Welcome to Merry on Main!

The Landmark Trust is honored to continue our traditional Historic Holiday Tour. Thank you for joining us. Click the name of each site to read a description of the property and its history.

The Settle Building
906 State St

The Princess Building
432 E Main Ave

Eight16 House
816 Chestnut St

Greer-Manago-Hines House
621 E Main Ave

The Presbyterian Church

The first site on our Historic Holiday Tour is The Presbyterian Church, without question the oldest and most important ecclesiastical building in Warren County.

The congregation was founded in 1819 by Reverend Joseph B. Lapsley, son of Revolutionary War soldier John Lapsley, and acquaintance of President Thomas Jefferson. The original church was located in today’s Pioneer Cemetery, before being moved to the present building circa 1833-1837. The land on which the church sits was donated by James Rumsey Skiles, enormously significant pioneer businessman, State Representative, and builder of the big house at Kinlock.

The bricks of the structure were likely laid under supervision of Robert Mallory, responsible for many of our best historic structures including some of those at South Union Shaker Village. The resulting edifice is a magnificent blend of classic federal style and early American Gothic—emblematic of the late Second Great Awakening period in which it was built.

Of course, being of great age, the Church bears scars of slavery. The balcony in the rear of the sanctuary was constructed for the enslaved, and later freedmen, to view services separated from the main congregation. The Civil War also saw the near loss of the structure—no faint possibility as the predecessor to the current cec_bg was demolished by Union Soldiers to build chimneys for tents. The original windows were destroyed and the sanctuary used as a makeshift hospital even while the surrounding town was burned.

The Reconstruction Era was more than just a metaphor. The Presbyterian Church was reconstituted with “new” windows, pews, and furnishings installed—the same on view and lovingly preserved by the congregation to this day. In the twentieth century, the sanctuary was outfitted with the last Aeolian-Skinner organ ever made.

There is no better preserved or more beloved historic structure in the City of Bowling Green let alone Warren County. Nor is there one better encapsulating the complex heritage we all share.

The Settle Building & Hinton-Bryant Residence

The second site on our Historic Holiday Tour is The Settle Building, one of the best examples of our motto—Preservation and Progress—on the Square.

The building was originally constructed circa 1890 by Simon W. Settle, who purchased the then-vacant land in 1878 for $2,000. Twelve years later, Settle contracted with W. Frank Ennis to build the resulting Italianate structure.

Settle’s contractor Ennis was one of our most important late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century builders and stone masons—being credited with executing Brinton Beauregard Davis’ design for Bowling Green City Hall and Creedmore Fleenor’s design for First Baptist Church. It is likely Ennis was also involved with Fleenor’s modifications to the big house at Ironwood Farm.

Settle was a jeweler by trade and offered an assortment of fine gifts and jewelry in his shop. By 1905, a new jeweler J.W. Campbell occupied the space and stayed there for the next four decades. Howard’s took over in the 1940s and maintained a shop through the 1970s—at that time one of the longest operating jewelry shops in Warren County.

Later, the building fell into disrepair before being saved by Dr. Van Fisher, a recipient of one of the 1983 Landmark Awards. As a part of his restoration program, Dr. Fisher converted the second floor into a living space and modernized the structure. A series of owners and residents have since occupied the building.

The current owners purchased The Settle Building in 2016 and are longtime friends of Landmark—Lindsay Hinton and Jonathan Bryant. Hinton and Bryant have not only preserved the original brick structure and Dr. Fisher’s early modifications but also ensured its continued longevity through a thoughtful ongoing restoration and adaptive reuse process.

Today, The Settle Building is one of the finest examples of urban design in Bowling Green—being not only a splendid private residence but also home to The Finery Salon and Spa. The structure is once again a beloved model for downtown property owners and investors in future preservation projects.

The Princess Building & Landmark Office

The third site on our Historic Holiday Tour is The Princess Building, the first solely-dedicated movie theater in Kentucky and the only historic building on the Square still in the hands of the family who built it.

The Princess Theater was constructed by David J. Rabold for the Crescent Amusement Company from 1914-1916. “When first opened [108] years ago, the Princess was the toast of not only Bowling Green, but the rest of the country as well. . . For you see, the movie industry was struggling through a painful infancy in 1916, and the Princess was among the first theatres bullt especially for the showing of those new-fangled novelties called motion pictures.” A Rabold relative, J.P. Masters, managed not only the Princess but also all other theaters in Bowling Green at the time.

The idea for the family’s investment in theatre was likely that of David J. Rabold’s son, Earl D. Rabold, an early Kodak investor who brought a franchise as one of the first (if not the first) photography and photo development businesses in Warren County.

The Princess’ heyday was in the golden age of cinema—reportedly early Art Deco interiors with hundreds of plush velvet seats welcomed patrons for viewings of now legendary films including Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz.

The Princess closed in the 1950s and was converted to retail and office space by Earl. D. Rabold—a function it continues to the present. David W. Rabold, Earl’s son, renovated the building in the 1980s and earned one of our first Landmark Awards on completion.

In 2005, Bobby Rabold uncovered and preserved thousands of historic photographs taken by his grandfather, Earl D. Rabold, in the early twentieth century. Lost in a coal shoot for nearly a century, Bobby’s preservation and exhibit of the photographs earned him our highest honor—the Heritage Award—in 2022. Dozens of these images will be on display for our tour in the main hall of the building.

In late 2022, thanks to Ron Murphy of The District and Bobby Rabold’s generosity, we moved our office to the Princess Building. The Landmark Office will be open to guests on the tour with many more of the Rabold Collection of photographs on display and our publications available for purchase.

We are enormously grateful to the Rabold family for their generosity in sharing this fascinating building and historic photography exhibit with us!!

Eight16 House

The fourth site on our Historic Holiday Tour is Historic Eight16 House, a phenomenal example of adaptive reuse of a Victorian structure—sited at one of the most historically significant locations in Bowling Green and Warren County.

Indeed, Robert Moore travelled down the Cumberland Trace in the 1790s, stopping at McFadden’s Station before building his cabin adjacent to a spring in what is now Downtown Bowling Green. In 1799, the “Big Spring” running through Moore’s land was dedicated to public use. Later near dry, the spring is today running beneath Spring Alley—now adjacent to Historic Eight16 House.

Some truths are axiom. And for nearly two centuries it was undisputed the City of Bowling Green was named for the “Bowlin’ Green” on the Moore’s property. That Green was across the street from Eight16—in what is now roughly the US Bank parking lot. The strikingly few families old enough to remember (including some of our own) will to this day tell you their ancestors would “meet at the Green.” This was also approximately the location of our first County Court.

The 1877 D.G. Beers & Co. map of Bowling Green shows the property now at 816 Chestnut as in the possession of T.W. Campbell. Although the current structure is dated to 1890—the 1877 map clearly shows the outline of the present structure. As does the June 1925 Sanborn Map—indicating Historic Eight16 may well in fact be the oldest brick house on Chestnut.

This property passed through many families including the Gerards and Jameses before being purchased by the Atalla family at the turn of the millennium. It was then used variously as an office, event venue, and boutique hotel until being sold the present owners in 2023—descendants of Ms. Nadine James, a prior resident and owner. Stories of the eccentric Ms. James will be told by the current owner and family during the tour.

Remarkably, despite increasingly great age (Riverview at Hobson Grove is a contemporary structure) the fundamentally historic aspects of the building are totally intact, including important millwork and the original staircase. Rather than restoring failing plaster surfaces, astute eyes determined it was best to preserve them as found—resulting in a fascinating blend of exposed brick and lime mortar walls with original lime plaster and lathe preserved in its aged condition.

Although we don’t often use the word in historic preservation—the term chic comes to mind.

Today, Eight16 House is a splendid event venue and boutique hotel once again—and a space we have had the honor of meeting in several times. There is no finer example of Preservation and Progress in town.

We are enormously grateful to the Houchin-Burden family for their generosity in sharing this fascinating historic house and site with us!!

Hines-Gabbard House

The fifth site on our Historic Holiday Tour is the Hines-Gabbard House in the Upper East Main Historic District in Bowling Green and Warren County.

Built for Henry Hines between 1908 and 1909, the 1877 D.G. Beers & Co. map of Bowling Green indicates this property was then in the possession of J. Mallory—possibly a relative of Robert T. Mallory, the noted brick mason. Construction records are somewhat murky, but the residence is an excellent early example of the Classical Revival style.

Common bond brickwork terminating in a corbelled cornice above and limestone foundation below—further accented by a pressed-metal gable end featuring a Palladian window—results in an elegant composition made all the more distinctive through the use of the Corinthian Order on the portico.

The red, standing seam metal roof is also emblematic of another era—at one time, the red and green metal roofs of Bowling Green resembled more of an Italian village from above than the more typical and rather bland asphalt roofs of today.

We are enormously grateful to the Gabbard family for their generosity in sharing this fascinating historic house with us!!

Greer-Manago-Stines House

The sixth and final site on our Historic Holiday Tour is the Greer House in the Upper East Main Historic District—the first historic district listed in Bowling Green and Warren County.

The residence was built circa 1904 for Margaret and Lee Greer. One of the few post-Victorian buildings in the district—along with the Hines-Gabbard House earlier on the tour—the Greer House is another fine example of the Classical Revival.

Indeed, common bond brickwork on the first level blended with cedar shake on the second, terminates in a corbelled cornice above and limestone foundation below. This time, however, the gable end is finished in cedar shake but still is accented by a Palladian window. Here, the use of a modified Ionic Order on the portico and a mock-widows walk on the roof completes the scheme.

Lee and Margaret married on April 24, 1956 and moved to Bowling Green in 1879. They bought the lot from Adelia and Moses Nahm, who previously owned all Main Street-facing property in the 600 block. The Greers had two daughters, Nora and Ida, and a son, Edgar. Ida married Dr. James Blackburn, and Edgar married Nell Eubank. When Margaret died November 1915, the property was left to the two daughters, and Mrs. Blackburn inherited the home since she survived Nora. Mrs. Blackburn’s sons then inherited the property before selling it to Mrs. Gladys Turner Larsen in 1964, the first owner out of the Greer family.

After moving to Bowling Green, Lee opened a furniture store in the Moore building on College St, later occupied as Ehrenwald’s. He later moved Greer Furniture to Park Row. Lee Greer served variously as a City Councilman and was an active businessman and early donor for the construction of State Street United Methodist Church. In an interesting and now comedic turn of events, an escaped bull once jumped through the store window of his shop resulting in significant damage (pictured).

The Greer Furniture building is since lost, but this house stands proudly as an excellent example of the refined architecture created at the turn of the century in South Central Kentucky.