Bellevoir Mansion, Bellevoir Circle, Louisville

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS KY-275. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Bellevoir Circle, Lyndon, Jefferson County, Kentucky The Bellevoir Ormsby Village Mansion is located at Latitude: Longitude: The coordinate was obtained in using Google Earth There is no restriction on its release to the public. The Bellevoir Ormsby Village Mansion is located in the town of Lydon in Louisville Kentucky. The mansion is south of the Louisville Free Public Library s Northeast Regional Library in the Bellevoir Circle Park. This site is accessible from a one way street named Bellevoir Circle which can be accessed off Ormsby Station Road. The main entrance of the mansion is facing towards the center of the park, the rear of the building is approached from the street parking lot. Owner: Louisville Free Public Library

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS KY-275. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Hamilton Ormsby, the member of a prominent family of Jefferson County, built this two and a half story mansion in and it was originally used as his family s estate. This building had many uses over its history contributing to Jefferson County. This mansion was mostly used as a foster home for children after its use as a family residence. At the time, this children s home used advanced ideas in childcare such as prioritizing education and recreation over work exploitation, separating juvenile forms of treatment and facilities from adults, and having a rural location rather than an urban location.

Description: From the center of the Bellevoir Circle Park the front of the building can be seen on the edge of the greenspace on the opposite side of the Louisville Free Public Library s Northeast Regional Library. This mansion is two and a half stories, made of brick construction set in common bond painted white. The overall style of the mansion is Italianate. The rear of the building was added later which can be seen by the differentiating styles and materials used. The rooms that were added later are currently known as the pantry, lobby, kitchen, and study. The date of the addition is unknown. Approaching the entrance of the Italianate country home from the green space, the exterior of the building is almost symmetrical.

There are a few subtle differences that break up the symmetry of the building such as the dimensions of the side porches, and location of the chimneys. The interior of the building is not a symmetrical floor plan. There are six chimneys total, five are from fireplaces, and one is from the boiler room that is located in the cellar. The mansion is topped with a metal folded seam and soldered roof. BELLEVOIR MANSION HABS No. KY 275 (page 2) Detailed wrought iron railing is located on the front porch of the main entry, as well as on the flat roof over the front porch. Detailed wrought iron is also used on the vents from the cellar that can be seen from the exterior of the building. The wrought iron on the front porch and the vents include symmetrical patterns of floral and leaves designs.

There are a few repeated motifs in the building's architecture that include floral, leaves, and dentils. The east and west porches use wooden railing instead of wrought iron railing that is only used in the front entrance. The front edges of the building include brick quoins. A set of a few concrete stairs deliver the visitor through the wrought iron rails, past the porch, and through the exterior vestibule to the front door entrance. The front door is an arched wooden double door with large, frosted glass lights. The frosted glass includes motifs of floral and leaves. The front door is framed by a style of trim that is used on the vestibule as well as the doors and windows inside of the building.

The original windows on the first and second floor are tall and slender, they are taller on the first floor than they are on the second floor. These windows are arched which matches the arched motif of the vestibule opening and front door. The attic windows are also arched with the same width as the windows below but are much shorter. The windows on the first and second floors have designed wood and terracotta pediments that include dentils and leaves details. The two windows on the second floor in the center above the front entrance have a greater arch and a different style of pediment further drawing the viewer's attention to the central entrance. Upon entering the building from the main entrance, the visitor arrives in the main hall that leads to the central stairs.

The front entrance trim motif is continued on the trim interior doors and windows. On the right side of the main hall, in a smaller hall, another set of stairs is tucked away. This set is smaller and less detailed and leads all the way up to the attic while the main central stairs do not. The nineteenth century interior includes high walls topped with a thick crown molding, and tall trim along the base of the plaster walls. In the original part of the building the floors are narrow wood planking. In the addition of the building the floors are tile and triple basketweave terracotta. One of the many unique features of this building is its built in interior shutters on the slender arch windows in almost every window.

Some of the interior rooms include detailed fireplaces with wrought iron floral details on the mantels and covers. The dining room includes a large built in mirror above its mantle. BELLEVOIR MANSION HABS No. KY 275 (page 3) This building is intact but has suffered some damage from weather and vandalism. History: Hamilton Ormsby was a member of a prominent family in Jefferson County. His grandfather, Judge Stephen Ormsby, was a district and circuit court judge in Jefferson County, a member of congress from and president of the US Bank in Louisville. The Bellevoir Ormsby mansion was built around by Hamilton Ormsby on his estate and served as the Ormsby family home.

This structure is a two and a half story Italianate style mansion that overlooks the railroad tracks leading into Lydon, Kentucky. This estate had many uses over its history and bore many different names. The main significance of this estate was its use in foster care for children. In this estate became the Parental Home and School for children. The home later merged with surrounding foster care systems and became known as the Louisville and Jefferson County Children's Home at Ormsby Village. This site included a separate community known as Ridgewood with a home and school for African American children.

After segregation ended in the Ridgewood and Ormsby Village merged into one system and the educational services were later provided by During the after the closure of the treatment center, the buildings on the estate were used by the Jefferson County government for offices until the surrounding property was developed into the Hurstbourne Green office park. The other institutional buildings were demolished, but the Bellevoir mansion was preserved. The mansion was added to the National Register of Historic Places in The Bellevoir mansion is an excellent example of an Italianate country home and is one of few existing homes of this style in Jefferson County.

Currently, the Louisville Free Public Library's Northeast Regional Library is established on the North side of this property and includes the Bellevoir mansion in its surrounding park.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS KY-275. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Bellevoir. Historic Louisville Guide. Ormsby Village School. History. Stoffel, J. May National notebook: Louisville, more growth for suburbs. The New York Times. notebook louisville ky more growth for suburbs.htm BELLEVOIR MANSION HABS No. KY 275 (page 4) U.S. Department of the Interior. NPGallery asset detail. National Parks Service.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS KY-275. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

This project was completed independently by a first year graduate student in the University of Kentucky College of Design Architecture Program under the direction of Professor Mark O Bryan and Professor Dan Vivian. This project was offered as an independent study, ARC 599 Spring Photos, measurements, drawings, and data were accumulated by Mark O Bryan, Dan Vivian, Doug Foster, and Jennifer Stieben. The documentation was submitted to the Peterson Prize competition.