In search of Stratton Hammon
“We have a friend… can you help?” The email from the south of France had come more than two years before from mutual friends of ours and the homeowner. Now, with a new Cherokee Triangle home under contract, it was time to sell the old home.
First off, it’s said to be a Stratton Hammon home.
Everyone who grew up in Louisville knows who Stratton Hammon was. Well, at least everyone interested in colonial revival homes.
The owner lets us know that he has a Courier-Journal article confirming that the house was designed by Stratton Hammon.
“Here it is” in a frame left by the prior owners. Someone had written “1942” in black magic marker across the bottom of the article.
With the headline, “No other home of this character for sale in Louisville today,” the article reads suspiciously like an ad more so than a true news story. “For sale … today” is pretty much a giveaway. And there’s the subhead, “A real bargain at $29,500.” At the end of the ad there’s a call for action, “see your realtor or Fred G. Burdorf, owner at TA 5013. (Remember alpha prefixes? TA = TAylor, TW = TWinbrook, etc.). So, if you are naturally skeptical of claims made in advertising, “designed by Stratton Hammon” might or might not be factual.
Job 1. Find the article/ad to confirm when and where the ad ran.
With a library card from the Louisville Free Public Library you can go online and access all past Courier-Journal articles for FREE!. And, as it turns out, all past ads as well. Type in “Stratton Hammon, 1942.” You’ll find a host of micro type classified ads. Remember classified ads? Newspapers used to make a good part of their income from those.
We’re also looking for 1114 Red Fox Rd. A batch of 1114 Alta Vista Rd. classifieds show up. Hmm… Consult the Google map. No 1114 Alta Vista there. But, if you’ve driven along Beargrass Creek just upstream from Big Rock, you may have noticed Red Fox Rd. If you turn up, it dead ends in a hundred yards. You can also get to Red Fox from Alta Vista, but that section no longer connects to the lower section by the creek. Apparently when the Rostrevor estate was broken up, it made more sense to reroute Alta Vista so 1114 Alta Vista became 1114 Red Fox Rd. The picture of the home in the ad confirms it’s the same place with a new address.
After a series of classified ads for the home in April and May of 1942, finally on May 24th (birthdate of one of Fred G. Burdorf’s daughters), the display ad appears in all its glory.
Remember, Pearl Harbor was attacked just five months before. The country is at war. Not too many people want to invest in a new home not knowing when or if the Japanese might launch an attack on the mainland. In fact, as a citizen volunteer, Fred Burdorf patrolled Alta Vista at night to be sure everyone had their blackout curtains drawn tight so as not to provide an easy target for hostile bombers. Think about the morning of 9/11/2001. Uncertainty ruled. So, the house doesn’t sell that spring. In fact, it never leaves the family until the next generation.
But proof. We need proof. Ads aren’t the best proof.
The owner says, in prior research, he’d seen a mention of a Burdorf to Hammon letter in a Filson Club index.
It’s Covid days. The Filson Club is closed. Voice mail asks the caller to leave a message and promises a return call. Wait. The call comes. More detail needed. Fox Rd. vs Alta Vista address change and more detail. Back to the files.
Success! A January 23, 1942 letter found from Burdorf to Hammon with enclosed check for “balance due for services and plans” for Alta Vista Rd. Thank you Filson Club.
We list the home for sale as bona fide Stratton Hammon home! Calls begin.
Late that night a text message comes in from Fred Burdorf’s great grandson. “NOT a Stratton Hammon home” it says. We acknowledge that Burdorf may not have fully executed the interior details (heavy/expensive millwork favored by Hammon). It’s war time. Budget cuts prevail. But the floor plan, exterior and many other details such as the spiral staircase, an oval powder room window, etc. that are key Hammon trademarks, are there. There is no Stratton Hammon brass plaque on the front of home proclaiming authenticity. No signature of anyone on the blueprints. Conclusion. Maybe it was not Stratton Hammon’s favorite rendition of his plans. But they were his plans, nonetheless.
Click here to see the original documents cited above, related articles and a video.