A camelback shotgun house burned Friday in the Russell neighborhood in what investigators believe was arson. According to reports on WDRB and WAVE3, the house at 540 South 18th Street had been vacant for the past few months. From television footage, it appears the front room of the house suffered quite a bit of damage, but the brick house looks structurally stable overall.
The house sits on a fully intact block, thanks to some selective infill housing, just a block-and-a-half south of the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage. It features a stone wall along an alley and a massive tree in its backyard (that has partially collapsed that stone wall). The two-bedroom house contains approximately 1,350 square feet and is assessed for just under $30,000.
With investment in three new houses on this block already in recent years and given its sturdy brick construction, hopefully there’s potential for renovating this house and filling it back up with a family.
It’s a classic side porch Italianate worth hanging on to. Now tell me why the development on Baxter that was ok’ed for a zoning change dependent upon renovation of two like structures is now proposing to demo the two shotguns?! Talk about the old bait and switch .