architecture in Frankfort.

Queen Anne

Gooch House

1895

The Gooch House is a Queen Anne style house in Frankfort built in 1895. It formerly held the Frankfort Visitor Center along with the offices of the Frankfort/Franklin County Tourist & Convention Commission, the Frankfort Area Chamber of Commerce, and Downtown Frankfort, Inc. In 2019 the Kentucky Distillers Association purchased the property to serve as headquarters for the trade group representing the state's bourbon and distilled spirits industry.

Photo: FloNight (Sydney Poore) and Russell Poore , CC BY-SA 4.0

Prairie School

Jesse R. Zeigler House

Frank Lloyd Wright · 1910

The Jesse R. Zeigler House is the only building Frank Lloyd Wright designed and completed in Kentucky. Reverend Zeigler and Wright met by chance while both were traveling to Europe in late October 1909, struck up a conversation aboard ship, and the commission followed; the house was completed the next year, 1910. It stands as a Prairie School exemplar built from a design Wright reused as "A Fireproof House for $5000."

Photo: FloNight (Sydney Poore) and Russell Poore , CC BY-SA 4.0

Beaux-Arts

Kentucky State Capitol

Frank Mills Andrews · 1909

The Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort houses the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Commonwealth's government. In 1904 the Kentucky General Assembly chose Frankfort over Lexington and Louisville as the site for a new capital building and appropriated $1 million for its construction; the resulting Beaux-Arts building, designed by Frank Mills Andrews, opened in 1909-1910, replacing a capitol that had stood since 1830.

Federal

Liberty Hall

1796

Liberty Hall is a historic house museum at 218 Wilkinson Street in Frankfort, built 1796-1800 by American statesman John Brown. It stands on land General James Wilkinson purchased in 1786 to lay out downtown Frankfort, later sold to Andrew Holmes, who in 1796 sold the four-acre tract to Senator John Brown. The house was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1971 for its association with Brown and its Federal-style architecture.

Greek Revival

Old State Capitol

The Old State Capitol housed the Kentucky General Assembly from 1830 until the current capitol replaced it in 1910. The Kentucky legislature voted for its construction in 1827, and it was designed by Gideon Shryock, a young Lexington architect who was only twenty-five and building his first commission. Since 1920 it has served as a museum and home of the Kentucky Historical Society, restored to its Civil War-era appearance.

Photo: Daderot , CC0

Renaissance Revival

Old United States Courthouse and Post Office

The Old United States Courthouse and Post Office in Frankfort was built 1883 to 1887 to house federal courts. It served the United States District Court for the District of Kentucky until 1901 and then the Eastern District of Kentucky, was expanded with a rear wing in 1910 to add post office functions, and continued as a post office until 1965. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 3, 1974.

Art Deco

State Office Building

1938

The State Office Building in Frankfort is an Art Deco structure dating to 1938.