The Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation

05/27/2026

05/15/2026

Happy Birthday, Lexington Opera House!! ✨✨

This week marks 140 years since one of downtown Lexington’s most beloved landmarks first rose at 401 West Short Street. Built in 1886 after fire claimed its predecessor, the Opera House was designed by Chicago architect Oscar Cobb, with stone masonry by Henry A. Tandy, a formerly enslaved master craftsman. Since its grand opening on July 19, 1887, the stage has welcomed Harry Houdini, Sarah Bernhardt, Fred Astaire, and the Barrymores. Paul Laurence Dunbar read his work here in 1899, and Booker T. Washington spoke from this stage in 1902.

This year also marks a milestone close to our preservation hearts: the 50th anniversary of the Opera House’s restoration. By 1973, the building had been condemned, with a roof open to pigeons and rats running the aisles. Linda Carey spotted a tiny blurb in the Lexington Leader announcing its impending demolition, rallied Mayor Foster Pettit and philanthropist William T. Young, and convinced the Lexington Center Corporation to buy it. After the roof collapsed mid-rescue, the project became a full reconstruction, and the Opera House reopened on May 7, 1976. Today it stands as one of only 14 theatres in the country built before 1900 with fewer than 1,000 seats still hosting live performances!

To honor both milestones, we’re thrilled to spotlight longtime Blue Grass Trust supporter Kevin Lane Dearinger, whose new book “At the Lexington Opera House: A Scrapbook 1887–2026” is a love letter to nearly 140 years of performances and personalities.

Pick up a copy at your favorite local bookstore like .lex and ! It’s also available online!

05/13/2026

Advocacy Alert! Blue Grass Trust is continuing to partner with Aylesford Action to oppose the loss of historic housing on Rose and Maxwell. Although developer Core Spaces failed in their effort to rezone this block last fall, they are still intending to purchase the 12 National Register-listed buildings this summer and will likely demolish them soon after.

Join us for two events and help raise awareness about this serious threat to the fabric of the Aylesford neighborhood.

This Saturday morning (May 16), Aylesford Action will be hosting an informational meeting at 221 Stone Ave from 9 to 11. We'll discuss our advocacy strategy and identify community-oriented approaches to overdevelopment and displacement.

And mark your calendars: we are also organizing a neighborhood block party near the project area on June 13. More information on that event will be forthcoming!

05/11/2026

What a way to kick off Preservation Month and Bike Month! We had so much fun last week at our first Midcentury Modern Bike Tour! Riders explored the Richard B. Isenhour gems of Lexington and it was such a success that we can’t wait to plan our next one!

Lex Bike Walk

05/06/2026

Owned by since 1998, the restored Samuel Warfield House at 338 N Upper has compelling connections to several of the city’s leading African Americans.

Around 1845, Irish rope manufacturer James Weir built this late Federal-style residence as a speculative venture. His primary, adjoining property lay to the east on N Limestone and faced what is now the Carrick House. Weir sold the new building in 1846 to Samuel Warfield, a literate bricklayer and free African American; he resided there with his wife, Harriet, and their four small children until 1851. Dry goods dealer and cattle rancher Isaac W. Scott then owned the house, selling it in 1864 to William Caldwell, another Black bricklayer. In 1893, Emily O. Warfield, who by then was working as a schoolteacher or domestic laborer, reclaimed her childhood home. When she passed away in 1910, a legal dispute between her heirs and one line of the Caldwell family resulted in the property being exposed to auction.

The Warfield House was then purchased by Fannie Chiles, who had the distinction of being the first librarian for Lexington’s Colored Seventh Day Adventist Church. Her husband, J. A. Chiles, was the second African American to practice law in the city. Recently, he had risen to national prominence for suing the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway over its segregationist seating polices. Although Chiles lost before the Supreme Court, he attained renown as the first Black lawyer to prosecute a case before that body.

In 1914, the Chileses sold the Warfield House to family friend Dr. P. D. Robinson, who had agitated against Kentucky’s Separate Coach Bill twenty years prior. Hailing from Philadelphia, he relocated to Lexington to work as the city’s second Black physician; throughout his career, he advocated for investment in public health initiatives such as the construction of a citywide sewer system. Robinson resided elsewhere on N Upper and likely used the Warfield House as an incoming-generating property. He remained in the city until 1936, when he moved to Kingston, New York, to live with his daughter.

Sources
1850, 1920 federal censuses
1838, 1860, 1867, 1909 city directories
“Chiles, James Alexander,” Notable Kentucky African Americans Database
“Furniture Sale,” Lexington Atlas, March 6, 1848
“Another Sale At Auction,” Lexington Weekly Press, November 13, 1850
“They Oppose the Bill,” Weekly Leader, March 24, 1892
“Talk about Town,” Kentucky Leader, October 26, 1893
“House and Lot,” Lexington Leader, January 26, 1910
“Colored Department,” Lexington Leader, June 20, 1915
“Leading Colored Physical Strongly Favors Sewer Bonds,” Lexington Leader, October 25, 1915
“Colored Notes,” Lexington Leader, December 28, 1943

05/04/2026

Every day, someone reaches out to the Blue Grass Trust for help saving a historic place, and because of our supporters, we are able to say yes.

From old windows and historic tax credits to preservation advice and advocacy, this work happens one building and one conversation at a time, all across Central Kentucky.
As we celebrate National Historic Preservation Month and approach the end of our fiscal year, please consider making a gift to the Blue Grass Trust Annual Fund. Your support makes this work possible!

Click the link below to donate today!
https://www.bluegrasstrust.org/annual-fund?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGn2HK0IjERy5xW4IoVRpD4j6NEb1CXbUHbPqm_vwJAQoIHcp3NDwLUmyGA2X4_aem_VP1ix2TqQ-mrG-cJGobu8g

04/29/2026

Join us as we kick off Preservation Month with a special deTour at historic White Hall—with a big announcement that night!

Tucked into the rolling farmland of northern Madison County, this sprawling 44-room mansion is best known as the home of Cassius Marcellus Clay — one of Kentucky’s most outspoken emancipationists, a fiery political figure, and U.S. Minister to Russia. Originally built in 1799 by his father, General Green Clay, as a modest seven-room home, White Hall was transformed over the decades into the grand, 10,000-plus-square-foot Italianate mansion we see today. His wife, Mary Jane Warfield Clay, oversaw its dramatic expansion while he served abroad, and their daughters — including Laura Clay — went on to play leading roles in the women’s suffrage movement. Few houses in Kentucky so powerfully reflect one family’s impact on the state’s political and social history. deTours are always free and open to the public!

White Hall
500 White Hall Shrine Road, Richmond, KY
Wednesday, May 6th
6:00 PM

04/27/2026

Celebrate Preservation Month and Bike Month with a fun, safe, and educational ride through Lexington’s most concentrated collection of Richard B. Isenhour designed homes! Active from the 1950s through the 1980s, Isenhour was a key figure in introducing mid-century modern residential design to Central Kentucky. His work often used natural materials like wood and local limestone alongside expansive windows that brought a strong connection between architecture and the landscape, resulting in homes that were both innovative and harmonious with their sites.
The route follows a safe, low-traffic loop through residential neighborhoods. This one-hour guided ride is open to cyclists of all experience levels. For safety, helmets are required. The event is free, but registration is required. Click the link below for the bike tour route and registration!

Mid-Century Modern Bike Tour
Meeting Point: UK Arboretum Water Tower
Friday, May 8th @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

https://www.bluegrasstrust.org/mid-century-modern-bike-tour

04/24/2026

Part 2 of our series on Belle Brezing explores her lost house and brothel at 59 Megowan Street (now the SW corner of Eastern and Wilson).

With a commanding view of downtown Lexington, Brezing’s “most orderly of disorderly houses” was originally built by grocer Michael Foley in the Romanesque style. She relocated to this property around 1889 after having secured the patronage of William H. Singerly, who was the owner of the Philadelphia Record and a large landholder in that city. When the house suffered a fire in 1895, Brezing added a full third floor and expanded it to 20 rooms. Replete with stained glass windows and Honduran mahogany parquetry, the bo****lo was designed to cater to an upscale clientele. Smoking and lewd talk were banned at this establishment.

The area surrounding the mansion gradually developed into a red-light district, as Belle’s former “girls” ventured out and set up their own enterprises. Along with Brezing, women such as Blanch Patterson and Lizzie Hill were regularly arrested for selling liquor without licenses or operating houses of ill repute; in October 1912 alone, 17 brothelkeepers were on the criminal docket! But the outbreak of war put a damper on these activities. Fearing for his recruits’ health, a commissioner at nearby Camp Stanley dispatched undercover agents to investigate the extent of prostitution in the city. Their shocking revelations triggered an anti-vice crusade that led Belle to shutter her business in 1917.

Brezing remained a resident of 59 Megowan until her death from cancer in 1940. Although she undertook repairs in 1934, she had struggled to maintain the property. An auction of her estate items attracted a frenzied crowd, as Lexingtonians scrambled for souvenirs of Belle’s epoque. Thereafter, the house was converted into a hotel and, later, the Floral Apartments.

Tragedy struck in 1973, when an unattended seven-year-old incited a flash fire by dousing an open-gas heater with igniter fluid. Resident Carol Smith perished from injuries sustained in the blaze, and the building was declared a total loss. Soon after, auctioneer – and Brezing biographer – Buddy Thompson oversaw the sale of house’s salvaged materials.

Addendum: A Katherine Myers resided at Belle Brezing’s house on Megowan and possibly engaged in s*x work prior to her arrest for grand larceny in 1915. Nearly a decade later, she returned to Lexington using the alias of “Mrs. L. A. Littleton.” Claiming to be the wealthy wife of prominent New York lawyer Martin Littleton and the niece of horseman Montford Jones, she was soon accepted into the city’s high society. Yet Myers’ cover was blown when her checks to the Phoenix and Lafayette hotels bounced. Local police also received an arrest warrant from Chicago, as she allegedly had defrauded the Drake Hotel there in like fashion.

As Myers languished in county jail for eight months, the papers remained transfixed on her legal case. Ultimately, she was released after the Governor of Kentucky refused to hand her over to the Illinois authorities. Committed to the bit, she then “announced her intention of going East to attend to some business matters…from there she would go to Europe and join her grandmother and sister in France.” Myers’ fate is unknown.


Sources
Buddy Thompson, Madame Belle Brezing (1983)
“171 Cases on Criminal Docket,” Lexington Leader, October 6, 1912
“256 Cases on Criminal Docket,” Lexington Leader, March 16, 1916
“Woman Knows as ‘Mrs. Littleton’ Recognized Here,” Lexington Leader, December 23, 1924
“Mrs. Littleton Still in Jail,” Lexington Herald, December 25, 1924
“Mrs. Littleton Leaves County Jail, Will Visit ‘Quiet Spot in Country’ Before Going to East and Europe,” Lexington Herald, July 15, 1925
“County Court Orders,” Lexington Leader, October 10, 1926
“Building Permits,” Lexington Leader, June 14, 1934
“Boy, 7, Admits He Caused Fatal Fire,” Lexington Leader, December 18, 1973
John Alexander, “‘The Disorderly House’ Recalls Local Landmark,” Herald-Leader, December 29, 1974
Paul Barker, “Woman Hospitalized After Fire Sweeps Floral Apartments,” Lexington Herald, December 13, 1973

04/08/2026

Today’s BGT Plaque Property post recounts the history of the beautifully rehabilitated Hugh Carlan House at 149 E Fourth Street.

Around 1814, house-joiner Samuel Long constructed this Federal-style building, along with several other brick dwellings on the east side of Limestone. A contemporary of local architect Matthew Kennedy, Long ran his business with the assistance of apprentices. Occasionally these teens fled his employ; in 1809, Long offered $30 for the return of Thomas Casey, whom he described as having “a down look; very coarse made to his height.” Months after completing the Carlan House, Long fell into debt and was forced to liquidate his assets. The building’s windows were elongated in the Italianate style in the later nineteenth century.

Hugh Carlan(d), who purchased the 220-foot-wide parcel in August 1814, hailed from Patrick, Virginia, and was working as a carter in the 1830s. William Wiseman, a former owner of the Wiseman & Monks bagging and rope factory near the Maysville Pike, acquired Carlan’s property in 1855 and proceeded to subdivide in the land. In 1860, he sold the 60-foot-wide section on which the house sat to Thomas Kane, who remained there until his death in 1897. At that point, ownership passed to son Thomas Kane Jr., who had relocated to Kokomo, Indiana, and worked at the plate glass and rubber factories there. His sisters, Mayme and Katie, continued to occupy the Lexington house. Tragedy struck Thomas in 1902, when the gas stove in his kitchen exploded, killing his wife, Bridget. After suffering an illness in 1930, Thomas returned to his ancestral home and died there two years later.

Miraculously, the house survived two proximate fires. In 1897, “tramps” allegedly incinerated the barn behind it, where they had been squatting. Another fire in 1965 consumed a frame structure in the same area.

In 2015, the current owner undertook a massive rehabilitation of the neglected building, constructing a sizable frame addition that harmonizes with the original massing.

To learn more about the house builders of early Lexington, do attend a special tour of the Matthew Kennedy House on April 12
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/matthew-kennedy-house-tour-and-tea-tickets-1984402814236?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGnC33s7EKQifia9N1UU0DJSi10le8BxoJ2COVNtvnI-FyH_qkEsc80KEwFuQo_aem_lV_duO1L9kOEp_oFfKP24A

04/01/2026

Advocacy Alert! Join Aylesford Action and the Aylesford Place Neighborhood Association for a community meeting on April 7, 6 pm, at Kentucky Native Café to discuss the state of the Hub project on the corner of Maxwell and Rose. We invite anyone interested in preservation, affordable neighborhoods, or private equity’s takeover of Lexington real estate to attend!

Last fall, Blue Grass Trust successfully partnered with Aylesford Action and members of the Aylesford Place Neighborhood Association to challenge the rezoning of the northwest block of Rose and Maxwell that contains 12 National Register-listed properties. Core Spaces, a national private equity firm, had intended to build an 8-story, private dormitory on the parcel; this would have been the third such project on a 3-block span of Maxwell, following the Stavroff and Subtext developments. In an 8-7 vote, the Council ruled against the rezoning, citing the loss of historic, affordable housing and the site’s proximity to the Aylesford H-1 overlay district.

We anticipated that this would not be the end of the debacle. And sure enough, we have learned that Core Spaces still intends to purchase every property on that block this June. No new plans have been filed. The APNA contacted Core Spaces’ lawyer for clarification and did not receive a response. We therefore surmise that Core Spaces may demolish all of the buildings in this area and then request the zone change again, which would be an unprecedented maneuver that undermines the Council’s authority.

During this community meeting, we will identify strategies and opportunities for collaboration to preserve this threatened section of Aylesford and prevent the displacement of its residents. Please visit our website’s Advocacy page for additional information on the Hub project and read our historic preservation manager’s op-eds, which we have featured on our blog.