Built in 1905, this was originally the J.T.S. Brown & Sons building. Brown & Sons were a whiskey company that eventually transmogrified into the Brown-Forman company we know and love today.
The building was designed by Dennis Xavier Murphy, who also designed Waverly Hills Sanitarium.
After prohibition shut down the Browns, there was a grocer here and then a coffee company, and then the place has sat dead since 1960, amazingly. It's one of the most strikingly beautiful facades on the block, with yellowy-golden trim that still looks shiny and shimmery today.
Supposedly this whole block is to get a facelift and a new lease (no pun intended) on life with fancy loft condos, but that's something that's been yapped about endlessly and never seems to happen. We continue to wait and hope.
I'm thinking it would be a great market complex like the one in Seattle. We'll never see anything like that here though...
ReplyDeleteI'm ok with whatever as long as they dont tear themdown
ReplyDeleteAccording to more recent news, the interior and Washington Street facade of the building are slated for demolition, but the Main Street facade will thankfully be preserved. I for one am glad that the much-hyped Whiskey Row revitalization has finally taken off... it's almost halfway there, folks!
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