Main Street

West Main Street offers a walking tour opportunity featuring some of the best of Louisville’s architectural heritage.

Starting at 1st and Main Sts. and traveling west, Whiskey Row is a block of mid-1800s whiskey distillers’ warehouses from an era when there were over 3,000 distillers in the U.S.

At 2nd St., the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge (c. 1929) was the first bridge to carry automobile traffic across the Ohio River in Louisville is one of only two pedestrian bridges in the area.

The 300 W. Main block features Actors Theater (c. 1837), the columned building is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the city and one of the finest examples of small-scale Greek revival architecture in the U.S.

The 400 block features two International style buildings, the 40-story National City Tower (c. 1972) designed by Harrison & Abromowtz of New York and completed in 1972. On the north side of Main St., the American Life Building (c. 1973), 3 Riverfront Plaza at the Belvedere was designed by Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe, and now has ‘painted’ Cor-Ten steel.

The post-modern Humana Building (c. 1984) designed by Michael Graves at 5th & Main is the city’s best example of infill and is one of our most famous buildings.

West of 6th St. to 9th St. are the last of the historically intact areas of commercial architecture in downtown and the second-largest concentration of cast-iron buildings in the nation, second only to the SoHo District in New York City.

The former St. Charles Hotel 634 W. Main (c. 1832) is the oldest building on Main. The Hart Block Building at 730 W. Main is the best example of a cast-iron facade in Louisville. The Fort Nelson building at 801 W. Main is one of the more unique historic buildings on Main.

The Main Street Visitors Center at 627 W. Main St. and is operated by Louisville Tourism. Hours are seasonal. Monday through Friday, 11 am to 3 pm, weather permitting. Closed holidays.

Louisville Visitors Center
Louisville Downtown Partnership
Main Street Association