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 Historical
Facts
The Heyburn building was constructed from 1926 to 1928
by the prominent local businessman William Heyburn,
president of Belknap Hardware. The design of the building
was by the well known Chicago architectural firm of
Graham, Anderson, Probst, and White, the successor firm
of D.H. Burnham and Company. The Heyburn Building is
one of Louisville’s finest tall buildings and
is one of a number of fine commercial structures built
in the downtown Broadway area between 1900 and 1930
which transformed the street from a fashionable residential
district to a dominant commercial hub.
The Heyburn Building was constructed on the site of
the Old Avery house which had been used as a YMCA. Broadway
had been the most fashionable residential area in the
city in the 1870's with fine mansions in the Renaissance-Revival
and Queen Anne style lining the street. Then from 1900
to the beginning of the depression, the Broadway area
developed into a major commercial area.
Planning for the Heyburn Building was begun as early
as 1916 by William Heyburn and it was hailed as one
of the most modern and commodious office buildings in
the country when it was completed. The first and second
floors contained shops and the upper floors were devoted
to office space.
Louisville has traditionally been a city with a low
skyline, fewer than a dozen buildings rose over twelve
stories in the downtown area before the depression.
The Heyburn Building remains today as one of the most
attractive skyscrapers in the city. The structure is
similar to other Graham, Anderson, Probst, and White
designed skyscrapers in the 1920s. Some of the firms
outstanding works include the Wrigley Building (1921);
the State Bank of Chicago; the Field Museum of Natural
History (1921); the Merchandise Mart; Marshall Field’s
main store and the Shedd Aquarium (1930). Two other
Louisville buildings were designed by the firm. They
are the Belknap Hardware Building (1923) and the Starks
Building addition in 1926. (The original section of
the Starks Building was designed in 1912 by D.H. Burnham
and Company).
The Heyburn Building is one of Louisville’s finest
structures of the twentieth century. It is one of the
last major buildings constructed in the city before
the depression. It is also a representative work of
Chicago’s leading architectural firm in the 1920s,
Graham, Anderson, Probst, and White.
Building Statistics
- Building Name: Heyburn Building
- Location: 332 West Broadway
- City: Louisville, Kentucky
- Year Built: 1928
- Number of floors: 17
- Height: 249 feet (76 meters)
- Total office space: 168,000 sq/ft
- Details: Architectural design was provided
by Graham, Anderson, Probst and White
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