18"x 7 3/4" print on artisan paper.
Main Street, Louisville, Kentucky
West Main Street was constructed from the early 1800's to the 1890's. This distinctive area is known as the Historical "West Main Street Preservation District", which has the 2nd largest collection of cast iron architecture in the United States. It has been said that the Main Street District is the most impressive and continuous visual record of a 19th century cities commercial activity in existence.
Cast iron structures were the forerunner of the steel skyscraper. Previous buildings were built with masonry, brick and stone. Cast iron buildings could be mail ordered from catalogs and shipped anywhere in the world. They were cheaper, lighter and stronger structures, which allowed for larger window openings. Ornamentation was limited only by the imagination. Thin columns and large windows are a distinguishing characteristic of the style.
West Main Street buildings were originally built as warehouses near the commercial riverfront. Original uses included a bank, wholesale grocery, hardware store, stove and tin company, and saddle, harness, and clothing store. What was a cheap, innovative, and practical design of the 1800’s has become one of Louisville's great treasures today.
