Built for Junius Richard Ward and his wife Matilda Viley Ward, the mansion is attributed to British-born military engineer and Lexington architect, Major Thomas Lewinski. It was constructed by Taylor Buffington with the assistance of James Bailey, a free mulatto brought to Kentucky and educated by Ward. The house embodies numerous Minard Lafever design elements from his 1829 and 1835 pattern books.
The more than 12,000 square-foot house rises from a six-foot high brushed and hammered coquina limestone foundation with twenty foot wide heroic scale steps leading up to a portico supported by four 27 foot-high fluted Corinthian columns with cast iron capitals and bases and the façade decorated on all four sides with pilasters and matching cast iron capitals set against Flemish bond brickwork. All window and door enframements on the exterior are cut stone.
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