West Main Street in downtown Old Louisville is in the heart of Louisville’s cultural district and features the second largest collection of cast iron facades in the United States.

More than a century ago, cast iron made it possible to build beautiful decorative elements that were too expensive to be carved in stone. The sidewalk bricks in front of the columns are laid on their sides and studded with iron so that the cast iron buildings are easily identifiable. To be doubly sure, you carry a magnet with you when you walk, which is likely to stick to buildings whose facades are made of cast iron. Ironwood trees grow in front of cast-iron buildings surrounded by replicas of authentic coal pit covers. A group of three trees are planted together, indicating that the building is masonry. Cast iron staves and tree rings give clues to the original uses of nearby buildings.

West Main Street has more examples of 19th-century cast-iron architecture than anywhere else in America except New York’s SoHo. The facade of the Hart Block, a five-story building designed in 1884 at a foundry, is a puzzle of bolted cast iron pieces. This early Victorian prefabricated construction allowed for large windows and increased height. The small St Charles Hotel, built before 1832, is the oldest here. A third generation Main Street building, it was preceded by Fort Nelson, followed by log cabins. Three-story brick buildings followed and lined the streets at the time of the Civil War.

Fort Nelson, a settler’s haven in the late 1700s, once stood between 6th and 8th streets on Main before being devastated by fire and tornado more than a century ago. This site was the terminus of the Wilderness Road, the first land route west of Virginia through the Appalachian Mountains through the Cumberland Gap, and the site of the first permanent settlement in what would become Louisville.

On the northwest corner of 7th and Main is a pocket park, dotted with historical markers and architectural cues from nearby structures. One of the first restorations of the street that helped hasten its revival is ‘Stairways’ which houses the Main Street Association Visitors and Information Center. One street block that still retains much of its 19th century appearance is the 100 block, whose building fronts are exactly as they were in the mid-19th century. Both ends of the building are of much interest. The first end of the street shows a fascinating Renaissance building built in 1852 with six unique bays. The corner of Second Street is the site of the original Galt House Hotel that was burned to the ground in 1865. The sprawling Galt House Hotel Complex at Fourth and Main streets, which includes offices, apartments, retail space, restaurants, and the convention facilities the city’s largest hotel chains, has twin office towers topped with whimsical rotating searchlights. The Second Street Bridge, also called the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge from which it is an Indiana mile, has an art deco entrance designed in 1929 by Paul Gret, architect of Cincinnati’s Union Station.

40 stories of glass, steel, and booming businesses designed by New York’s Harrison and Abromovitz in 1972 make up what’s called the National City Tower. The first national bank was headquartered here before it was acquired by National City Bank, First National Bank of Louisville. Naturalist John Audubon lived on this site 200 years ago when it housed the Indian Queen Hostelry.

Here’s also the IMAXX Theater/Science Center, a 19th-century warehouse filled with arcades and science demonstrations, like an Egyptian mummy’s tomb, a Foucault pendulum, and plenty of hands-on exhibits that especially appeal to kids. You can also see exhibits on space exploration and the human body. Constructed of limestone and cast iron for use as a wholesale dry goods store in 1878, it is a prime example of adaptive reuse. Cork Marcheschi’s geometric kinetic sculpture out front projects an impressive street market day or night: as the sky darkens, photoelectric sensors activate its colored lights. Wonderful worlds are preserved on three floors of fun, fantasy and science.

One of the oldest utilities in the US dating back to 1838 and the most powerful business in the city, Energy is headquartered at One Corporate Plaza at Third and Main Streets. Place Montpellier, steps from a large park overlooking the Ohio River, leads you to the statue of Louisville’s founder, George Rogers Clark, standing in the square, where he will learn the secrets of the city’s beginnings. Following the blue bricks you trace the outline of the Ohio River. Steps away, emerge at Waterfront Park and the riverfront elevator.

The large postmodern Humana Building built in 1985 has established a reputation for itself internationally as Time magazine’s choice of building for the last 20 years. The eclectic creation of talented architect Michael Graves pays homage to its River City location with water fountains and steel bridges in the lobby. Inside this lobby, you are greeted by a combination of classical art and fascinating architecture. The stepped facade of different styles complements and harmonizes with the shorter adjoining buildings.

Just a few feet away is the American Life and Accident Building at Riverfront Plaza. This unique structure designed by Mies Van der Kohe and completed in 1973 is called the Rusty Building for its oxidized Cor-Ten steel cladding designed to oxidize to a beautiful bronze hue.

A delightful variety of styles distinguishes Main Street: Greek Revival [columns, pilasters, heavy cornices] at Actors Theatre, Italian style [decorative cast-iron facades and villa-type character] in the Hart Block building; Richardsonian Romanesque [rounded archways and windows, limestone and terra cotta construction] in the Doe-Anderson building; International [sleek, concrete, glass and steel] in National City Tower and Post-Modern [new colors, stone and symbolic ties to environmental features] in the Human Building.

All this I walked, thus walking the path where famous feet have walked. Such famous feet were those of Daniel Boone, Abraham Lincoln, US Grant, Thomas Edison, Charles Dickens, John James Audubon, DW Griffith, Muhammad Ali, Pee Wee Reese, Mary Anderson and many others.

A 15-foot concrete flood wall paralleling Main Street with gate hardware to be installed to close the wall at 2nd through 8th streets is a grim reminder of the 1937 flood whose recurrence it was built to prevent. Then most of the downtown area was flooded by the waters of the Ohio River. But the Main Street merchants found themselves in the backbone of ‘City Island’ and were saved.

Historic preservations of Louisville’s past beauty and glory can also be seen in a larger stretch of downtown that moves into my own hostel. The Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Assumption on Fifth Street is a Gothic Revival structure built between 1849 and 1852 and restored between 1985 and 1994. The Jefferson County Courthouse on Jefferson Street is a Greek Revival landmark designed by Gideon Shyrock and built in 1835 with the intention of attracting the state government to Louisville. Dominating the Louisville skyline and the tallest building in Kentucky, the 35-story Aegean Center on Market Street has a spectacular geodesic dome topping the 1992 Art Deco structure designed by New York architect John Burger. At the end of Fourth Street, which was my home for six weeks, is a mansion with the prominent sign SPALDING UNIVERSITY. This Italian Renaissance-style home built around 1871 is one of the few remaining structures designed by Henry Whileston, a prominent Louisville architect. The mansion, including the stained glass windows, the symbol of Spalding University, is preserved within the administration building as a Kentucky and national landmark.

At night, I have often seen horse-drawn carriages carrying one or two passengers. I later learned that these are organized carriage tours in the downtown hotel zone following interesting routes that give passengers haunting views of historic sites, restaurants, theaters, and the riverfront. A streetcar also travels across 4th Street between the Galt House Hotel and Suites by the WATERFRONT and Theater Square and on Main and Market streets between 11th and Clay streets.

Our city tour by bus gave us a privileged view of all these places of interest. But it also gave us a bird’s-eye view of the growing differentiation in residential areas based on race and class. The easternmost part inhabited mostly by blacks was far from the high-incidence commercial centers that exist in the white enclaves. This is an area I would like to explore further.

Our tour took us to Bardstown, where we had the opportunity to explore the interior of one of the most famous slave houses, Farmington Historic Home, with close connections to two US Presidents. Abraham Lincoln told us that he once lived here as a guest of the Speeds, the original owners of the slave plantation and house there. The house is said to have been designed from a plan by Thomas Jefferson, although that has recently been disputed.

This 14-room Federal-style home with manicured lawns intertwined with paved wood and concrete driveways and a pool at the far end was part of the slave plantations of the South where hemp and rice were grown. Wine was also made here. It is amazing how well this house has been redesigned and preserved to reflect the colors and spirit of the 19th century with some of the same items including books preserved and where this is not possible the closest approximations reflecting that are presented as representatives. period.