The historic Henry Bell House will be open for viewing on Saturday, June 6, 2009, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The house is located on the route of US 68 at 509 E. Lexington Street, Harrodsburg, Ky., and will be participating in the Highway US 68 Yard Sale. Y'all come!
Asking Price $315,000. The Henry Bell House is a two-story, 5-bayed brick, with a recessed doorway framed by Doric columns and sidelights. Mantel is by renowned local woodworker, Matthew P. Lowry, whose other fine work appears in several fine homes in the region.
The property extends in a straight line 413 ft. to the back of the property on the left side. Street frontage is 134 ft wide. There is a dog-leg near the middle of the right side that widens the back of the property to approx. 432 feet.
A two story wooden el behind the brick main house (originally measuring 29' by 50') contains bathrooms, other bedrooms and kitchen. Screened-in porch is located next to formal gardens. Section between house and porch probably contains original detached kitchen. The very back section of the el needs strutural support or possible re-construction. The historic footprint of this NR building needs to be thoroughly researched and should remain as intact as possible.
A new three-bay garage and apartment was built ca. 2005. The current owner would like to continue to live in the apartment under a life tenancy agreement, and will pay 50% of the annual property taxes. She would like to continue maintenance of some of the gardens, which she lovingly tends. Garage apartment will revert to new owners upon her departure. Some of the garage space in the garage apartment building can be made available to the new owners, and there is also garage space in the nearby stable.
The Bell House has been tuck-pointed, and all the windows were restored using original glass when available, and old glass dating to the time of the building of the house were used. The windows are 6/6 panes, double-hung sashes. The window casings measure 5' 8" by 9' 4" with paneling to the floor. Ceilings are 11 1/2 feet tall.
The major rooms are 20' by 20', and the center hallways measure 18' wide. The ca. 1845 main house block has not been occupied since 2005 when renovations were going on. Rain damage at that time led to the installation of a new roof (50 yr. warranty) and rafters and new plaster on the upstairs ceilings. It was at that time that the utilities were turned off, so the house will need to be re-plumbed, re-wired, and HVAC added. The set up of all utilities are new at the street, so the initial set-up process will be easier than having to start from scratch.
The original floors are in excellent shape and will only need to be cleaned and polished. Poplar and ash were used throughout. The property is surrounded by older trees and gardens.
Please visit out website www.thekentuckytrust.org for pictures of the property. We've been having technical difficulties, and not all browsers will open the entire site, such as Internet Explorer. If you experience this difficulty, please try opening the site in Mozilla.com or another browser.
We will also mail information to interested persons if they drop a note to KentuckyTrust@msn.com and ask. If you are interested but cannot visit the house on Saturday, please call Debbie Reynolds at 502-348-3557 to schedule an appointment or to request more information. Thank you!