City: Louisville, KY

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (502) 585-9911

Address: 851 South Fourth St.

Description: When Spalding University opened in 1920, its sole structure was a beautiful mansion from 1871 known as the Tompkins-Buchanan-Rankin House. Prominent architect Henry Whitestone designed the Italianate building for the family of Joseph T. Tompkins, a wealthy dry-goods merchant and importer. Later, the Buchanans and Rankins lived here; George C. Buchanan, a distiller, had it redecorated in 1880 in hopes of making the mansion one of the most elegant in all of Louisville. Today, details such as a radiant stained-glass skylight, hand-tooled leather ceilings from Florence, ebony mantels, Viennese etched-glass doors, and brass chandeliers make the former residence a veritable museum.Although the mansion is open to the public for free self-guided tours when the University of Louisville is in session, it can be tricky to find. That’s because when the school completed their administration building in the 1940s, they erected it across the façade of the beautiful old mansion. The façade of this structure has disappeared, but the north and south sides of the original building are still visible; on the north are three deeply projecting bay windows, and on the south, a two-story loggia. The elegant drawing rooms of the mansion are gathering places for students and are used for official receptions; however, the mansion is very often empty and waiting for explorers. Use the side entrance to the north.