After a fire earlier this year in February, the Old Hickory Inn (on the corner of Hickory and Lydia streets in Germantown) has remained a charred, windowless eyesore. The C-J reported Tuesday that the Old Hickory is returning and the start of construction is imminent. The bar could be in operation again as soon as the end of the year.
The wooden structure dates to 1890 and building owner Ralph Stengel wants to restore it for the neighborhood rather than tear it down. Damage from the fire (that is believed to have been caused by a cigarette and fueled by a gas leak) is substantial, though. A new roof will be installed and the second floor and a stairway rebuilt. Significant water damage on the ground floor will also have to be repaired.
Bar owner Dave Hoffmann had employed five at the popular establishment that has been a landmark in Germantown for over 50 years. Find out more about the Old Hickory Inn of old from a review over at Louisville on Tap.
9th St. Interchange & Wasted Land Beyond (BS File Photo)
9th St. Interchange & Wasted Land Beyond. (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)
Despite a reckless and unfair hearing at the Metro Council Transportation Committee last week, there’s still hope that the resolution sponsored by Tina Ward-Pugh and Tom Owen calling for public input in the soon to be named tolling authority will get a hearing, if at least only symbolic.
Congratulations go to John and Scott, who successfully identified yesterday’s sidewalk photo. The photo was in fact taken on Atwood Street at Bradley Street in the St. Joseph neighborhood just north of Eastern Parkway. Today’s photo is likely going to be a challenging one. Any guesses?
Mediative Urbanisms seeks input on vacant parcel (courtesy IHNA)
After a controversial shopping center on Lexington Avenue fell through earlier this year, a former scrap metal yard in the middle of Irish Hill still sits vacant and windswept awaiting development proposals. That’s where you come in.
Competition site is currently an industrial wasteland. (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)
The Irish Hill Neighborhood Association with the support of the Kentucky Waterways Alliance, 9th District Councilwoman Tina Ward-Pugh, Friends of Irish Hill, and the LEO recently announced a design competition dubbed Mediative Urbanisms to garner ideas for the 30-acre site, now an abandoned industrial wasteland in the heart of the neighborhood.
Mediative Urbanisms seeks to bring about a creative discussion about the site that will help in connecting the neighborhood to the surrounding city while viewing neighborhood features such as Beargrass Creek as community assets. The competition is open to urban designers, architects, landscape architects, and artists (but if you don’t hold those titles, I’m sure you won’t be barred). There is a $70 entry fee, but generous prizes for winning entrants.
To put it mildly, Irish Hill has boundary issues; the competition site is a case-in-point. Entrants are asked to deal with potential barriers such as railroad tracks, an Interstate highway, a walled cemetery and Beargrass Creek in such a way as to create a vibrant, connected neighborhood center.
Combine that with the need to focus Irish Hill’s unique history and identity as an urban and centrally located neighborhood on a plan that enriches the area, and you find yourself in the middle of a challenging design quandary. That’s what Mediative Urbanisms is all about. How can you push the boundaries (literally) of what’s possible in an urban plan?
Irish Hill already has a few guidelines in mind that it wants to see in competition proposals. Here’s what the Irish Hill Neighborhood Association is looking for:
Of particular concern in this competition/exhibition is to provide an expanded idea of the site’s possibilities for public consideration. At minimum, each entry should include specific attention to three program elements. First, entries will examine the potential for the Lexington Road corridor to become a mixed-use zone accommodating pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Second, entries will provide a bus hub capable of accommodating the confluence of three separate routes with adequate waiting areas for riders. Third, entries will provide ample pedestrian/bicycle access between the north and south edges of the site. The site is bordered to the north by an operating railway, which currently isolates the area from the Butchertown and Downtown neighborhoods, minimizing its commercial potential.
Jurors for the competition include a well rounded panel of urban and architectural thinkers:
Chris Bowling, Architect
Jason Scroggin, Assistant Professor of Architecture, University of Kentucky
J. Michael McCoy, RLA, Center for Neighborhoods Director of Planning
Bruce Scott, Kentucky Waterways Alliance
Barbara Sinai, Architect
The Mediative Urbanisms competition allows for a unique set of ideas to emerge not commonly associated with real estate development. That’s the strength of an open design competition. Put on your thinking caps and take a leisurely stroll down Lexington Road and then take pen to paper.
This is an opportunity to imagine the site’s potential. Consider the idealistic opportunities within the site, the boundary between natural and urban, and how the site can anchor a neighborhood. You have until September 15 to register, so get started. Be sure to read LEO editor Stephen George’s write-up as well for the story of the frustrations the neighborhood felt with the former development proposal.
Corner building in Shelby Park during construction
Corner building in Shelby Park during construction. (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)
An historic mixed-use commercial building has been fully renovated in the Shelby Park neighborhood. Oak Seed, a local company dedicated to restoration of buildings in Old Louisville and along the Oak Street corridor, has transformed a former ten-room boarding house at Jackson and Oak Streets into five apartments.
Preservation Louisville announced their annual list of the 10 Most Endangered Historic Structures last week and added a new list to celebrate Louisville’s Top Ten Preservation Successes. The preservation group gathered in front of the Whiskey Row Lofts and Iron Quarter buildings on Main Street to announce the 2009 lists.
Here’s a little background on the most endangered list from Preservation Louisville:
A most endangered list is a preservation tool for recognizing sites with historic, cultural or archaeological significance that are directly threatened or in immediate danger of being lost. The Endangered Properties list has a long history in Louisville. It was initially created by Preservation Alliance, and in 1999 the list was taken over by The Louisville Historical League. The list is now compiled and published by Preservation Louisville, Louisville’s citywide preservation organization since 2007.
This year’s endangered list includes several holdovers from years past that still remain threatened to some extent. New for the list, several broad categories of building type such as “shotgun houses” were added to draw attention to the general plight of a building typology. This classification was added as the group hopes to focus more on the buildings themselves than pointing fingers at specific buildings or people. Here are the properties the group feels are endangered this year:
Shotgun Houses across Louisville. Louisville’s collection of shotgun houses makes up 10 percent of the housing stock and represents the second largest assortment besides New Orleans. Currently, the majority of demolitions in the city are issued for shotgun houses.
Water Company Block Historic Buildings. This assortment of buildings ranging from an old parking garage to an Odd Fellows Hall has been on the endangered list since 2005. In all, five historic structures are threatened by the the Cordish Cos. plans to build a shopping and entertainment development called Center City as an expansion of 4th Street Live. The city currently owns all the buildings are will hand them over to Cordish in the future.
Victorian House on Frankfort Avenue. Another holdover from 2005, the house at 2225 Frankfort Avenue adjacent to Ginny’s Diner was in “decent, livable condition” as of 2000 but has fallen into drastic disrepair. It’s averted demolition once and is currently for sale by calling 502.797.8770.
Historic firehouses across Louisville. Making off-and-on appearances since 2006, Louisville’s oldest firehouses are deemed endangered as they are replaced by new facilities. The city has told us that they hope to find suitable private-sector use for at least some of the defunct stations.
Myers Hall / Old Dental School at Brook & Broadway. Built in 1918, the structure that once housed the Louisville College of Dentistry was in discussions a while back that could have resulted in demolition. U of L is planning to move remaining offices out of the building soon due to deteriorating conditions, but says it has no plans to demolish the building.
Park Hill district. The entire Park Hill district, once an industrial hub in Louisville, was listed last year but faces continued threats of demolition and deterioration as grand industrial buildings sit vacant. The city hopes to revitalize this area in the future and is currently studying how to move forward.
Corner store fronts across Louisville. Once the epitome of convenience to walk to the corner for daily necessities, many corner stores are vacant as retail has left for the shopping centers. Many vacant structures, once marks of community pride, sit vacant and deteriorating.
Historic properties within the proposed new bridge route. This old-timer has been on the list since 1999, and Preservation Louisville plans to keep it listed until plans for all affected buildings are resolved. One building on the corner of Jefferson Street and Jackson Street that would have been in the way of the bridge has already been demolished.
Iron Quarter buildings. Occupying the site of a proposed mixed-use development, the structures are in varying degrees of deterioration. Plans called for demolishing the buildings but leaving the facades, but the project has been put on hold for the time being. The group would like to see the buildings saved in their entirety, noting that a true preservation group must promote saving entire buildings, not just facades. Developer Todd Blue of Cobalt Ventures had no comment regarding the Iron Quarter buildings, but noted his dedication to preservation in Louisville in the past several years.
Ouerbacker House. The grand mansion was first listed in 2005 and briefly flirted with demolition last year after a portion of a wall buckled. Scott Kremer of Studio K Architects came on board to save the structure and fixed the caved in wall with help from a government grant. Renovation work hasn’t yet begun, and Preservation Louisville plans to keep the building on the list until an adaptive reuse proposal is funded. We couldn’t reach the developer for comment.
To promote historic preservation in the city, Preservation Louisville also wanted to draw attention to some of the success stories, creating a new list of saved buildings. One problem with beginning the new list from scratch, it seems, is that there is much more great preservation activity than can fit in ten spots. We’re not going to recount all the details of this list, but Preservation Louisville has written up each listing on their web site. More info on Corbett’s Restaurant can be found here and info about the Reynolds Lofts here. Below are the projects Preservation Louisville finds outstanding:
U.S. Marine Hospital.
East Market Street Wayside buildings.
Vogt Mansion / Lemon Galleries on East Broadway.
Henry Clay building.
Reynolds Building.
American Standard Building.
1254 South Brook Street.
Howard Hardy House.
Corbett’s “An American Place” Restaurant.
1702 Prentice Street aka Habitat for Humanity House.
Eastern Parkway Bridge toward University of Louisville
Eastern Parkway Bridge toward University of Louisville. (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)
A portion of Eastern Parkway between Third Street and Interstate 65 is going on a “road diet.” The historic Frederick Law Olmsted parkway will undergo a major renovation intended to increase the road’s functionality while adding bike lanes, expanded sidewalks, and landscaping. When complete, the new stretch of Eastern Parkway at the University of Louisville will be one of the city’s most progressive roadways.
The first group of buildings from the former East Market Street Wayside campus are nearly done with renovation and will have tenants by October 1st. Scaffolding has been down for some time, and this week custom storefronts will be installed on the two buildings pictured above.
Originally planned for demolition for an expanded shelter for women and children, a group of investors led by Gill Holland of the nearby Green Building purchased the entire East Market Wayside campus for $5 million and plans a mixed-use concept that will further rejuvenate the expanding area. The brick facades have been completely restored and new windows have already been installed.
This fall, the buildings will be nearly full. Already, two retail tenants and an office tenant have joined up and negotiations are underway with a restaurant. After the storefronts are installed this week, the structures should visually help to complete the streetscape as tenant fit-ups get underway. The buildings are scheduled to open around October 1st.
As promised, Friday’s sidewalk photo was taken on Edward Avenue in the Highlands. Any guesses on today’s? Not as promised, we didn’t post anything over the weekend, but we did get many stories prepped and researched, so this week should be a heavy posting week.
