920 Jefferson Ave Historic Survey

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Resource Number: 5BL 11309 Temporary Resource Number: 157508405007 15. Dimensions in feet: Length 50 x Width 40 16. Number of stories: One 17. Primary external wall material(s): Asbestos 18. Roof configuration: Cross gabled roof 19. Primary external roof material: Asphalt 20. Special features: Attached garage, porch, fence 21. General architectural description: 920 Jefferson Avenue is a one-story, wood frame house, generally rectangular in plan, with its primary facade facing west to Jefferson Avenue. The foundation is partially concrete and partially stone, all painted light brown where visible. The exterior is clad with cream -colored, flat, asbestos shingles with an undulating lower profile. The roof is cross -gabled and covered with dark gray asphalt shingles. Eaves are boxed and wood fascia trim is painted brown. The front of the building has three bays. A front -gabled wing at the north end projects out a few feet from a central, front -gabled bay, which contains the south -facing entrance door and brown -painted concrete porch. The southernmost bay is an attached garage opening to a driveway facing Jefferson Avenue. A projecting corrugated metal shed roof on wrought iron framing shelters the central bay's front porch and extends to the south end of the garage. A raised brick and stone planter is located in front of the north and central bays. Windows are replacement wood sash with brown and white wood trim. Some are single hung and some are sliders, and some openings appear to be modified from the original. Centered on the northern wing of the front facade, there is a large "picture" window with cream -colored fiberglass awning in black wrought iron framing. On the rear (east) side of the house, there is a central gable interrupted by a later shed -roofed addition with a rear entrance door. A brown -painted wood door leads from the garage to the back yard. The architectural style is a mix of some characteristics of the Gabled Ell, with the front -facing garage addition lending some characteristics of the Ranch style. 22. Architectural style/building type: Mixed style: Gabled Ell, Ranch (as altered) 23. Landscaping or special setting features: Jefferson Place Subdivision is a historic residential neighborhood adjacent to downtown Louisville. The subdivision is laid out on a standard urban grid of narrow, deep lots with rear alleys. Houses are built to a fairly consistent setback line along the streets with small front lawns, deep rear yards and mature landscaping. Small, carefully maintained single-family residences predominate. Most of the houses are wood framed, one or one and one- half stories in height, featuring white or light-colored horizontal wood or steel siding, gabled or hipped asphalt shingled roofs and front porches. While many of the houses have been modified over the years, most of the historic character -defining features have been preserved. 920 Jefferson Avenue is consistent with these patterns and blends well with the scale, if not the character, of the neighborhood. The south boundary of this property is one of seven locations where the original Jefferson Place plat included a narrow, east -west alley. These alleys were abandoned in the 1970s and the property deeded over to adjacent landowners. At 920 Jefferson, the additional property width was utilized for an attached garage and driveway. This is one of very few houses in Jefferson Place with an attached front -facing garage and concrete driveway, giving it some characteristics of the Ranch style. The house is set close to the street with a shallow front lawn separated from the house by a gravel strip with shrubs and a raised tan brick planter with a stone cap. A narrow side yard to the north is planted with grass. The concrete driveway leads to the garage at the south end of the house. South of the driveway there is a narrow side yard with small flowering shrubs set in white gravel, bordered with scalloped, red colored concrete edging. The backyard is spacious and enclosed mostly with chain link fencing, except along the south property line, where there is a vinyl fence and a small section of wood fencing. In the backyard, there is a concrete patio and a concrete stoop with two concrete steps adjacent to the house, with a concrete walk leading to a gate at the alley. The western half of the yard has a lawn. The eastern half of the yard contains an 2