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3. Design Referral: Staff requests comments from the HPC on the design and has <br />provided analysis and questions to inform HPC's referral comments. <br />DEMOLITION REVIEW <br />Historical Background <br />Information from Bridget Bacon, Louisville Historical Museum <br />John Madonna, Jr. constructed this building to serve as a pool hall, which he named for his own <br />nickname, "Bugdust." Bug Dust Pool Hall at 916 Main is remembered for its high -stakes, illegal <br />dice games in the 1950s and 1960s. Thousands of dollars would change hands at these secret <br />games taking place at a time when Louisville was still a relatively out-of-the-way small town with <br />a large Italian community. The building at 916 Main was a location in the state where the <br />Smaldone Brothers, who led organized crime in Denver and Colorado, had lucrative gambling <br />interests and were caught running a rigged table with magnetized dice. There is relatively <br />extensive documentation of this era of the building, often coming from newspapers and legal <br />documentation covering gambling at the pool hall. <br />From 1971 to 1997, 916 Main was the location of the Louisville Times newspaper business and <br />operations. While it was not the first building the Times occupied, there are several photos of <br />916 Main from this era, and was the home of the paper until the family owners sold the business <br />in the 1990s. Most recently, it has been the location of Creative Framing & Art Gallery. <br />The full social history report and associated historic photographs are attached <br />Architectural Integrity <br />The property at 916 Main Street contains a one-story commercial structure with an Art Deco <br />fagade. "Stories in Places," a commercial historic context for Louisville from 2018, describes the <br />structure as having "good integrity" and as one of four Art Deco properties on Main Street for <br />targeted landmark outreach. Currently, none of those properties are landmarked. The integrity <br />of the building, with minimal change since its construction, is evident by comparing historic and <br />current photographs. However, it does appear that the windows may have been resized at least <br />once (by comparing different historic photographs over time) and the existing door is not <br />original. <br />qq <br />3 <br />13 <br />