HistoricSiteMarkers
Progressive & Modern Era

Kentucky's Executive Mansion

Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

Marker Inscription

Kentucky's Executive Mansion. State's second governor's residence. Governor James B. McCreary, chair of the Sinking Fund Commission, guided the two-year (1912-14), $95,000 construction project. On the National Register of Historic Places–1972. Patterned after Marie Antoinette’s villa, the 25-room, limestone mansion and its gardens have been renovated several times.

Erected by Kentucky Historical Society

The Story

Kentucky's Executive Mansion in Frankfort is the second official residence of the state's governors, built between 1912 and 1914 at a cost of $95,000 under the guidance of Governor James B. McCreary. Constructed of limestone in a Beaux-Arts manner said to be patterned after Marie Antoinette's Petit Trianon villa, the twenty-five-room house and its gardens have been renovated several times. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

Why it matters

As one of the few U.S. governors' residences still used as a home, the mansion embodies the civic ambition and grand public architecture of Progressive-era state government.

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Related people

  • · Gov. James B. McCreary

Themes & tags

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