LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - One of Louisville’s most historic, recognized and sometimes controversial homes is for sale.
The Pink Palace, at 1473 St. James Court in Old Louisville, is on the market for $735,000. That will get you a total of six bedrooms, four bathrooms, two kitchens, 5,231 square feet and one very pink exterior.
That exterior has occasionally been an issue with others who live on St. James Court, despite the house being pink since the 1920s with no apparent ill effects on property values or neighborhood morals.
Realtor Sandy Phillips said that the listing has blown up since going public, and the meticulously maintained home has garnered serious interest.
“I’m amazed,” Phillips said. “It’s getting shared on Facebook like crazy. People who can’t afford it, people who love it. Everybody loves it.”
Maybe not everyone. In 1998, neighbors on St. James Court battled then-owner James Hutchens over his decision to paint it bubble-gum pink. They went at it for months - at one point Hutchens was given an approved paint sample that was actually brighter than his choice - until he decided to just paint the thing already. The world didn’t end.
In 2013, the Palace was given a fresh coat of more subtle pink by its current owners, who Phillips said no longer require so much space, and remains one of the most popular homes for tourists visiting St. James Court.
St. James Court was Louisville’s first 1-percenter neighborhood and the Pink Palace was built in 1891 as the Gentlemen’s Club and Casino, a 19th-century Animal House for rich old white dudes who drank, played cards, bedded prostitutes and complained incessantly about Grover Cleveland’s apparent lack of moxie.
The building took a hard right turn in 1910 when The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union took it over and painted it pink as a statement that the property was no longer a home to fun of any kind, failing to anticipate that notorious tramp Barbie, whose signature color is pink.
Since then, the Pink Palace has been home to a wide range of humanity and at least one very helpful ghost named Avery.
Avery is said to be the spirit of one of the Pink Palace’s first private owners. The tall older gentleman has appeared most often when residents have been in danger, such as the time he barged in on a bathing woman.
She jumped out of the tub and seconds later thieves tossed a concrete block through the window and it landed in the tub, which probably had to be refinished but still. Avery is also said to have warned a resident of a kitchen fire.
Phillips said she hasn’t run into Avery, which is probably a good thing,
“I haven’t spent the night here or been in the house when it’s dark,” she said. “I did read a book in one of the turrets between showings the other day and it was delightful.”
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