Contractors have stabilized the former home of a world-famous artist. The house on Covington’s Greenup Street is where Frank Duveneck was born and raised. It was on the verge of collapse when the city got conservatorship over the property and moved to fix it.
Historic Preservation Officer Kaitlin Bryan says the house was in bad shape.
“We had a collapsed foundation, holes in the roof, broken windows. Inside, the floors were collapsing. It was infested with raccoons,” she says. “So we had a laundry list of things to do just to get it to a point where it can begin to be worked on.”
Bryan says when the renovation into office space is complete, Covington will look for a tenant.
“Our hope is that in the future we can partner with an organization that’s art-focused, nonprofit, and they either have their offices in there, or set up a gallery or museum.”
Bryan says Covington could partner with a number of museums that have Duveneck paintings.
The house is where Duveneck grew up and worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
“He raised his family there. One of the additions is the actual art studio where he was making all these beautiful paintings,” she says. “It just has a lot of local history tied up in it and we want to keep that around as long as possible.”
City of Covington
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Bryan says Covington used a community development block grant (CDBG) for the first phase, and are applying for other grants to make the building useful again.
“We’re just in limbo, waiting on what’s going to go on with the National Park Service and the Historic Preservation Fund,” she says. “It’s basically being zeroed out. Those funds not only sponsor projects, but they also help run our state historic preservation offices who administer those funds.”
One estimate has the National Park Service losing a billion dollars due to budget cuts under the Trump administration.
Bryan says Covington could look at using CDBG funds to finish the work, but would prefer to save those for other projects.
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