Louisville Medical College, 101 West Chestnut Street, Louisville

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS KY,56-LOUVI,15-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Louisville Medical College is one of the largest and finest Richardsonian Romanesque buildings in Louisville. It stands as testimony to a time when Louisville was second only to New York City in medical education. PART I. HISTORICAL INFORMATION A. Physical History: 1. Date of erection: Because of the scandal attached to its erection next to the Female High School, contemporary accounts of its erection are virtually nonexistent. From annual catalogues and announcements of the school it is known that its completion date was September 11, the first day of classes. 2. /.'chitects: Clarke and Loomis. Charles Julian Clarke was born in Frankfort, Kentucky in Following schooling in Louisville and at the University of Kentucky, he served an apprenticeship under Whitestone.

He then worked with the Bradshaw Brothers, later establishing an independent practice. In he took on Arthur Loomis as a full partner in the firm. He maintained this partnership until his death in Arthur Loomis was born in in Westfield, Massachusetts. In his family migrated to Jeffersonville, Indiana, where he was to live the majority of his life. His study of architecture began in He was employed by Clarke, later, in becoming a partner with him. Following the death of Clarke in he moved to Louisville where he worked with Julius Hartman, later establishing an independent practice which lasted until his death in Major buildings designed by the firm of Clarke and Loomis are as follow: LOUISVILLE MEDICAL COLLEGE HABS No. (Page 2) Stuart Robinson Memorial Church St.

Paul's Episcopal Church, Jeffersonville. Theophilus Conrad Residence St. Peter's German Evangelical Church Whiteside Bakery Todd Building Cell House Indiana State Reformatory... J. Bacon and Sons Store Gibbs-Inman Co. Building Original and subsequent owners: The Louisville Medical College is built on lot 35 of block 16-A in the Qi.ty of Louisville. The following references tracing the title of this lot are found in the Jefferson County, Kentucky Deed Books: Deed, April 20, recorded in Deed Book page Doyle and Mary Doyle sold a lot located at the northwest corner of the intersection of First and Chestnut Streets, to Kelly, trustee, for Deed, July 13, recorded in Deed Book page Kelly, trustee, and Katie H. Kelley, J.A. Ireland and Susan M. Ireland, Kastenbine and Anna M.

Kastenbine, Sam Cochran and Emma Cochran, George M. Warner and Thea French Warner, A.M. Cartledge and Ella G. Cartledge, and Ritter and Caroline J. Ritter, all by Robert W. Herr, Commissioner of the Jefferson Circuit Court, conveyed the property to Fidelity Trust and Safety Vault Company, trustee for Kelly, George M. Warner, A.M. Cartledge, and H.B.Ritter. Deed, March 1, recorded in Deed Book page Fidelity Trust Company, trustee by Commissioner of the Jefferson County Circuit Court, Kelly, Ritter, and Fidelity Trust Company, trustees and executors of the will of A.M. Cartledge, Clinton w. Kelly and Kate Harris Kelly, Ritter and Caroline Johnstone Ritter, William Cheatham, William C.

Dugan and Elizabeth Haight Dugan, Irvin Abell and Carrie Harting Abell, Zimmerman and Ella Taylor Zimmerman, Hugh N. Leavell and Hallie Rodman Leavell, Ellis Duncan and Annie Kinnaird Duncan, Harris Kelly, Sidney J. Meyers and Daisy Hess Meyers, and Bernard J. O'Connor and Paula Rosen O'Connor sold the property to the President and Trustees of the University of Louisville for (considerably less than its original construction cost of LOUISVILLE MEDICAL COLLEGE HABS No. (Page 3) 4. Original plans and construction: No original plans are known to survive. The best architectural descriptions of the building as originally constructed are found in the annual annoucements and catalogues of the College for the school years, and 5.

Alterations and additions: The exterior of the building remains virtually unaltered with the exception of a red tile roof on the corner tower which replaced the original slate roof. The interior of the building has been modernized and remodeled numerous times so that virtually none of the original fabric, except for basic wall and floor structure, remains. Extensive remodelings occured after the building's purchase in and in B. Historical Context: At the time of its construction, Louisville contained the second largest amount of medical students in the United States. Besides the Louisville Medical School, there were numerous other medical schools in the city, all of which engaged in a keen competition for enrollment.

Operated as a private school, funding for the new building came from the faculty of the college alone. The financial panic of inflicted a severe hardship on the school, from which it never fully recovered. From the time of its erection until its final abandonment in the it served in the training of thousands of doctors. PART II. ARCHITECTURAL INFORMATION General description: The three-story Richardsonian Romanesque building is sheathed with stone walls, rock-faced throughout. In the center of the front (south) facade is a frontispiece consisting of a pediment and a Richardsonian arched entryway with columns. Its height is slightly higher than the main roof. A five-story tover at the southeast corner of the building has minarets, and is topped by a steep pyramidal roof.

Several additional entry arches, again with columns and some wth more than one arch, exist in the east and west elevations. Except for a few arched windows, simple rectangular windows ace used throughout the structure. An original cast-iron stairway with ornate designs still exists unaltered in the interior. PART III. SOURCES OF INFORMATION A. Early Views: Early lithographs of the building are located in the library of the Medical School of the University of Louisville. B.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS KY,56-LOUVI,15-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

1. Primary and unpublished sources: LOUISVILLE MEDICAL COLLEGE HABS No. (Page 4) Deed Books located in the County Clerk's Office, Jefferson County Courthouse, Louisville, Kentucky. 2. Secondary and published sources: Johnston, j. Stoddard. Memorial History of Louisville, from its First Settlement to the Year Chicago: American Biographical Publishing Company, Lewis, Alvin Fayette, A.M., History of Higher Education in Kentucky. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, "Annual Catalogue of the Louisville Medical College, Louisville: Courier-Journal Job Printing Company, "Annual Catalogue of the Louisville Medical College, Louisville: Courier-Journal Job Printing Company, "Annual Annoucement of the Louisville Medical College, Louisville: John P.

Morton and Company, "Home of Two Departments of the University of Louisville, the Pride of the City". Courier-Journal, March 25, PART IV. PROJECT INFORMATION The project was undertaken by the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) in cooperation with the Preservation Alliance of Louisville and Jefferson County, Inc. Under the direction of John Poppeliers, chief of HABS, the project was completed during the summer of at the HABS Field Office in Louisville by Prof. John Haggard, (Syracuse University), Project Supervisor; David Arbogast (Columbia University), Project Historian; Mary Oehrlein, Project Foreman; Bayer Lee (City College of New York), Architect; and Mary M. Herd (University of Tennessee) and Charles Raith (University of Cincinnati), student assistant architects.

Susan McCown, a HABS staff historian in the Washington, office, edited the written descriptive data in the spring of for transmittal to the Library of Congress. HABS staff photographer Jack E. Boucher took the photographs of the structures in ADDENDUM TO HABS No.

Louisville Medical College

Ur^C (UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE, MEDICAL SCHOOL) VlPiQS 101 West Chestnut Street ]CV Louisville ! Jefferson County ^& ~tOUVf Kentucky icz XEROGRAPHIC COPIES OF COLOR TRANSPARENCIES HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Washington,