There is a reason why I have given fund raising my highest priority these two years I have served on the Board of North Shore. I know from experience the advantages that strong fundraising
events can have for a neighborhood. For far too long this association has relied on grants and handouts from the city rather than take charge of our own affairs by utilizing the tremendous
talent we have in this neighborhood to become financially independent.
During the years I as first treasurer and then president of the Belgravia Court the only thing we ever received from the City of Louisville was a water bill for the irrigation system. The Second Street Association started a garden tour as its fundraiser. Proceeds have been used to install the
period style lights like we have along Coffee Pot Bayou. As I said, the City of Louisville gives nothing to the neighborhoods. We did it all ourselves, each finding or becoming part of a
fundraising event. The Holiday House Tour, when I was on the Committee, grossed in excess of $34,000. But nothing equaled the Art Show. And it started with clotheslines hung between the great horse chestnut trees by the residents of the court.
It was thanks to the accumulated years of work at fundraising the St. James Court was able to save and preserve one of the finest examples of Richardsonian Romanesque Revival domestic architecture. The house had been given to the Presbyterian Church to use as a retirement home. An incompatible rear wing had been added in the 1950s for rooms for the elderly. Fortunately, it
does not show from the Court. The Church decided to sell and it looked like it would become office space. The association used its revenue stream form the art show to purchase the building for several hundred thousand and turn it into a museum. St. James, not the city, holds title to the
property. The city underwrites the cost of two ante bellum plantation houses, one designed by Thomas Jefferson. There was no interest in a downtown mansion barely a hundred years old. St.
James did make it abundantly clear that the Conrad/Caldwell House, as it is called, had to become self supporting. The house was just getting started the two years I served on the board
and chaired the fundraising committee. But somehow we kept the boiler fired up for the heat and even relaid the slate roof. Talk about a money pit. But what a house. If interested, there is
information about the museum and the various neighborhood associations on the website,www.oldlouisville.com. It is a good example of what can be done with a website for a historic
preservation district. Check it out.
Obviously, there are many differences in the two neighborhoods. This one is has yet to get its historic district designation. But the underlying principle is the same. You don?’t take a few pictures on clotheslines and turn it into a nationally recognized outdoor art show unless many people with different ideas come together for a common purpose. The result is a financial independence undreamed of here. But even more important is the sense of community you build.
We can do the same here, not with an art show, but with our Candlelight Tour of Homes, now in its 3rd year, by adding a garden tour, and who knows what else.
events can have for a neighborhood. For far too long this association has relied on grants and handouts from the city rather than take charge of our own affairs by utilizing the tremendous
talent we have in this neighborhood to become financially independent.
During the years I as first treasurer and then president of the Belgravia Court the only thing we ever received from the City of Louisville was a water bill for the irrigation system. The Second Street Association started a garden tour as its fundraiser. Proceeds have been used to install the
period style lights like we have along Coffee Pot Bayou. As I said, the City of Louisville gives nothing to the neighborhoods. We did it all ourselves, each finding or becoming part of a
fundraising event. The Holiday House Tour, when I was on the Committee, grossed in excess of $34,000. But nothing equaled the Art Show. And it started with clotheslines hung between the great horse chestnut trees by the residents of the court.
It was thanks to the accumulated years of work at fundraising the St. James Court was able to save and preserve one of the finest examples of Richardsonian Romanesque Revival domestic architecture. The house had been given to the Presbyterian Church to use as a retirement home. An incompatible rear wing had been added in the 1950s for rooms for the elderly. Fortunately, it
does not show from the Court. The Church decided to sell and it looked like it would become office space. The association used its revenue stream form the art show to purchase the building for several hundred thousand and turn it into a museum. St. James, not the city, holds title to the
property. The city underwrites the cost of two ante bellum plantation houses, one designed by Thomas Jefferson. There was no interest in a downtown mansion barely a hundred years old. St.
James did make it abundantly clear that the Conrad/Caldwell House, as it is called, had to become self supporting. The house was just getting started the two years I served on the board
and chaired the fundraising committee. But somehow we kept the boiler fired up for the heat and even relaid the slate roof. Talk about a money pit. But what a house. If interested, there is
information about the museum and the various neighborhood associations on the website,www.oldlouisville.com. It is a good example of what can be done with a website for a historic
preservation district. Check it out.
Obviously, there are many differences in the two neighborhoods. This one is has yet to get its historic district designation. But the underlying principle is the same. You don?’t take a few pictures on clotheslines and turn it into a nationally recognized outdoor art show unless many people with different ideas come together for a common purpose. The result is a financial independence undreamed of here. But even more important is the sense of community you build.
We can do the same here, not with an art show, but with our Candlelight Tour of Homes, now in its 3rd year, by adding a garden tour, and who knows what else.
