Louisville Art Deco - AT&T Building |
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Last Updated:    July 30, 2006      Added historical information..
Date Constructed: 1930
The AT&T building is located at the corner of 5th & Chestnut, and was built in 1930 (per the corner stone engraving). The main portion of the building is 11 floors tall. It appears that a 7-floor addition was added at some point to extend the building to the 6th & Chestnut corner. It could be original to the building. I have not yet confirmed this with building management. Thus far, it is the ultimate expression in Louisville of Art Deco architectural design and ornamentation that I've found - - vertical lines; geometric & floral limestone carvings and decorative bronze metalwork; "frozen fountain" style metal reliefs; set-back design (somewhat); decorative grills; zig-zag motifs in brickwork and metalwork. The Chestnut side of the building has two sets of doors with decorative limestone carvings and metalwork. The door entrances also have decorative bronze lights on either side. Both sets of doors are identical. The 5th Street side of the building has two sets of large windows with decorative limestone carvings and metalwork. Both sets of windows are identical. There are also some decorative zig-zag metalwork pieces in some of the smaller windows, as well as decorative vent grills. The beautiful decorative metalwork and reliefs on what I presume to be the original portion of the building are in need of polishing. I can only imagine how gorgeous it would appear once this is accomplished! The bronze on the windows of what I presume to be the later addition already has a nice luster to them. I will be attempting to get better photos, as some are blurry and the carving near the top of the building need better close-ups to appreciate the details. Photos by Jim L. Patterson - copyright 2005.
Click on the thumbnail photo to view a larger image.
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