Hayfield

Hayfield, 1809 Tyler Lane, is between Bardstown Rd. and Newburg Rd., near the Watterson Expressway, completely surrounded by a late 1960s subdivision. The front section of Hayfield was built as a country home circa 1834 by Colonel George Hancock. Hancock was a Virginian by birth who came to Kentucky in 1819 and married a niece of George Rogers Clark. Hayfield is one of the finest examples of Greek Revival architecture in Louisville. The rear L-shaped part of house has been dated to the late 1700s. This mansion was also once home of Dr. Charles Wilkins Short from 1847 to 1863, a world-renown botanist, and a founder and dean of the Louisville Medical Institute, forerunner of the University of Louisville School of Medicine. Other early property owners were Col. John Thruston, a trustee of Louisville, David L. Ward, a prominent landowner, George Danforth, who operated a large cattle farm, and Robert Tyler, a business tycoon and civic leader. The slave quarters, a stone springhouse, and a stone wall were destroyed during suburban development in the 1960s. Despite suburban development, Hayfield retains all the grace and character that make it one Louisville’s finest early homes. Added to National Register of Historic Places in 1980.