The Willock Building

110 E. Main Street, Campbellsville KY 42718

The Willock Building

C09-18-18, 110-112 East Main Street, Willock Block, TAC-45, 1905

This seven bay facade is three-stories in height and is constructed of brick with a cast iron front facade. The tan/cream brick front facade is in contrast with the red brick rear facade. Round arched windows are found on the second and third floors. Brick voissoirs rest on stone imposts. The stone keystone has a sunburst design. The fourth-story windows are attic windows with stone lintels decorated with carved scroll work and stone sills. Brick corbelling is found beneath the parapet wall
that is constructed of stone with decorations in the panels between the stone brackets. Leaded glass transom windows have been painted. Pressed tin ceilings remain in 112 E. Main on the 1st, 2nd, and, 3rd floors. A paneled entrance to 112 E. Main has display windows with an egg and dart design above. The entrance to the second floor on the east side (114 E. Main) has beaded wainscoting. Floor coverings and light fixtures remain intact on the 3rd floor where the lodge met.

The building was constructed for commercial purposes on the first floor, as an Opera House on the second floor, and as a meeting place for the Pitman Masonic Lodge on the third floor. Joe Willock, who began Coco-Cola in Campbellsville in 1905, constructed the building. Among the 21 businesses housed on the first floor were (Daniel) Hatcher - (Lynn) Mitchell Men's Store (now Mitchell's Men's Wear, 221 E. Main), who opened a store February 1911. Buchanan-Lyons Hardware occupied the building between 1915 and 1916. Kentucky Utilities was located in 110 and Russell Stores in 112 during 1924. The motion picture show began on the 2nd floor in February 1911.

Vaudeville acts, amateur talent shows and other stage entertainment played on the 2nd floor until it became a skating rink. During the 1930s, U. V. Walker had an undertaking establishment on the second floor. When Tennessee Gas Transmission moved into the county in the late-1930s and early-1940s, the 2nd floor was partitioned into rooms and rented out due to a housing shortage. These partitions remain intact. The Masonic Lodge met on the 3rd floor in the front room that still retains the stages around the room's perimeter. A back room was used as the dining hall and it is separated from the front by a small dressing room with a balcony above it. A gas well on the property served the building. An addition to the building in the rear is called the Hubbard Building.

This is an excellent example of a building used for both commercial, social and entertainment purposes.

Source/Credits: Campbellsville Local Historic Designation Report 2006

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