Fire Destroys History
By Herb Fink

Property Improvement Committee Chair

We lost another part of our historic preservation district Wednesday afternoon, December 12, 2007.

1221 S. Brook St., located just south of Toonerville Trolley Park, was a boarded-up residential building which had been vacant for some time.

Apparently boards were removed from the rear openings and vagrants entered the building eventually starting a fire on the third floor.

The fire consumed the structure and Metro Government soon after ordered the building to be demolished after declaring it a health and safety hazard.

According to Deborah Richards of the Metro Landmarks staff, the building was built during the early 1890s and was of Italianate architecture.

Recent PIC meetings with William Schreck, Director, Louisville Metro Department of Codes and Regulations, noted that Metro Code Enforcement officers had made 68 inspections on this property over an extended period of time and that $9,000 in fines have been placed on the property. A court bench warrant had been ordered on the property owner.

This is yet another property which desperately needed to be removed from the hands of the “do nothings” and placed into the hands of one who will protect and renovate the property.

This is the second historic residential structure that has been lost in Old Louisville recently due to neglect and fire.

Old Louisville has 45 such structures which are susceptible to similar lost.

If you own property and/or live adjacent to a building engulfed in fire, it is a frightening experience.

It is important that priority be given to rid our neighborhood of these cancerous situations.

By Herb Fink

PIC Committee Chair

Recent Old Louisville Historic Landmarks and Preservation District Architectural Review Committee reviews and Landmarks staff reviews include the following sites:

Robert Lanter
1215 Garvin Place
Replacement of fourteen (14) existing non-original aluminum windows on the first and second floors of the south and west facades with 2 over 2 wood composite double hung windows. The style of the replacement windows replicates the design of windows in the surrounding homes. Estimated project cost: $18,000.

Charles E. Kenner
1701 South 4th Street
Removal of existing leaning rear yard brick wall to the existing footing and construct a replacement brick wall to be built to existing replication using brick to match as close as possible to the original existing brick. Project cost - $8,600.

Ruby Courson
109 West Ormsby Avenue
Removal of an unapproved and inappropriate steel door and frame in an existing door opening on the west side of the house and construct a new door and frame to relate to the style of the house. Also, exterior stair and landing improvements. Estimated project cost: $600.

Carol Worsham
1357 South 2nd Street
Install new metal railing on front concrete steps leading to sidewalk. Estimate project cost: $340.

1125-127 East Oak Street
Applicant: Adam O. Tatem, Jr.
Owner: Dean Hohl
Request for approval to install new signage for the new Pizza Parlor. Sign to be wood carved, 44" in diameter, mounted flush to the front facade above the existing canvas awning, and to be lit externally, using light that is focused on the sign alone and des not bleed or cause glare. Final approval at time of permit. Cost unknown at this time.

1251 South 4th Street
Central Park Lofts
Owner: Central Park Lofts, LLC
An amended application to modify the existing building window design from predominantly glass block to clear, fixed in place and casement windows on all four (4) sides of the building. The top of the window openings will replicate the original horizontal glass block character. The window design was approved by the Old Louisville ARC.

2008
 Old Louisville Information Center Officers and Board 

 Administrative Assistant:   Linda Ewen 

The Old Louisville Information Center is an incorporated, non-profit, 501-C3 organization. 

The Old Louisville Information Center is committed to promoting the Old Louisville neighborhood and its unique architectural and historical characteristics by serving as a source of information and reference. 

Friends of Central Park was established as a committee of the Information Center in November 2003. Its purpose is to raise funds to maintain and improve Central Park.

 

The Old Louisville Neighborhood Council, the umbrella organization for 14 block associations in Old Louisville, also operates in the Information Center.

 

The Old Louisville Journal, the neighborhood newsletter, is published monthly by the Information Center.  It is in its 29th year of continuous publication.

Councilman George Unseld attended the premiere of the neighborhood mural at the Police Substation in Central Park.

ALL YEAR LONG

 The Visitors Center in Historic Old Louisville at 218 West Oak Street continues with their wildly popular "Ghost Old Louisville Tour." Tours aboard the 13-passenger coach depart every Friday at 7:30 p.m. throughout the year. Tickets for the $25, 90-minute, narrated tours can be reserved by calling 502-637-2922 or go online at www.ghostsofoldlouisville.com. David Dominé can be reached at 502-718-2764 or davidram13@iglou.com. TourLouisville also offers a regular walking tour of the neighborhood that departs the Visitors Center at 218 West Oak every Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Please call if you are interested in volunteering your acting or driving services.

Two-Way Streets –
In Our Neighborhood?
By Philip J. DiBlasi, President
Toonerville Trolley NA

For years, there have been safety issues that have revolved around the traffic patterns on Brook and First Streets. These streets were made one-way in the 1950s as part of, then popular, concepts that urban neighborhoods were places to drive through on your way to somewhere else. As the years have passed and Old Louisville became, what some may call, an urban frontier, evolved into a residential neighborhood and is becoming the truly elegant neighborhood it once was – we live with a horrible relic of the 1950s – one-way streets.

 Toonerville Trolley Neighbor-hood Association has taken it upon itself to work on improving the quality of life in our community and has discussed the traffic issue for several years. We firmly believe that changing the traffic patterns of one-way streets and Brook and First back to the historically correct (as originally planned) two-way streets will improve the quality of live in our neighborhood. Here is a bit of our reasoning:

 Safety and Security: It has been shown that two-way streets slow traffic. At present, one can drive nearly 50 mph to "make" the lights on these one-way streets. This high-speed traffic makes it dangerous for children and other living things – including vehicular traffic traveling on cross streets.

 Two way streets both are more secure and feel more secure than one-way streets. Most of this has to do with the way traffic flows on one-way streets, and is easily observable on 1st Street at night. The traffic on a one-way street comes in waves. All the traffic comes at one time and then there is nothing for a couple of minutes and then another wave and then nothing. Two-way streets have less of this wave effect. If there is any affect, then at least there are two waves from opposite directions keeping more eyes on the street. Also with one-way streets, one side of a building is always hidden from view (the side opposite from where the traffic is coming from). Criminals can hide on that side of a building when traffic is coming and then quickly reappear. In addition, people driving on two-way streets are more observant in general, they move at a slower rate of speed so they see more. Since traffic is slower on two-way streets (at night, not so much at rush hour when its pretty much bumper to bumper anyway), this also has a bonus affect of making the street more pedestrian friendly. That encourages people to walk along the streets adding more eyes and ears, which reduce crime. This pedestrian friendly business is also bolstered by the added feeling of security that comes from the more eyes on the street effect of two-way streets. These phenomena are very well documented in Jane Jacobs’ book, Death and Life of Great American Cities.

 Historically these streets have been two-way; it is part of the Old Louisville Neighborhood Council’s Master Plan to have them revert to two-way streets. As our neighborhood becomes more like its original historical residential and commercial community, why not make the traffic patterns historically correct?

 Brook and First now terminate at the University of Louisville, because of UofL expansion, they no longer are through fares, why then do we need to propagate the one-way street plans of the 1950s in a 21st century urban environment? Especially now, that they work even less effectively than when they were put into place.

 Two-way streets are much more convenient than one-way streets. It is much easier to find your way on a two-way street. If you do not know exactly the address and you find you should have turned left instead of right, all you have to do is turn around and go the way you came. On a one-way street, you have to go around the block, usually around four blocks if all of the adjoining streets are one-way. The problem is compounded when you do not know if the location you want is one block back or two. Most people will go the two blocks (adding at least two more blocks to the trip - this is the stuff road rage is made from) to err on the side of caution. Because if they go back only one block and are still wrong then its usually another four blocks to go back the additional one block in the first place.

 This convenience factor is the reason there is so much traffic on alleys in Old Louisville. People cut through the alleys because going around the block usually involves four blocks. Even if you know where your location is, there are still extra blocks to travel because the closest cross street may be going in the wrong direction. So most locals will take an alley to go the direction they want, increasing the traffic in the alleys and increasing the risk to neighbors in the alleys who are there taking out the garbage or walking their dog.  

 Proposed I-65 improvement: if these streets are two-way by the time the state begins redesigning the exits in Old Louisville and University of Louisville area, the traffic patterns can mesh.

 Now, is where the rubber hits the road…

 The two-way streets issue was agreed to by the membership of Toonerville then, it was taken to the Old Louisville Neighborhood Council where it received unanimous approval. Representatives met with Councilman Unseld and a feasibility study shows that it can be done.

 We will have to get approximately 75% of the landowners on Brook and First Streets to sign a petition in support of turning Brook and First Streets back into two-way streets.

 We have just started the petition process. I would like you to think about the issue and lend your support to it. I hope it will make our neighborhood a better place to live.

printers of the Old Louisville Journal

Editorial Policy: Letters and articles submitted to The Old Louisville Journal may be edited with regard to space and/or content. Letters to the Editor must be signed with a verifiable signature and address  

BJB
Restoration & Remediation
Masonry Historic Painting
Mold remediation
Tuck pointing Cornice repair
Detecting, cleaning
Waterproofing & caulking wood repair Removal & Stucco Plaster treatment

Dennis Bolton
502-582-2833 office
502-648-7682 cell
bjbbolton@aol.com
785 S. Shelby St.
Louisville, Kentucky 40203
 

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