John Carty Sr. Pottery
S.W. cor. Vine and Upper Sts., Lexington, Fayette
County, Kentucky
Built Bef. 1818
Source: Old Houses of Lexington, C. Frank Dunn, typescript, n.d., copy located in the Kentucky Room, Lexington (Kentucky) Public Library.
The house (now a grocery) here on the south-west corner of Upper and Vine Streets, is more than a century old. John Carty, Sr., one of Lexington's most famous early citizens, was residing and had his shop here in 1818 (Directory: "John Carty, Potter, cor, Water and Upper Sts.").
John L. Taylor, cousin of Carty's wife, evidently built it, as he gave it to Wm. Carty, "as Trustee for Mary Carty, his cousin," in June, 1828. The deed described it as "lying 18 feet on Water St., running up on Upper St. to a 4-foor alley which lies between the property of Dr. Thos. P. Satterwhite and this lot." On the west side it ran from the rear "to the corner of the house occupied by said Cartys and thence with the dividing partition walls between Carty's and Fleming's houses to Water St."
John Carty, Sr., had sold his house here to Taylor in 1820, but from the deed description it probably was frame. In the 1828 deed, however, the dividing wall was mentioned, showing the brick house was here then. The building had been remodeled--probably by John Carty around the 1850's.
Transcribed by pb May 2003
Updated December 13, 2025.