Presentation Academy

About this property

Presentation Academy, a college-preparatory high school for young women, is located in Downtown Louisville, Kentucky, United States, just north of Old Louisville in the Archdiocese of Louisville. Founded in 1831 by Mother Catherine Spalding, foundress of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, it is the oldest school in continuous operation in Louisville. Mother Catherine Spalding founded Presentation in 1831. The school began in a rented house, but in October of the same year moved to its own building on Fourth Street where it would remain for over fifty years. Presentation was the second school founded in Louisville. A public school effort started in 1828 quickly failed due to lack of funds, and thus Presentation became the oldest school in continuous operation in the city. The school expanded, and in 1891 NLBI, the corporate arm of the religious community operating Presentation, bought a lot and house at the corner of Fourth and Breckenridge for $35,000. In June 1892, arrangements were made to replace the house, which had been built in 1867 by Thomas Jacobs, with a new building designed by D. X. Murphy. The building was to cost approximately $66,000. A gym and auditorium were added in 1938 and another class room addition to the rear was made in 1948. The school initially offered primary and secondary education, but closed the elementary section in 1945 to accommodate an increasing enrollment in the all-girls secondary school. The building features a distinctive Richardsonian Romanesque tower, which was rebuilt after a fire in 1977. It was designed by D.X. Murphy, who also designed the famous twin-spired clubhouse at Churchill Downs. The building was listed in 2004 as one of Louisville's Ten favorites, according to the Courier-Journal. Generations of students have signed their names to the interior walls of the tower. Enrollment was consistently around 800 students during the 1950s and 1960s, but by 1993 it had dropped to just 230 students, and the school was over $760,000 in debt. It was announced that the doors would close in May 1995. However, a successful grassroots campaign by alumnae, students, and parents paid off the debt; and the Sisters of Charity relinquished control of the school to nearby Spalding University. The school became independent again in 2004, after becoming financially stable with a $6.2 million budget, and created its own board of trustees. In 2006 the school purchased a 22,000-square-foot (2,000 m2) property across the street to serve as the current location of an Arts and Athletic Center that replaced the past gym/auditorium (built in 1938 and now owned by Spalding University). Construction of this new $5 million building at 900 South Fourth Street, catty-corner to the existing campus, formally began with the ground breaking on May 5, 2008. On Friday, January 23, 2009, Presentation Academy marked the placement of the final beam in the Arts and Athletic Center with a "Topping Off" ceremony. The center was dedicated on September 13, 2009, and awarded the Best New Landmark of 2009 by www.brokensidewalk.com.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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