The Orlando Brown House c. 1835
In 1835, John Brown divided Liberty Hall’s four acres between his two sons, Mason and Orlando. Mason inherited Liberty Hall, and in order to maintain an equal inheritance, a new home was built for Orlando.
The house was built in the Greek Revival style by famed Kentucky architect Gideon Shryock—the first professional architect in the state. Shryock designed the Old State Capitol Building in 1830 when he was just 27. John Brown was one of the commissioners of the Capitol Building and was so impressed by Shryock’s work, he commissioned him to build Orlando’s house at the corner of Wilkinson and Wapping Streets. The Orlando Brown House is the only private residence Shryock ever designed.
At the same time Shryock was constructing the Orlando Brown House, he was also building the Jefferson County Courthouse in Louisville and would use the same materials in both. Other designs by Shryock include Transylvania University's Morrison College in Lexington, The Franklin County Courthouse in Frankfort, The Arkansas State House in Little Rock, The Louisville Medical Center, and The Headquarters for the Louisville Water Company[1].
Shryock was not the only famous Kentuckian to work on the Orlando Brown House; Harry Mordecai did the plasterwork in the house. By this time Mordecai had earned enough through his craft as a plasterer and mason to buy his freedom in 1814, and in 1833 he would purchase the freedom of his wife and five children. It wouldn’t just be Liberty Hall and The Orlando Brown House shaped by Mordecai’s handiwork, but much of Historic Downtown Frankfort as well[2].
The Orlando Brown House is one of the earliest examples of Greek Revival architecture in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, but many others will adopt the style shortly after. The portico and columns on the front of the house are characteristic of the style and according to a letter from Orlando to his wife Mary, it was modeled after an English country estate[3]. But just like Liberty Hall, the architecture of The Orlando Brown House has been emulated across downtown and even just across the street.
[1]Winfrey P. Blackburn Jr. And R. Scott Gill. Gideon Shryock: His Life and Architecture 1802-1880 (Canada: Butler Books, 2021)
[2] Sharon Cox, Harry Mordecai Plasterer and Bricklayer of Frankfort https://www.mesdajournal.org/2020/harry-mordecai-plasterer-and-bricklay…
[3]Orlando Brown to Mary Watts Brown, April 10, 1835, The Filson Historical Society Collection