OUT LOOK. CAN ANYBODY PURCHASE THESE HOMES, AND FROM WHO. WHAT IS THE GENERAL COST AND RULES TO BUY THEM? I LIVE IN PA. AND GOING TO MOVE TO KY AND PURCHASE A PLACE TO LIVE. SO IF I COULD GET ONE OF THE PLACES SET FOR DEMO REASONABLE I WOULD VERY MUCH CONSIDER FIXING ONE UP TO LIVE IN.
I have looked at several of these houses on Ormsby. I would be interested in redeveloping many of them to extend the supply of housing for displaced veterans. Who would I contact to purchase some of these prior to demolition? Help.