The statue of former Louisville Mayor Charles P. Farnsley by Dawn D. Yates on West Main Street must be counted among the city’s most popular. Having worked on this block for three years, there was seldom a day when someone wasn’t being photographed deep in conversation with the bronze statue. But it wasn’t until a visit home last year that I really began to appreciate the work of art.
Now that’s what we’re talking about. So who knows the story behind this little guy (or gal) who has been keeping Louisville weird since the statue was dedicated on June 3, 1999?
Founder and Editor at Broken Sidewalk
Branden founded Broken Sidewalk in 2008 while practicing architecture in Louisville. He continued the site for seven years while living in New York City, returning to Louisville in 2016. Branden is a graduate of the College of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis, and has covered architecture, design, and urbanism for The Architect's Newspaper, Designers & Books, Inhabitat, and the American Institute of Architects.
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Perhaps it’s a depiction of Allan Cowen, heh.
Well, I’ll be dipped… Never noticed that lilliputian fellow before!
Branden, didn’t this statue formerly sit on 4th St., maybe just north of the Galleria?
–And so glad you have been making more contributions to Broken Sidewalk lately. Such a unique & valuable resource.
“Charlie’s Demon?” Mr. Farnsley was Mayor during my VERY early childhood. I remember my Dad coming home occasionally with a tale about seeing Charlie, uh, directing traffic at some Downtown street location. My Dad liked the man, but said he had a little problem.
New development coming to Whiskey Row, Troll’s Pub underneath Bearno’s by the Bridge will occupy a room once used as a bar/speakeasy during prohibition that has access to an interior courtyard.
http://www.whas11.com/news/local/Louisvilles-lost-underground-121112764.html
I believe this is something that the artist puts on all of her sculptures. Not sure if it is suppose to be her, but I was at the dedication and remember her saying it was like her version of a signature on a painting.