Louisville is known for more than horses, bourbon and baseball bats. It’s also famous in the architectural community for its Victorian houses and for having some surprising but significant architectural firsts. Old Louisville is home to pedestrian-only streets called walking courts, and just a few blocks over from the Louisville Bourbon Inn, you’ll find some of the best surviving examples of a uniquely American home design: the shotgun house. Together, they tell the story of how today’s Louisville was influenced by wealth, industry and immigration.
America’s First Walking Courts
Did you know Old Louisville has more pedestrian-only streets than any other neighborhood in the country? We’re not talking about alleys or back streets. These are green promenades with grassy medians, flickering gas lamps, and Victorian homes that face each other inward across a wide sidewalk.
Belgravia Court was the first walking court built in the United States in 1891, and Fountain Court, was built later the same year. It still feels like you’re stepping back in time when you stroll through these courts. Right behind them is the well-known St. James Court, which is famous for its grand fountain, mansions, and the annual St. James Court Art Show.
A total of eleven courts were built in Old Louisville. Some, like Reeser Court and Kensington Court, were designed around Victorian apartment buildings instead of homes, while others such as Eutropia Court and Rose Court showcase more modest single-story homes built in the 1920s. This is one clue as to how the city’s demographics were influencing the demand for certain necessities, and how entrepreneurs responded to those demands.
Just outside of Old Louisville is Lawton Court, one of the few pedestrian courts in the city built not around Victorian mansions, but around working-class shotgun houses.
Louisville’s Shotgun House Legacy
Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.
That brings us to another little-known distinction: Louisville now has more shotgun houses than any other city in the United States. It gained this honor in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed many of the shotgun houses in New Orleans, which is where the design originated.
What exactly is a shotgun house? It’s a narrow, rectangular house that’s typically one room wide (12-15 feet) and three rooms deep. You walk straight from the front door through each room to the back with no hallways in between.. The final room is almost always the kitchen, and some of the older homes had bathrooms added after construction. Many have windows on only one side to preserve privacy, and some even feature a second story at the back. Those are known as Camelbacks.
The popularity of shotgun houses in Louisville dates back to the late 1800s. Factories were built as the city’s industrial sector grew. The population doubled, and thousands of immigrants from Germany, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Switzerland arrived to work in Louisville’s factories. Developers built shotgun houses quickly and efficiently to meet the need for affordable housing close to the factories.
Today, you can see these historic homes in neighborhoods like Butchertown, Germantown, California, and Portland — each one a reminder of the workers who helped build Louisville from the ground up. If Victorian mansions tell the story of Louisville’s wealthy elite, shotgun houses tell the story of its working class citizens.
Explore It for Yourself
If you’re planning a visit to Louisville, set aside an hour or two for a stroll through the city’s walking courts and historic neighborhoods. They’re all within a short walk or drive from the Louisville Bourbon Inn, and it’s one of the most memorable and photogenic ways to connect with the city’s past.
From gas-lit Victorian promenades to humble shotgun cottages, Louisville’s architectural firsts offer a rich and rewarding glimpse into the people and eras that shaped the city we know today.
