The William Bush House, at 1927 Tunnel Hill Rd. in

Elizabethtown, Kentucky Elizabethtown is a home rule-class city and the county seat of Hardin County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 28,531 at the 2010 census, and was estimated at 30,289 by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2019, making it the 11th-largest city ...

, is a historic house built in 1817. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1988. It is a two-story

Federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

style house built in stages. In 1817 a brick three-bay two-story

central passage plan The central-passage house, also known variously as central hall plan house, center-hall house, hall-passage-parlor house, Williamsburg cottage, and Tidewater-type cottage, was a vernacular, or folk form, house type from the colonial period onward ...

house was built. During the 1820s and 1830s lateral additions resulted in a seven-bay two-story house, with the additions including matching brick

corbelling In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the st ...

at the cornice and other matching details. A porch with

Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

columns was added c.1910. It was deemed "a notable example of an early 19th century brick residence" and is one of the oldest homes in the city limits of Elizabethtown. It is also notable for ties to early settler William Bush. William Bush was the son of Christopher Bush, an early settler who moved to Hardin County in the 1780s. William Bush amassed a large farm in the early 1800s and in 1817 he had the original three bay brick section of this home constructed which is one of the oldest within the city limits of Elizabethtown. Bush's sister, Sara Bush Johnston, married Thomas Lincoln in 1819 and became Abraham Lincoln's stepmother. The house is noteworthy for its unusual lateral addition plan of the early 19th century. The house was enlarged in the 1820s and 1830s by the construction of matching two-story brick additions. These additions were carefully constructed with corbelled brick at the cornice and windows and door openings to match those on the original structure. This type of lateral addition is unusual in the county with most additions of this period occurring at the rear of structures. Since the early 1800s modern additions have been confined to the rear of the house and it displays its original 19th century character. With .

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Kentucky Federal architecture in Kentucky Houses completed in 1817 Elizabethtown, Kentucky National Register of Historic Places in Hardin County, Kentucky Houses in Hardin County, Kentucky Central-passage houses 1817 establishments in Kentucky {{HardinCountyKY-NRHP-stub