Historical Commission Agenda and Packet 2016 08 03 JT

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Page 14 of 150 This home of the Frank and Rose Jordinelli family was built in circa 1904 and is 870 square feet. Volunteers made interior modifications. The room of the building that is open to the public holds a large replica of downtown Louisville showing how it appeared during the era from approximately 1895 to 1920. The other four rooms are, out of necessity, being used by the City for the storage of the majority of the Museum's collections of artifacts. The Jordinelli House is heated and cooled, and has running water at a single sink in what was formerly the indoor kitchen. It does not have restroom facilities. The Jordinelli Family used the Summer Kitchen for cooking during the summer in order to keep their house from getting too hot. The Summer Kitchen is not heated or cooled and does not have plumbing or electricity. The City is currently using it for the storage of collections items that do not require temperature controls. When a new building that can be used for collections storage is eventually constructed on the Museum site, it is anticipated that all of the rooms of the Jordinelli House can then be open for exhibits. Interior modifications will be made that will result in increased accessibility. The Museum anticipates using the Summer Kitchen for outdoor events on the campus. Empty Lot (Former Location of "The Big House") The Museum campus also includes an empty lot in between the Jacoe Store and the Tomeo House, facing Main Street. From the early 19005 until about 1950, this was the site of a large, two-story frame building that, with the Jacoe Store, made up the northern part of the downtown business district on Main Street. It contained a business on the first floor and a residence on the second floor. (In fact, this was the home of the Tomeo family after its members moved out of the Tomeo House). According to Richard Shephard, a grandson of the Tomeo family, who was born in 1922 and who remembers the building well, it was called "the Big House." After the Big House was demolished, a metal shop operated by Joe and Dom Tomeo was constructed on the empty site. This metal shop was then moved to the City services property on Empire Road in the 1980s. This now -empty lot is the area that has been identified as the ideal place for a new building that could help address the City's needs with respect to collections storage, office space, ADA restrooms, and a Visitor Center. History of the Outdoor Grounds Historically, the yards behind the Jacoe Store, the "Big House," and the Tomeo House contained vegetable gardens, chicken coops, outhouses, and shed structures. A member of the Rossi family who grew up in the Tomeo House from the early 1920s to the 1940s stated that his family was allowed to plant vegetables behind the Jacoe Store, which didn't need the space. In the late 1940s, members of the Tomeo family tore down the Big House and built a metal shop in its place. A 1962 aerial photo of Louisville indicates that the metal shop activities then dominated the site. When the City purchased the property and the Museum was established in the 1980s, the City provided a small parking lot on the campus. In 2001, this was the location to which the City relocated the Jordinelli House and Summer Kitchen. 6