St. Matthews is home to several of Jefferson County’s historic and important properties. One of those homes is an 8,400-square-foot yellow and green Gothic Revival abode at 401 S. Hubbards Lane. This 10-bedroom, nine-bathroom county landmark was built in 1853 and is listed National Register of Historic Places. Today it is known as the Inn in Woodhavena bed and breakfast owned by Mark Lansing and Jeremy Couture.

Searching for stable stations

Lansing and Couture had been living in Florida for nearly two decades when the northern natives decided it was time to move a little closer to home.

“We both grew up in extreme seasons,” Couture said, “so we were looking for moderate seasons.”

The couple considered moving to Chattanooga, Asheville and Lexington before ending up falling in love with Louisville.

“We chose Louisville and then we found this house,” Couture said of the property that was built by a prominent Kentucky farmer named Theodore Brown.

“He built this house in the Gothic style, which was quite rare in the 1850s in America,” Couture explained. “The style was normally reserved for churches, so this is probably one of only a dozen Gothic houses built in the United States in the 1850s in this style, (and) it is probably the best preserved of all that They may still be standing.”

Preserving a piece of history

In its 171 years of history, the house has not passed through many hands. Lansing and Couture are only its fifth owners and have gone to great lengths to preserve its historic integrity while creating practical spaces for guests to enjoy.

The house still retains its original floor, grand staircase, plaster beams and florets, to name a few. The windows are also in their original state, made of leaded glass.

“We are also fortunate to retain all of the original shutters,” Couture said, adding that there was quite a bit of restoration work involved. “We took out all the shutters, sanded them… and put them back in place so they work.”

He and Lansing also took razor blades to the windows to scrape off numerous layers of paint, allowing all the first-floor windows to open for the first time in more than 50 years.

“The house itself is just an incredible architectural feat,” Couture added, explaining that wooden dowels and beams, rather than steel, were used in the walls. “As a result, the entire house expands and contracts at the same rate with temperature fluctuations, so the integrity of the home is never compromised. As a result, we have no cracks in any of our walls due to the settling of the house.”

With such a solid foundation, the house did not require major structural changes. Many of the modifications Couture and Lansing made, such as removing the pink wallpaper in the dining room, were cosmetic changes to better accommodate their guests.

“Our goal is to… update it without modernizing it,” Couture said, “to keep it period but functional and comfortable, and make it more gender neutral.”

Best accommodation and breakfast.

Other changes to the dining room included the installation of darker, period-appropriate wallpaper; hang framed antique hunting pictures; incorporating a darker chandelier; and paint the ceiling.

“We did a semi-gloss on the beams, but a smooth finish of the same color on the inside of the tray so that it shows differentiation without having additional color,” Couture explained. “We try to be very conscious of all the details we put into the house.”

The dining room is one of several common areas for guests to gather when not spending time in one of the eight bedrooms. This includes four in the main house; three in the carriage house, which was also built in 1853; and one in the cottage, the third building on the property that was built in 1998 in the style of the main house and carriage house.

Couture and Lansing have been working on various projects in the three buildings since they purchased the property nearly four years ago. There is still a little more to do, but they are pleased with how far they have come and enjoy sharing it with everyone who walks through their doors.

“When you own a house that old, you don’t really own it; you’re more of a caregiver until the next person comes along to love her,” Couture said. “It just makes us feel good that the house is shining again. … Mark (and I) have had to test limits and patience on more than one occasion to get things done, (and) it hasn’t always been easy, but it has always been worth it.”

Do you know a house that would make a great House of the Week? Email writer Lennie Omalza at [email protected] or lifestyle editor Kathryn Gregory at [email protected].

nuts and bolts

Owners: Mark Lansing and Jeremy Couture, who are the property’s innkeepers.

Home: This 10-bedroom, nine-bathroom, 8,400-square-foot Gothic Revival-style home in St. Matthews was built in 1853.

Distinctive elements: three-bay brick common joint masonry; Projecting gabled center bay with barge board and a bay window; recessed entrance with tudor arch and label moulding; first floor openings with tracery in quatrefoil design; the second story and side windows have tracery with a quatrefoil motif and label molding above; two interior fireplaces with quatrefoil; a fireplace with clover; single-story porches supported by chamfered posts with Tudor arches and a balustrade connecting the posts and the balcony above; stone water table; one and a half story carriage house with central pediment decorated with drip barge, central passage with semicircular arch and interior brick chimney; octagonal dome in the center of the roof; The third building constructed on the property is a board and batten cabin built in 1998 in the style of the main house and carriage house; the walls are made of plaster and horsehair lathe; the core of the walls is wooden beams and pegs, with locally made bricks on the outside; two original staircases to second floor, including a spiral staircase; 10 foot doors; 14 foot ceilings; nine chimneys (five in operation); original 96-inch leaded glass windows with original shutters; 171-year-old original hardwood floors; full basement with brick floors, brick arches and eight-foot ceilings; nearly 2,500 square feet of outdoor decks, porches and patios; half a hectare lot.

Applause! Applause! Jeremy Couture would like to thank Josh Suiter of the St. Matthews Chamber of Commerce for his referrals; Rob Price at Valley Maintenance; all the people who help maintain and operate the house and B&B on a daily basis, especially Judith Beach, Sara Salazar, her husband Julio and Jill O’Hare; also Ron Jolly, Louis Straub and the Independence Bank team; and last but not least, his partner Mark Lansing.

This article originally appeared in the Louisville Courier Journal: Inside the 1850s Gothic Revival Inn at Woodhaven in St. Matthews