Vintage
Post Card Greetings
from Louisville
"Rathskeller
The Seelbach, Louisville, Ky."
ca. 1910
Here we see an early view of a room that remains arguably one of the most unique and wonderful rooms in the region. According to Louisville Today (1912 edition), the room was patterned after an actual German Rathskeller from a castle on the Rhine. It debuted in 1907 as a banquet hall. What makes the room so special is that it is one of only two large scale rooms in existence entirely fashioned from the famous Rookwood Pottery of Cincinnati. The original cost of the Rookwood tiles and fixtures for the room, which cover the walls, columns and ceilings, was $40,000. The Rathskeller also included a drinking fountain, the largest piece of pottery ever fired by the Rookwood company to that time. So that the association would never be lost, all the column capitals are adorned with distinctive rook figures.
The Rathskeller can still be seen today in the basement of the Seelbach Hotel, though it is only used occasionally for functions. The original Flemish style furniture shown in the picture above is, however, long gone.
Enlargement (214 sec @ 56kbps)
Vintage Postcard Views of Louisville
Old Louisville
Second Street
Third Avenue
Fourth Avenue
St James Court
Central Park
The Confederate Monument
Churches
Hotels
Schools
The 1937 FloodLouisville (the rest of the city)
Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby
The Old Court House
City Hall
East to West along Broadway
The Seelbach Hotel
Railroad Stations
Churches
Without extended descriptions:
Fourth Street
The Armory
Hotels
The Old Post Office and Customs House
City Parks
Cemeteries
Miscellaneous
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