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The Terraces
The fine old mansion lovingly referred to as “The Terraces” once stood at 319 Wapping Street until razed in 1955. The residence was built with slave and prison labor by Frankfort’s first mayor Philip Swigert around 1848.
Years ago the late Eleanor Hume Offutt wrote about the waterfront home in a Courier Journal magazine: “The Terraces” had two fronts, one on Wapping Street and the other on the river. The distinguished columns of the back porch, usually hidden by wisteria, rose two stories. The low wrought iron rail around the edge of the roof was not only decorative but served as a guard rail for the playful generations of children who gained access through a convenient trapdoor. The large lower back gallery stretched almost the entire width of the house. The upper gallery was accessible from the upper back hall. The rear view of the house with its bright columns was the view that Chad Buford saw when he came downriver on a raft in John Fox’s famous Kentucky novel “Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come.”
The other entrance to the house faced Wapping Street and contained Corinthian columns on either side of the doorway. A spiral stair led to the upper chambers and on to the great attic which was the full size of the other floors. The Terraces had one of the fifty original phones in Frankfort. The last owner was family member Colonel John Buford Hendrick who died in 1954. The City of Frankfort purchased the dwelling and replaced it with the proverbial parking lot. Today the site is the new Paul Sawyier Library erected in 2006.
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