The brick arrived at the Shelby Street Apartments, a 22-unit mixed-use, mixed-income apartment building on the corner of Shelby Street and Broadway, in early October, and now the building is rapidly nearing completion of its masonry facade. The building fills in an important empty lot, and with its strong architectural emphasis on the corner along with the masonry and concrete facade, is one of the best buildings going up in Louisville in terms of urban quality. Funds for the $3.5 million project came from a program similar to that which funded Liberty Green, but this building is better than anything we’ve seen at the LG site yet.
This building is a perfect example of the power of vernacular. Kersey and Kersey Architects realized every building doesn’t and shouldn’t be a monument. In this case, the monument is next door: St. Martin de Tours Church. The majority of buildings should essentially “blend in” with the city fabric. This heightens the power of well-placed monumental architecture as well as creates a consistent and harmonious city-scape. The building also sits within what we’re calling the East Broadway “Bridge” Corridor that has the potential to link many of Louisville’s most vibrant urban areas to create a continuous stretch of “living” city. You might remember yesterday when we talked about the potential of the Eichhorn Stained Glass Building, across the street, to act as a catalyst for the area’s full rebirth.
- Snapshot: Brick Arrives At Shelby Street Apartments (Broken Sidewalk)
- Shelby Street Apartments: Window Edition (Broken Sidewalk)
- Shelby Street Mixed-Use Development Mega-Update (Broken Sidewalk)
- East Broadway Building For Sale, Ready For Redevelopment (Broken Sidewalk)
