Talk:William J. Dodd
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Until recently, data on W.J. Dodd was scarce and difficult to verify, especially biographical information. Likewise, a dearth of actual blueprints and building permit reports from the period before 1900 in Louisville have naturally made many casual attributions of this or that structure to Dodd suspect and often they are no more than folklore or worse, a real estate agent's or a seller's attempt to enlarge the glamour of property without doing their own homework and provenance. The Chroniclerk.
I got my data about Dodd designing the Chat. house on 4th Street from a house rehabilitation info banner in front of the blue house at the corner of 4th & Belgravia Ct. It states that Dodd designed the house for jeweler Joseph Wyrne. I can upload a picture of the banner if you want it. My landlord was also state that Dodd is the designer of the Chat. grouping. The Br3 02:32, 24 June 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for giving background on your posted attribution of the entire set of Chateauesque town houses at 4th and Hill streets in Louisville. However, meaning no disrespect, try to go deeper than what your landlord claims or what Ele Grigsby posts on his promotional sign at 402 Belgravia Ct (a photo of the sign taken and kept in the Fall 2005 in anticipation of this very controversy.) I have tried to get Mr. Grigsby to provide more than hearsay support for the carefully worded claim on his sign - "this structure...has been attributed to...William J. Dodd" - but he has not done so and nolonger replies to my inquiries. In front of me is "Old Louisville: The Victorian Era" by Samuel Thomas and Will Morgan. They discuss the chateauesque buildings around Old Louisville and though they identify Dodd as the designer with Mason Maury of several more restrained examples in this style at Park and also near St. Catherine, they do not do the same with the "notable Chateauesque ensemble", a.k.a. "the group at Fourth and Hill" (quotes are their wording); they leave those structures unattributed. I believe Sam Thomas still lives in Louisville. You might check with him to see if new data has come forth. Or perhaps your landlord has found the building permit record or blueprints or newspaper articles announcing the new building. Such primary source material would really seal this issue, fix the year of construction and be most welcome by anyone researching Dodd's work. I'd love to look at those records if they exist. Please note that I don't deny the possibility of your posted attribution to Dodd, afterall who else would do that kind of high-styled design in Louisville ca 1895; I just want to see the historical provenance. 
The Chroniclerk 22:45, 27 June 2006 (UTC)
