The Columbia Building, originally named the Commerce Building, was

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

's second skyscraper, designed by Cornelius Curtin and completed in 1890 at a cost of $1 million. It was located at the northwest corner of Fourth and Main streets and built of pressed red brick in the

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

style. It was built just five years after the world's first skyscraper, the Home Insurance Building in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. It had 10 stories and a height of 162 feet. The Columbia was first called the Commercial Club Building, and was the tallest building in Louisville for over a decade. It was demolished in 1966 as a part of a downtown redevelopment plan, and a 24-story highrise, now called the BB&T Building, was built on the site in 1972.

References

1966 disestablishments in Kentucky Demolished buildings and structures in Louisville, Kentucky Commercial buildings completed in 1890 Buildings and structures demolished in 1966 Skyscraper office buildings in Louisville, Kentucky Former skyscrapers 1890 establishments in Kentucky Romanesque Revival architecture in Kentucky {{Louisville-struct-stub

See also

References