November 7th, 2026
10:45 am - Meet at Cafecito
11:00 am - Walking tour will begin
The next Society of Urban Perambulators (SoUP) event will take us through one of Louisville’s most historic neighborhoods: Old Louisville. This SoUP will allow us to take a look at some historic structures, new developments, and the neighborhood's unique urban design. We will be meeting at Cafecito (1212 S 4th St Suite 100, Louisville, KY 40203), a new coffee shop in the neighborhood.
Around 11AM, we will leave Cafecito to visit our first stop a couple of blocks away: Garvin Gate. We will be joined by local resident and former neighborhood council president Luanne McGuire to discuss its significance.
Across the street from Garvin Gate is the new campus of the Kentucky College of Art and Design (KyCAD). KyCAD has long called Old Louisville their home, but they just recently moved to a new, larger campus off of Garvin Place. We will get an inside look at this new campus and learn what it means for KyCAD.
Following KyCAD, we will stroll down Oak Street towards First, where local businessman Dan Borsch is currently working on developing a corner property into a microbrewery and hotel. The storefront previously hosted businesses such as Toonerville Deli and Neon Pizza*.
*A tour of Dan’s property is subject to his availability, this stop may be replaced.
A few blocks south of Borsch’s property is Ouerbacker Court, one of Old Louisville’s historic pedestrian courts. In addition to having the highest density of Victorian architecture in the nation, Old Louisville also has a high density (possibly the highest) of pedestrian courts. Here we will hear from a Ouerbacker Court Association member on what its like living on the court, its history, and more.
In addition to Ouerbacker, we will also visit Belgravia Court on the southern edge of the neighborhood. Here, we will hear from Old Louisville Neighborhood Council president Michael Rady about the history of this area, life on a historic pedestrian court, etc.
Only a block away from Belgravia is the Hill Street Pavillion, a new development that seeks to turn a long-unitilized former gas station into an active community and business space. We will hear from one of the owners, Kate Meador, about their plans for the property and what its like to restore a historic property such as this one.
After our final stop at the Pavillion, we will wrap things up at the Old Louisville Tavern, another iconic corner property in the neighborhood.
The Society of Urban Perambulators is a program by the Urban Design Studio at the University of Louisville. There is a SoUP Facebook Group if you are interested in joining. The events are free and open to the public, but we ask that you RSVP with our Director, Patrick Piuma (patrick.piuma@louisville.edu), so we know how many people to expect and who to contact if event details change. You can also RSVP on the facebook group event page.
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