Luckett & Farley is an architecture, engineering, and interior design firm based in Louisville, Kentucky. It was founded in 1853, making it (along with SmithGroup) the oldest continually operating architecture firm in the United States that is not a wholly owned subsidiary. The firm began under the name Rogers, Whitestone & Co., Architects, changing its name to Henry Whitestone in 1857, to D.X. Murphy & Brother in 1890, and to Luckett & Farley in 1962. The company is 100% employee-owned as of January 1, 2012 and concentrates on automotive, industrial, federal government, higher education, health and wellness, and corporate/commercial markets. There are more LEED professionals at Luckett & Farley than any other company in Kentucky with 50, as of December 2012.
History
The Whitestone period
Henry Whitestone (1819–1893) was born at Clondegad House in County Clare, Ireland. He immigrated to the United States amidst famine and depression with his wife Henrietta in January 1852 from Innis, Ireland after he was recommended to Isaiah Rogers (1800–1869), for his work on the County Clare Courthouse. Rogers was an architect based in Cincinnati who came to be known as "the father of the American hotel". Whitestone's first project with Rogers was the Frankfort Hotel in Frankfort, Kentucky and a partnership formed in November 1853 when Rogers was contracted to rebuild the recently burned Louisville Hotel. Whitestone moved from Frankfort to Louisville and received 2/5 of all profits from the services he performed with Rogers.
The first office of Isaiah Rogers and Henry Whitestone was located at Bullit and Main Streets, near where the Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere is located today. Together they transformed Louisville into a "five-story city" and introduced the Italianate architectural style to the region. Whitestone separated from Rogers in 1857 and soon became the preeminent architecture firm in Louisville through the 1880s. Notably, Charles J. Clarke worked for Henry Whitestone during the Civil War and later formed a partnership with Arthur Loomis, to form the historically significant Louisville architecture firm Clarke and Loomis.
Whitestone retired in approximately 1881 and died in 1893. An 1893 publishing of The American Architect and Building News wrote of Whitestone,
He is buried at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville Kentucky alongside his wife and two daughters (Section C, lot 39). A marker located on Main St., across from the old Louisville Hotel, bears his name.
The D.X. Murphy era Dennis Xavier ("D.X.") Murphy (1853–1933) was born in Louisville after his parents immigrated from Ireland, began working as a draftsman at age 16 for Henry Whitestone. By 1874 he was the head draftsman and eventually took over the practice in 1880 just before Whitestone's retirement. It was at this point that the firm was renamed D.X. Murphy. His brothers James C. Murphy (1865–1935), later joined the practice in 1890 at which time the firm became D.X. Murphy and Brother. Their younger brother Peter C. Murphy subsequently joined and together they designed many of Louisville's Catholic Churches, among many other notable buildings, for significantly reduced fees on the order of 1% of construction costs. The Murphys' sister, Sr. Mary Anselm, was a nun with the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Bardstown, Kentucky which likely led to many of the commissionings.
The firm's most famous work was that of the Twin Spires at Churchill Downs in 1895, designed by 24-year-old Joseph D. Baldez and constructed in time for the 21st Kentucky Derby.
It was known for the grandstand (as well as the spires) of Churchill Downs, the Galt House Hotel and distillery buildings along what became Louisville's Whiskey Row, and numerous other office buildings, schools, hospitals, and churches, some of which survive and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) for their architecture.
Works include: Galt House Hotel Bernheim Distillery (c.1896) Combined Distillers of Kentucky (c.1905–1906) Bonnie Brothers Distillery (c.1903–1912) The Phil. Hollenbach Company (c.1889), 528 Main, which in 2023 was home of the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience Cathedral of the Assumption (1852), 443 S. 5th St. Louisville, KY (Keely, William; Murphy, D.X.) Gothic Revival. NRHP-listed Churchill Downs, 700 Central Ave. Louisville, KY (Murphy, D.X. & Co.), NRHP-listed Inter-Southern Insurance Building (1913), 239–247 S. 5th St. Louisville, KY (with Brinton B. Davis), NRHP-listed Jefferson Branch Louisville Free Public Library, 1718 W. Jefferson St. Louisville, KY, NRHP-listed Jefferson County Jail, 514 W. Liberty St. Louisville, KY, NRHP-listed Kentucky Wagon Works, 2601 S. 3rd St. Louisville, KY, NRHP-listed National Tobacco Works Branch Stemmery, 2410-18 W. Main St., Louisville, NRHP-listed National Tobacco Works Branch Drying House, 2400 W. Main St., Louisville, NRHP-listed Presentation Academy, 861 S. 4th St., Louisville, NRHP-listed Snead Manufacturing Building, 817 W. Market St., Louisville, NRHP-listed Stockyard Exchange Building (1914), Louisville, Beaux Arts, in NRHP-listed Butchertown Historic District With One or more works in Savoy Historic District, 209–221 W. Jefferson St., Louisville, NRHP-listed
Dennis Murphy died in 1933 and is buried at St. Louis Cemetery in Louisville.
In 1935 D.X. Murphy and Brother was sold by James Murphy's wife to D.X. Murphy and Brother Incorporated for a sum of $1,147, at which time Peter Murphy became president. By 1943, Peter Murphy was named chairman of the board and William G. O'Toole became president. Thomas D. Luckett II (1909–1996) became majority stakeholder in the firm upon O'Toole's passing in 1956 while Jean D. Farley (b. 1927) was named Vice President.
D.X. Murphy and Bro., Inc became Luckett & Farley, Inc on May 25, 1962, with T.D. Luckett and J.D. Farley sharing ownership.
D.X. Murphy occupied the old Louisville Trust Building (208 S. 5th St) until 1962 when the office was relocated to the Washington Building (4th and Market), which has since been demolished.
The Filson Historical Society in Louisville holds architectural drawings and other records of the D.X. Murphy and Brother firm and its predecessors.
Luckett & Farley
By the time the firm was renamed Luckett & Farley Inc. in 1962 to reflect the change of ownership, civil and structural engineering services were also provided; Mechanical and electrical engineering services were added in 1970 in order to deliver better-coordinated construction documents to clients. By 1973 the firm name was changed to Luckett & Farley Architects, Engineers, and Construction Managers, Inc. and by the end of 1982, Jean Farley sold the company to Dennis Dewitt, Ronald Kendall, and Douglas Wilkerson.
In 2000 an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) was formed and by 2002, leadership was transferred to Ed Jerdonek, Belinda Gates, Gail Miller, and Rob Diamond. A design-build subsidiary, LFDB, was created in 1999 but has since separated with the company as of 2011. Belinda Gates retired from Luckett & Farley in 2010. On January 1, 2012, Jerdonek, Miller, and Diamond sold their interest in the company to the employee-owners, making Luckett & Farley 100% employee-owned. Luckett & Farley occupied the Washington Building from 1963 to 1968 when it moved to 215 W. Breckinridge and again in 1997 to their current location in the Prince Wells Building at 737 S. Third St.
Luckett & Farley uses building information modeling technology to produce its drawings.
Departments Departments consist of the following fields: Architecture Interior Design & Procurement Structural Engineering Civil Engineering Mechanical Engineering Electrical Engineering Building Commissioning
Presidents Generation Name End of Term 1 Isaiah Rogers 1857 2 Henry Whitestone 1880 3 Dennis X. Murphy 1933? 4 James C. Murphy 1935 5 Peter C. Murphy 1943 6 William O'Toole 1956 7 Thomas D. (T.D.) Luckett II 1971 8 Jean D. Farley 1982 9 Dennis DeWitt 2002 10 Ed Jerdonek 2016 11 Aric M. Andrew 2021 12 Rolf Provan Present
Rogers & Whitestone's work in Louisville (1853–1880)
No. Building Name Year Constructed Location Still Standing? Reference1Louisville Hotel 1853610 W. Main St. No 2Barber-Barbour House; Rosewell 18546415 Transylvania Ave Yes 3Hunt-Hite Residence; Pendennis Club 1854NW 2nd/Walnut No 4Newcomb Alexander Banking Building 1854NW Main/Bullitt (across BB&T Bldg.) No 5T.T. Shreve Residence 1854606 S. Walnut No 6The Galt House (Addition and Renovation) 18541st/Main No 7Monsarrat Fifth Ward Building 18555th/York Yes 8Col. Rueben Durrett Residence; The Filson Club; Home of the Innocents 1856202 E. Chestnut No 9Richardson Burge Villa 1856NW 7th/Main No 10Store; Seelbach European Hotel; The Old Inn 1856SW 6th/Main Yes 11Richard Atkinson Residence 1857SE 4th/Walnut No 12Louisville Medical Institute 1857SW 8th/Chesnut No13Cathedral of the Assumption Tower & Spire 1858433 S. 5th Yes 14Horatio Dalton Newcomb, St. Xavier College 1859118 W. Broadway No 15James C. Ford Residence; YMCA 18592nd/Broadway No 16Cook House 18601348 S. 3rd Yes 17James Irvin Residence 18602910 Northwestern Yes 18William A. Richardson's Ivywood 18603000 Dundee Rd No 19Baurman House 18661518 W. Market Yes 20John G. Baxter House; House of Refuge 18662035 S. 3rd No 21A.J. Ballard House 1867NW Floyd/Walnut No 22Irvin Mausoleum 1867Cave Hill Cemetery Yes 23Peterson–Dumesnil House 1869301 S. Peterson Yes 24The Bridgeford-Monfort Home 1869413 W. Broadway No 25The Galt House (2nd) 18691st/Main No 26Beckurt-B.F. Guthrie Residence 1870Unknown -- 27Ronald–Brennan House 1870631 S. 5th Yes 28Weissinger-Chambers Residence 1870402 Ormsby No 29Tompkins-Buchanan-Rankin House; Nazareth College; Spalding University 1871851 S. 4th Yes 30Landward House (Robinson-Wheeler Residence) 18721385 S. 4th Yes 31Silas F. Miller House 1872119 W. Broadway No32Lithgow Building; Louisville Board of Trade 1873301 W. Main No 33Woodford H. Dulaney Residence 1872SE 8th/Broadway No 34Bashford Manor Stable 18742040 Bashford Manor/Adele No 35Salve-Bullett Mausoleum 1875Cave Hill Cemetery Yes 36City Hall Clock Tower Replacement 1876601 W. Jefferson Yes 37James Henning Residence 1877408 Ormsby Yes 38Louisville & Nashville Railroad Office Building; Whiskey Row Lofts 1877133 W. Main Yes 39Charles Merriwether House 18783rd St. Yes 40Kentucky Wagon Works; KY Mfg. Co. 18782601 S. 3rd No 41Standiford Residence; School for Girls 1880West side of 4th, between Breckinridge/Kentucky No 42Portland Federal Savings and Loan Bldg. 1887539 W. Market Yes 43U.S. Custom House and Post Office (Supervising Architect) 1865–18813rd/Liberty No 44105, 107–109, 111 W. Main ("Whiskey Row") 1877, 1905, 1871105, 107–109, 111 W. Main Yes
Partial list of work by D.X. Murphy & Brother in Louisville (1880–1933)