Evans

The General Gabriel Evans House, built 1810, Flemingsburg, Ky.

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3 bedrooms
3050 square feet
101 Court House Square

SALE PRICE $59,000

Contact Bob Polsgrove,
The Kentucky Trust
503 Wapping Street
Frankfort KY 40601
502-875-1223, or Polsgrove@aol.com

The General Evans House is a two-story Federal brick house located in the center of the Flemingsburg Historic District. It is located opposite the Fleming County Courthouse at the edge of the downtown commercial district with residential buildings on two sides. It features Flemish bond brickwork, jack arches over the windows and front door, and wide ash floors throughout.

Historically, it has been used as a residence, a hospital, a private school and for business purposes because of its location. It served as the Fleming County Seminary for over thirty years in the antebellum era and has since served as a hospital, a funeral parlor, and an antique gallery. All these historic uses, plus office and mixed use residential are possible.

The house sits on a lot measuring 86 by 122 feet. Most of the open space on the lot is paved with parking spaces that can accommodate 12 vehicles. In addition to the 3045 square foot original house, there is a forty-year-old addition within the el that is both unsympathetic to the style of the house and in severely deteriorated condition.

The General Evans House features a two-story main block measuring 40.5 feet by 25 feet. The first floor is now one large open space as a result of the conversion of the building to commercial use. One of the chimneys is still open with a mantel and all of the window and door casings date from a late 19th century remodeling

The second floor is divided into two 14 feet by 22 1/2 feet bedrooms separated by a 9 1/2 foot by 22 1/2 foot hall that originally contained a stairway. Two of these three rooms are accessed from a deteriorated modern addition on the rear while the third opens into the stair hall located immediately behind the main block in the original el addition. The el is 17 feet wide with a 19 1/2 foot long kitchen area behind the 14 foot wide stair hall. The stairway is an attractive curving structure that was built in the late 19th century. The second floor room above the kitchen is a bedroom. Both the main block and the el of the original house adjoin the sidewalk next to them

Within the original galleried open space within the el, a two-story brick veneered addition was constructed c. 1960. This flat roofed area has experienced much deterioration in recent years and is recommended for removal by the purchaser. The addition has two stories measuring 17 feet by 33 feet containing stairs, bathrooms, a kitchen and bedrooms

Adjoining this two-story section is a one-story section of the addition containing garage space for three vehicles and a kitchen. Since the original house and these 20th century additions have a unified plumbing, wiring and circulation system, repairs and remodeling will be necessary if the house is to be used for residential purposes after the addition is removed. Fortunately, the brick walls from the original house are in a good state of repair and can once again serve as exterior walls after the addition is removed

When the two-story addition was built, the owners also had a new semicircular one-story porch built on the front of the house. The porch has also suffered deterioration in recent years and has recently been removed. Without the porch and the later additions, the historic General Evans House will once again stand as a monument to the early settlers and builders of Flemingsburg.

The Kentucky Trust for Historic Preservation, Inc. is a non-profit charitable organization that acquires endangered historic properties in order to sell them to people who will agree to return them to their historic appearance and ambience. We expect that the buyers to repair and rehabilitate property sufficiently within two years of the purchase to allow the building to be used again.

The Kentucky Trust will work with the purchaser to develop a rehabilitation plan that preserves the exterior of the building and to return the interior to usability. The exterior appearance should be retained with window and door openings remaining as they are. The owner may want to make repairs to the brick and carry out some tuck pointing. The brick may be cleaned of paint or repainted after the repairs are completed. In those areas where the later addition was attached to the historic house, the door and window openings may be retained where new additions are not added.

The interior of the Gen. Evans House has been extensively changed over the years. The owners may retain the existing configuration of walls on the first and second floors or may choose to restore the original walls. Where interior walls have been furred out and dry walled, the buyers may retain these new walls or may choose to remove them in order to repair the original. Plaster walls. The mantel on the primary first floor room and the curving stairwell are the historic features which must be retained.

A new addition may be constructed within the original el of the building in order to provide bathrooms and other activity areas not found in the original building. These additions should not replicate the design of the original house and should be clearly distinguishable as new but sympathetic additions.

These approaches to the repair and rehabilitation will be formally stated in a Covenant attached to the Deed that will require the buyer and all future owners to apply the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation in all future modifications of the house after getting approval for the changes from the Kentucky Trust. For more information about the Deed Covenant and -restoration requirements, please call the Trust at 502-875-1223.

Flemingsburg is one of Kentucky's oldest and most historic county seat towns. The city was founded in 1797 as the political and commercial center for a highly productive area of the Outer Bluegrass Region. The City grew rapidly in the early 19th century and retains a large number of residential, commercial and religious buildings its historic core. It has an outstanding collection of Federal townhouses and probably Kentucky's best collection of surviving commercial buildings from the antebellum period. Many of these houses and commercial buildings are being restored or have recently been restored and Flemingsburg has a revitalized downtown commercial district

Flemingsburg is one hour from Lexington University of Kentucky, Transylvania University, Keeneland and Red Mile Race Tracks. It is one-half hour from Morehead, I-64, Morehead State University (with a public radio station) and just a little over an hour from Greater Cincinnati (international airport, museums, theaters, Reds baseball, Paramount Kings Island, River Downs Race Track, Northern Kentucky University, University of Cincinnati.)

Historic Maysville on the Ohio River and the restored Pioneer Village of Old Washington are only 18 miles away. They have numerous historical properties, amateur theater, Amtrak and Maysville Community College.

Flemingsburg is a great place to live. The county seat has the Court House, County Hospital, Middle and High School, and beautiful churches. It is a safe place where you can walk anytime or anywhere. There is a golf club, nearby campgrounds and horse back riding. Tourists can visit Blue Licks State Park, Cave Run, Lake Cumberland National Forest, Carter Caves State Park, Iwo Jima Monument, cemeteries, antique shops, fishing and Amish shops. There are two bed and breakfast establishments and a growing number of unique places to eat and shop. For more information about Flemingsburg , please visit these web sites: http://www.flemingkychamber.com and http://www.flemingcountyky.com/

The Kentucky Trust for Historic Preservation is an independent, non-profit, bricks-and-mortar organization, which uses hands-on approaches to save Kentucky’s endangered buildings and sites. We have found new owners for the Governor Owsley House in Frankfort, the James Trabue Log house and barn in Bourbon County, the McKinney House in New Liberty, the Low Dutch Meeting House in Pleasureville, and currently have the Gen. Evans House for sale in Flemingsburg, the Barret House for sale in Greensburg, the Abner Gaines House in Walton, and the Pearce Log House for sale in New Castle.