The Heigold Facade

The Heigold Facade
Christian Heigold, a German immigrant and stonecutter, came to Louisville sometime prior to 1850, and in 1857 he built his home at 264 Marion Street in an area known as the Point.
This was a period of unrest and attacks on Irish and German immigrants, not long after the infamous Bloody Monday incident in 1855. In order to prove his patriotism and loyalty to America, he carved inscriptions and busts of American notables into the facade of the house. Among the incised mottos is one reading, "Hail to the City of Louisville." Heigold died shortly after the facade was completed in 1865, and his son Charles lived there until his death in 1925.
The Heigold house was one of only a few structures on the Point to survive the Great Flood of 1937, and the only one still inhabitable. The house survived until 1953 when the city purchased the property in order to expand the city dump.
Mayor Charles Farnsley saved the facade of the house from demolition by moving it to Thruston Park on River Road between Adams and Ohio streets. In June of 2007, the facade was moved to the entrance of historic Frankfort Avenue.