National Register of Historic Places:
Warren County Residences
Page 1 || Page 2 || Page 3
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
The Historic Residence descriptions were taken from the Landmark Association's Architecture
of Warren County, Kentucky 1790 - 1940, Smiths Grove, Ky: AC Publications, 1984.
Polk Family House (Old Polk Farm)
Ming Road, Woodburn. One of the few decorated cottages of the late nineteenth century in the
county to have survived with its entire decorative scheme intact, this house is based on the T-plan
and demonstrates the nineteenth century tenet that even the most modest dwelling could be given
architectural dignity through ornamentation. It is one of the best examples of its type in the county
and is known locally as the Old Polk Farm. (National Register)
[ Top of Page ]
Rauscher House
818 Adams Street, Bowling Green. Advantageously situated across from the old Louisville and
Nashville Railroad, this Italianate structure was designed by Creedmore Fleenor and built in 1891.
Presently boarded, the cast iron storefront is intact. Windows of the main facade are treated in
three manners. Those on the east end of the second floor are round-headed and have stone trim
which employs sculpted Hellenic heads on the keystones. Windows of the central four bays of the
second floor have flat hoodmoldings with semicircular centers, while those directly above have
pedimented hoodmoldings. All openings have segmental relieving arches above and stone sills. A
heavy entablature in now replaced with brick masonry. The interior floor plan is functional and
demonstrates the architect's concern for traffic flow and ventilation. Shops occupied spaces of the
first floor's street side and the dining room was a large area on the northeast side. Auxiliary
staircases are situated to the rear. The hotel's 45 guest rooms were equipped with all the modern
conveniences of the day including electric lights (1911), telephones and running water (1921).
Built for Danwick and Olivia Rauscher, Mrs. Rauscher was proprietess and owner until her death
in 1913. Rauscher's son-in-law, Captain J. H. Webb, managed the hotel for many years. One of
the finest local hotels, the Rauscher House closed upon completion of the present Louisville and
Nashville Railroad depot. (National Register)
[ Top of Page ]
Dr. William Robb House
Market Street, Woodburn. Both Dr. William Robb, the original owner of this house, and his son
James played important roles in the everyday life of the railroad town of Woodburn. Dr. Robb
practiced medicine in the town from the middle nineteenth century, and his son, a prominent
pharmacist, ran a drug store. The architectural significance of the house -- it is a good example
from the third quarter of the century of a Greek Revival-Italianate house based on the English
half-I or side passage plan -- is enhanced by the building's location: its facade closes the vista
down Main Street in Woodburn. (National Register)
[ Top of Page ]
Edward B. Seeley House
Beech Bend Road, Plum Springs vicinity. "Seeley's Shoals" was built in the third quarter of the
century for Captain Edward Bush Seeley, who came to Warren County from Lexington and was
part-owner and officer of the Green and Barren River Navigation Company. One of the few
Italianate structures in the county, this house is as well one of the few exhibiting this particular
form of T-plan or cross-gable plan. (National Register)
[ Top of Page ]
Moses Shobe House
State Road 31W, Smiths Grove vicinity. Built about 1850 for Moses Shobe, this house is a largely
intact brick version of the standard Greek Revival I-house. Its architectural significance is
enhanced by its location on the historic north-south route through the county, Old Louisville
Road (US 31-W). An unusual feature, the stone blocks at the ends of the cornices, perhaps links
the house with the nearby Garnett Bryant House and with an elaborate Greek Revival structure in
Bowling Green. (National Register)
[ Top of Page ]
John Sloss House
Old Springfield Road, Bowling Green vicinity. John Sloss, the patriarch of the Sloss family,
owned land here in the early 1800's and was one of the original elders of the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church. It is not known which member of the Sloss family built the house, but
Sloss's grandson was born here in 1833. The house is one of very few Federal period houses in
the county with a four-bay facade. It has the added distinction of an unusual one-story end
addition as well as a one-story ell that is perhaps the original block of the house. The rear ell is
ornamented with a molded brick cornice. (National Register)
[ Top of Page ]
Thomas Sterrett House
State Road 526, Plum Springs vicinity. Thomas Sterrett was born in 1774 and served in the War
of 1812 as a captain. By remaining active in the Kentucky Militia, Sterrett later attained the rank
of general. The house is a particularly clear illustration of a fully-developed Federal style I-house.
The interior moldings are unusually ornate, and the overall proportions and massing of the house
are evident despite later additions of porches. The house is prominently sited on a hill above one
of the main roads in the northwestern section of the county. (National Register)
[ Top of Page ]
John Cox Underwood House (Zachariah K. Jones House)
506 State Street, Bowling Green. Built circa 1875 for John Cox Underwood, this is perhaps the
most elaborate Italianate house in Bowling Green. Among the noteworthy exterior details are the
recessed open entry porch, the rope moldings around the windows, the shell motif in the first floor
hoodmoldings, the projecting semi-octagonal bay, the slated mansard roof, and the subtle manner
in which the chimney projects in stages from the wall. The son of Joseph Underwood, John Cox
Underwood was engineer in charge of public works in Bowling Green from 1868 to 1875,
Bowling Green's mayor from 1870 to 1872 abd Lieutenant-Governor of Kentucky from 1875.
This house was later purchased by Dr. Zachariah K. Jones, a prominent black physician, who lived
here for over 50 years. (National Register)
[ Top of Page ]
Andrew James Wardlaw House
Off State Road 31W, Oakland vicinity. This brick house was built in 1869 for Andrew James
Wardlaw. The most popular form in Greek Revival houses in this area -- the I-house with a
two-story ell -- is clearly evident in this well-proportioned house because of the lack of later
additions. It is one of the few houses in the county that carries its own date of construction, in the
main entry lintel. The almost formulaic flat lintels of local Greek Revival houses are here rendered
in stone. (National Register)
[ Top of Page ]
J. L. Wright House
1st Street, Smiths Grove. The J. L. Wright House, named after the owner indicated in the 1877
county atlals, is significant because its form is unusual among contemporary Greek Revival
structures. The details are typical (flat lintels in stone, rectilinear door unit composed of transom
and sidelights, hipped roof) but the T-plan, in which two bays project from the left of the central
door, replaces the expected central passage or side passage plan. (National Register)
[ Top of Page ]
Samuel Young House "Young's Ferry House"
Young's Ferry Road, Bowling Green vicinity. This log structure was the house of Samuel W.
Young, the operator of the ferry that connected Warren and Butler Counties at this important
Green River crossing. The ferry operated well into the twentieth century. Young's house was built
in the 1850's and is one of the best of the six surviving dogtrot form log houses in the county.
(National Register)
[ Top of Page ]
National Register || Residences ||
Churches || Brinton B. Davis
Thematic Scheme at WKU || Districts
![[Bicentennial Celebration Home]](bgwchome.gif)
![[Bicentennial
Planning Commission]](commbttn.gif)
![[Calendar of Events]](evntbttn.gif)
![[About BG - WC, Ky]](aboutbtn.gif)
![[History of BG - WC, Ky]](his_bttn.gif)
The Bowling Green - Warren County, Kentucky Bicentennial Celebration Web Site
is brought to you as a public service by the
University Libraries of Western Kentucky University.
If you are interested in joining the celebration by contributing to the contents of this site,
contact Cindy.Etkin@wku.edu, Bicentennial
Web Site Coordinator.
URL: http://www.wku.edu/Library/200Years/houses.htm
Page last modified 22 October 1997