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Renovation breathes new life into two historic Frankfort properties
By all appearances, the abandoned warehouse in downtown Frankfort seemed destined for condemnation when Ashlyn Ackerman, head of design with Weyland Ventures, first toured the property. Built in the 1879 on a steep hill along East Broadway, the brick structure showed its age. Its rear wall bowed outward from decades of seeping water, freeze-thaw cycles and the relentless vibration of trains rumbling past on nearby tracks. Inside, brickwork leaned and floors sloped noticeably off level.
“It was in pretty rough shape,” Ackerman says. “But the bones were solid.”
That was enough for Weyland Ventures. The Louisville-based development firm specializes in unique projects, particularly the adaptive reuse of historic buildings. Its team of architects, engineers, designers and preservation specialists began transforming the building into a 46-room boutique hotel called The Delegate.
After a structural analysis, crews rebuilt nearly the entire rear wall facing the tracks. They reinforced original timber joists and inserted new concrete structural walls to stabilize the brick shell. On the facade, the team preserved and highlighted original elements, including an ornate Italianate cornice and tall arched wooden windows. A few quirks remain, however, adding to the hotel’s character.
“If you look down some of the guest corridors, where you can see the exposed brick wall, it looks like it’s leaning a little bit,” Ackerman says. “It’s almost like, ‘Hey, I haven’t had bourbon today. That doesn’t look right.’”
Rest assured the walls are sound, and in fact the sound economics of Kentucky’s bourbon industry helped make The Delegate possible. In addition to historic tax credits—a 20% state credit on qualifying rehabilitation expenses, paired with an additional 20% federal historic tax credit—the project tapped into Kentucky tourism tax credits designed to encourage development along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
“That’s really the difference maker,” Ackerman says of the incentives. “The economics often don’t work without it. We’re fortunate Kentucky has such a strong historic tax credit program.”
Several projects in Weyland’s portfolio benefited from similar financing tools during development. Like The Delegate, those properties—the Bardstown Motor Lodge and the Myriad Hotel in Louisville, housed in a former disco ball factory—operate under sister company Common Bond Hotel Collection. Another boutique hotel is slated to open later this year in downtown Elizabethtown.
Adaptive reuse projects not only give new life to historic building, but they’re also often welcomed by the community, Ackerman adds: “Folks have known these buildings for many decades and are very supportive of something happening there.”
New role for an E.H Taylor connection
In addition to serving as a storage warehouse and at one time housing the Kentucky Buggy and Harness Co., The Delegate building also has another bourbon connection. Through researching old deeds and fire insurance maps, the Weyland team discovered that E.H. Taylor Jr. once leased part of the property to age whiskey.
“It wasn’t until we cleaned the brick on one side of the building and uncovered a ghost sign that read ‘E.H. Taylor and Sons’ that we confirmed that, ‘Yeah, he was here,’” Ackerman says.
Taylor left an indelible mark on Frankfort and the bourbon industry. He modernized what is now Buffalo Trace Distillery and later built Old Taylor Distillery, revived today as Castle & Key Distillery. He also served as Frankfort’s mayor for 15 consecutive years.
“It’s almost like he was a force of gravity—everything moved around him,” says Nick Laracuente, lead archivist for Buffalo Trace and its parent company Sazerac. “It’s hard to track him because he touched nearly everything downtown. He lived here. He had offices in the McClure Building and apparently helped lay the cornerstone for Second Street. And, of course, he was mayor. I’ve heard a story where he tried to get out of it and didn’t actually run, but he got elected anyway.”
Known as the “Bourbon Archaeologist,” Laracuente helped uncover Taylor’s long-lost 19th-century distillery ruins at Buffalo Trace, nicknamed “Bourbon Pompeii.” He formerly worked as an archaeologist with the Kentucky Heritage Council’s State Historic Preservation Office, which coincidentally was headquartered in Taylor’s former home on Washington Street.
“My office was essentially in Taylor’s bedroom,” Laracuente says.
Built in 1815, the two-story Federal-style residence was known as the “queen of the corner.” Taylor lived there in the 1870s while developing Old Taylor Distillery. Though the home had by then fallen into disrepair by the time the Heritage Council moved in, it retained details like ornate plasterwork and original fixtures. “The staircase is amazing,” Laracuente says, recalling that the staff gathered on its steps to take its annual holiday photo.
After the preservation office relocated, the house sat vacant for more than a decade until Lexington commercial real estate broker Tyler Bromagen purchased it as his first major rehabilitation project.
“The plaster was falling off, and the roof was falling in. It was in rough, rough shape,” Bromagen says. But the stone foundation walls were 3 feet thick and the supporting timbers massive. “With an old historic building like that, you know it’s built to stand for hundreds of years. It just needed some rehab and care,” he says.
Working with an architect and Louisville-based Natalie O Design, Bromagen transformed the property into the 24-room Ashbrook Hotel and restaurant. Like The Delegate, the project relied on historic tax credits to make it financially viable.
Unexpected discoveries emerged during the restoration. What initially appeared to be pressed metal wainscoting in the library turned out to be Lincrusta, a high-end Victorian wall covering made from pressed and embossed natural materials. Upstairs, a flooring specialist determined that wide-plank boards were likely cut from ancient pine harvested from Southern swamps. “The craftsmanship is remarkable,” Bromagen says. “You can’t replicate it.”
A grand chandelier, now converted to electric, still hangs in the front entrance, where the central staircase remains a focal point. Just off the front foyer, next to the bar, the former library once again serves as a gathering space.
“I like to think there were a lot of bourbon deals made in that library,” Bromagen says.
Local ties
Though The Ashbrook is independently owned, its operations and restaurant are managed by Common Bond. Like The Delegate’s steakhouse-style restaurant, Cypress & Oak, both properties have evolved into gathering places for guests and locals alike. Each also emphasizes local hiring.
“We always try to find local talent who maybe is currently having to drive to Louisville or Lexington to work in higher-end hospitality and give them a chance to stay a little closer to home and flex their talent,” Ackerman says.
Laracuente, a Frankfort resident, enjoys returning to the site of his former office and seeing what these buildings have become. “The place looks incredible,” he says. As a historian, he also can’t help but consider Taylor and the way past and present intersect.
“Whenever you’re walking around town, or if you stop for drinks or dinner at either one of them, it’s fun to think that he was there,” he says. “Walking the same streets and seeing the same views.”
