COVINGTON, Ky. — The City of Covington announced this week that it has successfully secured a roughly $300,000 federal grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior to bankroll the rehabilitation of the Frank Duveneck House and Studio on Greenup Street.
The grant will be matched by an equal contribution from the Northern Kentucky Area Development District.
“Frank Duveneck is one of Covington’s greatest sons, and this grant ensures his legacy will be preserved for generations to come,” Covington Mayor Ron Washington said in a city press release. “After years of legal and financial hurdles, we can finally complete the greater part of the rehabilitation work to improve and restore a property that is part of our community’s story and part of America’s cultural heritage.”
The structure, which was placed on the National Historic Register in 2015, was the subject of a nearly 8-year legal battle between the city and the house’s owner, The Frank Duveneck Arts and Cultural Center. The city sued the center in February last year in order to gain control of what the city described as a “blighted building.”
The building contained numerous structural problems, most notably a large hole in the foundation.
The city employed a legal tool called the “Abandoned and Blighted Property Conservatorship Act,” created in 2022, to bring an action that appoints a conservator to take possession of and undertake the rehabilitation of an abandoned or blighted building. The Kenton County Circuit Court granted the city conservatorship on Sept. 6, 2024.
Frank Duveneck was an influential architect, sculptor and artist born in Covington in 1848. The house itself was built in 1861, and a studio where Duveneck worked until his death in 1919 was built behind the house around 1900.
The city will now need to complete a legally-required review process to ensure rehab efforts align with national preservation standards. Once that review is complete, the city will seek proposals from contractors to complete the work.
