Last weekend, nearly 40 perambulators made a trek through Old Louisville, exploring historic walking courts and new developments. The neighborhood is the densest in Louisville, with a wide range of historic structures, local businesses, and an intriguing urban design.
We gathered at Cafecito, a new coffee shop next to Old Louisville’s primary commercial corridor along Oak Street. High turnout for the event did not slow down the Cafecito staff, with quick service allowing us to leave right on time at 11 am.
The group made its way towards our first stop, the new Kentucky College of Art and Design (KyCAD) campus, just across the street on Garvin Place. There, we were joined by KyCAD CFO Denise O’Donnell, who walked us through the entire campus and the facilities it provides for students. The new campus is housed in a former milk factory, with several buildings now integrated into one another to form a modern college campus.
As you may expect, the KyCAD campus was filled to the brim with art. Denise first showed us around the space dedicated to graphic design students and olfactory arts students, which contained both historic and modern graphic design equipment. The learning and classroom space was also surrounded by the office spaces of professors and administrators, an intentional choice to allow students easy access to college leadership.
Soon after, we entered one of the largest spaces at KyCAD. The fourth floor is home to the student studios; every KyCAD student gets their own personal studio space as part of their tuition. In this room, you could see spread amongst the desks the work of experimental fashion and body arts students. This is also the room where film students could screen their work.
The walls themselves were lined with graffiti art from when the space was vacant, which was left in place when KyCAD moved in. In fact, many of the people who sprayed the graffiti would end up becoming KyCAD students.
Upstairs was the library space, also used as studio space for studio arts students. Here we learned that KyCAD is the only school in the United States with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Body Arts.
Our final stop at KyCAD brought us to a former auto shop, which KyCAD was currently utilizing as a woodworking and student design space. The space will be transformed further in the coming weeks, Denise actually had to move more into this space right after we left.
Following KyCAD we walked back across Oak Street to Garvin Gate, where the President of the Old Louisville Neighborhood Council (OLNC), Michael Rady, gave a rundown on some of Old Louisville’s history, its demographics, and the historical importance of Garvin Gate. We then looked beyond the gate at Oak, where Michael talked to us about the $3 million dollars the state provided for a streetscape redesign and economic development along the commercial corridor.
From there, we took a long stroll to Oak and 1st Street, where Dan Borsch is currently working on converting a commercial space into a boutique hotel and microbrewery. We were not able to tour the space, but Barry Kornstein of the Ouerbacker Court Neighborhood Association gave us an overview of the plans.
A few blocks south of Dan’s property is Ouerbacker Court, a historic walking court with its own neighborhood association. Barry talked to us about the unique history of the court, being a bit younger than its more well-known sibling courts and being designed for working-class homes rather than Victorian mansions. We also learned the court is home to some of the best Halloween decor in the neighborhood.
While our next official stop was at Belgravia Court, we made a brief visit to Second and Magnolia to see the origin of the term “MagBar”. At this intersection sits Magnolia Bar and Grill, most famous for being the victim of several incidents where cars slammed into the storefront. Here, Michael Rady also talked about the upcoming two-way conversions of Second and Third Streets. These conversions will hopefully slow down vehicle traffic and make “MagBarring” a thing of the past.
A few blocks away, we arrived at Belgravia Court. The sister court of St. James Court, the intersection of the two is likely the most famous part of Old Louisville. Michael Rady talked to the group about the history of the court, its significance in Old Louisville, and the importance of the LGBTQ community in the neighborhood.
Our final stop is a former gas station at 3rd and Hill Street, a site that has sat vacant for several years. The lot was recently bought by Kate and Mike Meador of Nerdy Bird Properties, who are currently in the midst of renovating the property to make it a multi-use commercial and recreational space called Hill Street Pavilion. The former garage will be converted a bar and coffee shop, while the space under the larger covering structure will be used for seating, games, and special events. Food trucks will also be common visitors to the site.
As is tradition, a few perambulators wrapped things up at a local restaurant. The Old Louisville Tavern a block south hosted us as we talked further about the walk, Old Louisville, and beyond. Unfortunately, I was so enraptured in conversation that I forgot to take a picture.
A massive thanks to our hosts: Denise O’Donnell, Michael Rady, Barry Kornstein, and the Meadors for making this event happen. If you’d like to be on the email list for future SoUP events, please email Patrick Piuma (patrick.piuma@louisville.edu) to be added. You can also hear about future events through our Facebook group.
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