William Chenault House, US 25, Richmond, Kentucky
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| City/locality- State/province |
Richmond, Kentucky |
| County- State/province: |
Madison County, Kentucky |
| State/province: | Kentucky |
| Country: | United States |
This brick house rests on land granted in 1792 to William Irvine (1763-1819). Madison County’s first county clerk. Built for a prominent lawyer and state senator, William Chenault (1773-1834), the Chenault House expresses the Federal style. A three-row brick belt course spans the width of the front facade. This feature is somewhat unusual to Madison County architecture. A molded wooden cornice also extends across the width of the facade at the eaves beneath the gable roof. Flemish bond is confined to the front, with five-course common bond on the side facades. A stone foundation raises the first floor. The shape of the central doorway, originally an arched opening, has been flat-headed with shouldered architrave molding around the sidelights and transom at some point since the mid-nineteenth century. The original reeded window surrounds are still intact with stretcher-header jack arches above the windows. The windows themselves were enlarged and replaced in the mid-nineteenth century.
The plan consists of single rooms on either side of a central passage and an original one-and-one-half-story brick ell in the rear. The original parlor, the living room, and the central stair hall have wainscoted walls. Other early details include re-entrant angles on mantels in the living room and master bedroom. Another bedroom mantel has a five-part frieze and was probably installed in the room, which then served as a parlor, sometime after the house was built. The dining room, which is in a one-story ell, once had a corner enclosed staircase leading to space under the rafters. The Chenault House sits on a small rise facing the old Clay’s Ferry Road and overlooking pastureland.
