Murray Main Street Hosts Upper-Level Housing Regional Tour

Last Friday, Murray Main Street board members hosted a tour of upper-level living quarters in Mayfield and Paducah. Assisted by staff members from the Main Street programs in the two cities, the group visited six living quarters in the respective downtown areas. Participants from the Murray Main Street board were Deana Wright, manager; Roger Reichmuth, president; Martha Alls, secretary and past-president; Candace Dowdy, secretary; Mark Welch, design committee chair; and Butch Seargent, economic restructuring chair. Dowdy and Seargent also represented the City of Murray in their roles as city planner and city councilman, respectively. Others attending included Lisa Satterwhite, interim director of the Murray-Calloway County Chamber of Commerce; Cindy Reichmuth, member of the Murray Architectural Review Board, Richard Arnett, local builder; and Larry Herndon, local downtown building owner.

In Mayfield, the home of David Norsworthy was visited. It is situated on the upper-level of a two-story building located on the southeast corner of the court square. Norsworthy, an accomplished craftsman, has done much of the work himself. The residence, with over 2000 square feet of space features the original hardwood flooring and has generally an open feeling with plenty of light from the original store windows.
Privacy is achieved with clever partitioning as well as some enclosed spaces. The south end of the quarters leads to a large rooftop deck, the favorite spot of the two housecats who come and go as they please.

The Paducah sites included the residence of Fowler Black, a young professional who loves downtown living and who is from a family of historic preservationists. Located atop a boutique shop in the Market House block of downtown Paducah, the apartment has lovely views of the downtown area and delightful illumination from an original skylight. From the large and original front windows, one can view the Ohio River Landing.

Next on the tour was a visit to the home of Louis Kirchhoff, owner and operator of the historic Kirchhoff Bakery which is directly below the home and an apartment of a family member. One can imagine the wonderful aromas that sift up to the apartment during baking hours! This tour was personally conducted by the gracious Mr. Kirchhoff who told of the three generations of bakers in his family that preceded him. Like the residence in Mayfield, the Kirchhoff home has a very large rooftop deck complete with playground equipment for grandchildren. The high ceilings throughout enabled installation of a loft over a portion of the living room and a spot likely prized by readers, knitters and young children with board games. Mr. Kirchhoff also gave a tour of the adjoining apartment occupied by his daughter and granddaughter.

Last on the tour was a visit to apartments being developed by Chad Beyer at the corner of 5th and Broadway streets. The interiors featured a modern style while retaining the hardwood floors and other architectural details. Due to be completed in several weeks, one space is designed with permanent living in mind while the second was envisioned more as a rental apartment that might or might not have long-term residents.

“This was a wonderful overview of some very creative and practical ways of converting presently unused space in very desirable living quarters,” said Deana Wright, manager of Murray Main Street. “Paducah already has 60-some apartments in the downtown area alone and that does not include the Lower Town area,” she continued. “Our purpose was to better educate ourselves as to some of the challenges and hurdles that might be present when converting such spaces. We know what we have some very desirable upper-story unused spaces in Murray and want to be able to assist people who have an interest in renovating them or living downtown. When people locate downtown, it promotes a greater sense of community, a safe environment and encourages retail growth to accommodate their needs,” she said.

Coming up on the agenda for Murray Main Street’s events is the Historic Tour of Homes scheduled for May 17th, also the opening date for the Downtown Saturday Market. For more information, please call (270) 759-9474.