This imposing Federal-style house with Italianate trim has stood abandoned, along the side of a major highway, for a number of years. Water intrusion is quickening the deterioration of the interior, while the exterior is facing spalding bricks and loose framework.
History
The original Federal-style house may have been the homestead of A. J. Hitt, who was listed as an operator of a flour and grist mill in Millersburg, Kentucky from 1865 to 1866.(1) At some time before 1877, William Tarr, a successful farmer and distiller, was responsible for the Italianate improvements. Tarr was an astute businessman, partner of Hibler and George C. White in the Chicken Cock Distillery in East Paris in the 1860s. By 1877, he was a proprietor of the Ashland Distilling Company in Lexington.
The house featured extensive Italianate trim, seemingly incorporating the smaller Federal house. The main entry way has fine Flemish-bond brickwork on the front wall, which was an expensive and laborious process to complete. The interior features several surviving doors and other elements from the Federal-era, however, most were swallowed up in the Italianate improvements shortly after the Civil War.(1)
The residence contains a two-story ell extension and another two-story section south of the main block, all constructed at different times. There is extensive cornice on the low-pitched roofs, and an elaborate front porch with paired columns and spandrel trim.(1)
The house was used up until 1985,(1) but it is unknown when it was actually abandoned.
Gallery
Sources
- Langsan, Walter E., and William Gus Johnson. Historic Architecture of Bourbon County, Kentucky. N.p.: Historic Paris-Bourbon County, Inc., 1985. 99.
Hello,
I want to go, I want to go, I want to go. Please take me with you on your next adventure. I will carry your equipment, fetch you water, whatever. I absolutley love this website. I discovered it this morning and I am hooked. I am very saddened and intrigued by the Church’s and the horrible condition that they are now in and how this came to be. I love my Church and it is no where near the architectural beauty that some of these abandoned church’s are and I would be very sad if in the future my church was abandoned. Please continue do photograph and document for my enjoyment and remeber if you need an errand Lady to go with you I will be more than happy to.
Best regards,
Melissa
This house and surrounding 700 acres comprised Bourbon Hills Farm from 1963 through 1993
and was owned by Dr. Wallace S. Karutz.
What a sad thing it is indeed when the beauty and perfection of such a once proud home is documented and appreciated only now, when it is left deteriorating and falling apart, nearly forgotten about by uncaring owners and caretakers. In the end, it’s everyone’s fault for being shortsighted and complacent; refusing to demand that such places be cared for and kept for future generations to appreciate and take awe in as we surround ourselves with cheap, disposable junk. How unfortunate to think that this will probably become another uninspiring Wal-Mart, Meijer, CVS, McDonald’s or Speedway site in the future.
I agree Scott! Thankfully, it is in a rural area so it isn’t threatened with development, but it’s still sad to see it wasting away ever so slowly.