By Kevin Murphy Wilson • Photos By Matt Johnson
In addition to its noteworthy involvement in concerts, plays, art shows and craft beer festivals, the Old Louisville Neighborhood Council regularly provides guided historical and architectural walking tours via the Historic OldLouisville Visitors Center in the heart of Central Park. The OLNC team also organizes the annual Old Louisville Holiday Home Tour, a beloved winter tradition in which ten of the area’s most magnificent mansions and townhomes are dressed for the occasion and opened to the public as a special fundraiser. We recently chatted with OLNC Executive Director Shawn Fields Williams to see what is in store for the December 7-8 festivities. Williams was joined for the VOICE-TRIBUNE photoshoot at 505 West Ormsby Avenue by KyCAD President Moira Scott Payne who graciously opened up KyCAD’s Speed Mansion campus for this year’s tour, while Williams’ husband Kevin welcomed us into their condo at 1345 South 4th Street.
VT: How did Old Louisville become so significant both locally and nationally?
SFW: “In the 1960s, Doug Nunn, an urban affairs reporter with the Courier-Journal, convinced the publisher, Barry Bingham, Sr. that the ‘mansion area south of Broadway’ was rapidly being lost to urban renewal. He said that if they did not act fast, it would be gone. Barry Bingham, Sr. understood this all too well, since his mother grew up in one of the Old Louisville homes that had been lost. Nunn convinced Bingham and Eli Huston Brown III, a philanthropist, who also grew up on St. James Court, to form a group called ‘Restoration Inc.’ to buy nine homes on the west quadrants of Belgravia Court, restore and sell them. Although the initial project was a financial loss, the preservation movement had been launched, and Belgravia had been transformed. The Old Louisville Association was also born at this time, which served as a strong advocate for the preservation efforts. In 1974, the City of Louisville requested that a 48 square block of Victorian era homes be protected under the National Register of Historic Places run by the National Park Service. A highly detailed application describing each of the homes block by block was submitted and approved. Today, Old Louisville is recognized as the largest contiguous collection of Victorian mansions in the United States.”
VT: That’s fascinating. What can you tell us about your current work at the Old Louisville Neighborhood Council?
SFW: “The mission of the OLNC is to protect and promote the historic preservation district while advancing the arts to build community. We’re always trying to find ways to collaborate with the visionaries of this community such as neighborhood leaders, architects, universities, or organizations who are committed to Old Louisville such as KyCAD, Kentucky Shakespeare, the Filson Historical Society, and Crane House.”
VT: How does the Holiday Home Tour fit into your recurring repertoire
SFW: “The Old Louisville Holiday Home Tour is now entering its 47th year as the primary fundraiser of the Old Louisville NeighborhoodCouncil. Each year, the Tour features ten historic mansions and townhomes dressed in their holiday finery. Thanks to the generosity of the participating homeowners, attendees get an inside glimpse of these marvelous Victorian era homes. It is a self-paced, easy walking tour in the heart of the Victorian mansion district. At each home, volunteer docents will greet the visitors and give them an introduction to the home’s history and architecture, so it is an educational as well as an enrichment tour. I often say, the Holiday Home Tour is not just a Christmas tour but an art and antique lover’s dream tour.”
VT: What makes this year’s outing special?
SFW: “This year will feature the wonderful addition of Kentucky Shakespeare offering play vignettes from ‘Romeo and Juliet’ at their Old Louisville headquarters on Myrtle Street. The West End Baptist Church on Fourth Street will invite guests into the sanctuary and have many choirs singing all weekend. Plus, this year we are especially pleased that the J.B. Speed Mansion, home to the Kentucky College of Art + Design, will be open to tour.”
VT: Is there anything potential attendees need to know?
SFW: “The 2024 Old Louisville Holiday Home Tour unfolds Saturday and Sunday, December 7-8, from 12-5 pm. Tickets are $30 in advance, but children 17 and under are free when accompanying a parent. To get started, everyone must pick up their ticket/brochure with the list of participating houses from the Old Louisville Visitors Center in Central Park (1340 S. 4th Street).”
For tickets and more information go to oldlouisville.org.
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