Downtown Lexington building receives historic designation

The building at 5 West Washington Street has been dedicated by the Historic Lexington Foundation as the Withrow Gift Shop.

Once a part of the historic Alexander-Withrow House, the building at 5 W. Washington was constructed in its current form in 1914 as a gift shop. Having been altered the least of all the original buildings on the block, the Withrow Gift Shop remains a true example of Victorian architecture. The Historic Lexington Foundation has presented the current owner, Harry H. Warner, with a plaque recording the historic and architectural significance of the building.

The land on which the Withrow Gift Shop stands was once part of the Alexander property, purchased in 1792 in the original division of the newly commissioned city of Lexington. Later the Withrow family acquired the lot with their 1886 purchase of what is now known as the Alexander-Withrow House.  They constructed the current building, the first known structure on the site, as a “Gift Shop”. In 1969, the Gift Shop was auctioned separately from the Alexander-Withrow House property.  While the newly formed Historic Lexington Foundation successfully acquired the main house, they were outbid by a private individual for the Gift Shop. It would then change hands four more times in the next 43 years until purchased in 2013 by Harry H. Warner.

“We are so pleased that the Historic Lexington Foundation has recognized the importance of this building,” states Harry H. Warner, “I’m proud to be a part of the line of caretakers of this building who have kept it so close to its original form.”

“I think it’s one of the best spots in Lexington,” says Cabell Gorman, owner of the Cabell Gallery of Fine Art. “It’s been an amazing storefront for my gallery for three years now.  They built it simple and smart, why change it? We’re lucky to have our art surrounded by such a sense of history.”