Commonwealth Building (Louisville)

The Commonwealth Building was a 21-story, 255-foot (78 m) building in Downtown Louisville, Kentucky located on the northwestern corner of Fourth Street and Broadway.

Commonwealth Building
General information
StatusDemolished
LocationFourth St and Broadway
Downtown Louisville
Opening1928
DemolishedJanuary 16, 1994
Height
Roof255-foot (78 m)
Technical details
Floor count21
Design and construction
DeveloperJames Graham Brown

The Commonwealth Building was built by James Graham Brown across Fourth Street from the Brown Hotel in 1928 and originally named after his late brother, Martin Brown.[1] In 1955, a 17-story vertical addition was constructed which took the title of Louisville's tallest building away from the Heyburn Building, diagonally across Fourth and Broadway. The building featured a light beacon on its roof for a short time until being turned off due to complaints by residents in Floyds Knobs, Indiana.

The owner of the building, Commonwealth Life Insurance Company, created Capital Holding Corporation in 1969 [2] and, as the company grew, decided to build a new headquarters building on the southwest corner of Fourth and Market named Capital Holding Center to reflect the company's business interests outside of life insurance. Once Commonwealth Life Insurance Company and Capital Holding relocated to their new headquarters, the Commonwealth Building was imploded on January 16, 1994. A low rise office building and open space now occupy the building's former site.

References
  1. The Encyclopedia of Louisville (John E. Kleber) page 132 ISBN 0-8131-2100-0
  2. The Encyclopedia of Louisville (John E. Kleber) page 7 ISBN 0-8131-2100-0
Preceded by
Heyburn Building		 Tallest building in Kentucky
1955–1963		 Succeeded by
The 800 Apartments


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