University of Louisville - Thoroughbred Yearbook (Louisville, KY)

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bank authorized by the legislature in the 1840's. After thirteen years, however, the legislature voted to liquidate the state bank system. George Norton moved to Louisville soon afterward and opened a private bank- ing house with his brother William F. Norton. The Norton's closed the bank in 1885, partly because of George's failing health, and in 1889 George died at the age of seventy-four, After his death the three sisters de- cided to build a new home and hired arch- itects Collidge and Shattuck of Cleavand. The style of Gardencourt, often identified as Georgian, is more correctly identified as Beaux-Arts with strong Georgian in- fluence evident in the structu re. Con- struction was begun in 1905 and com- pleted in 1906. Six massive columns support the man- sion from the front. Inside, a marble- floored hallway, lined with sculpture and gilt mirrors, is dominated by the massive carved staircase. A glass-enclosed sun- porch opens onto the formal gardens, and a view of the park is possible from all sides of the estate's hilltop site. When the sisters decided to build in Cherokee Park, then in the infant stages of residential development, they were con- cerned about moving that distance from the center of town. After some deliberation the sisters decided to purchase an auto- mobile - then newly in vogue in Louis- ville - and the carriage house on the estate was expanded to accomodate the vehicle. After Minnie's death in 1911, Lucie and Mattie continued to live at Garden- court, remaining active in social and philanthropic work. Lucie was a sponsor of the Baptist Orphans Home and the Children's Free Hospital. Mattie served as chairman of the Frontier Nursing As- sociation, plus being a charter member of the Louisville Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). In 1924, Mattie, Lucy, and their brother, George Norton, Jr. , pledged $100,000 to the Southern Baptist Sem- inary for its move from Fifth and Broadway to its present location on Lexington Road.

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The Norton family had been active in the Baptist Church since William Norton, ori- ginally a Quaker, joined the Russelville Baptist Church. The Norton family con- tinued as benefactors to the seminary and eventually set up a scholarship fund. On Christmas Day, 1937, Lucie Norton died. Mattie Norton, the only sur- viving child of George Norton, outlived her by nine years, dying in 1946 at the age of eighty-three. One of the wealthiest women in Louisville, she lett an estate of nearly $1.5 million in real estate, invest- ments, cash, and jewels. Her will, how- ever, made no disposition of the Garden- court Estate. Because of Mattie's interest in music and in the University of Louisville, Mat- tie's benificiaries presented U of L with the estate to be used for the School of Music. At that time the land was valued at $3,000 per acre, and the house at $125,000 - a total value of $167,000. U of L music students and faculty were delighted to move from the school's former location in the Reynold's Building at Third and Eastern Parkway. Garden- court proved to be an excellent site for the school, and very little remodeling was needed to convert the rooms into class- rooms and studios. The U of L School of Music remained at Gardencourt for twenty-three years, until it moved to its present location at Shelby Campus in 1969 Offices of the U of L Urban Studies Center, the Demographic Center, and the Metroversity now occupy the second and third floors of Gardencourt. A dance studio at the rear ot the home houses the music school's preparatory dance depart- ment. And the carriage house, once built for the Norton carriages and automobile, is now occupied by the Kentucky Opera Association. The chauffer's apartments upstairs have been converted into studios for U of L artist-in-residence Lee Luvisi. The mansion's first floor remains largely unchanged, retaining many of the original paintings, furnishings, and much of the decor. Now seventy years old, Gardencourt stands in isolated beauty; a memorial to one of Louisville's leading families and to an era of Kentucky history.