City will file appeal to Landmarks Commission for removal of Castleman monument

Mayor Greg Fischer announced today that the city will appeal a Cherokee Triangle Architectural Review Committee (ARC) vote that effectively denied a city plan to remove the John B. Castleman monument from its current location.

In a meeting Wednesday, ARC tied 3-3 on the city’s application to move the statue; without a majority of votes in support of the application, it was effectively denied. The city’s appeal will be submitted to the Landmarks Commission within the next 30 days.

Mayor Fischer announced plans to move the Castleman monument, as well as one of George Dennison Prentice, in August 2018, after a review of a report issued in June 2018 by the Public Art and Monuments Advisory Committee, which he’d asked to develop a guiding set of principles for evaluating existing and future public art and monuments in the city. The committee held seven public meetings in 2018, gathering hundreds of comments from residents throughout the city before submitting its report to the Mayor.

The Prentice statue was moved into storage in December. Because the Castleman statue is located in the Cherokee Triangle Preservation District, the city filed for a Certificate of Appropriateness from ARC.

Mayor Fischer said he was disappointed with the ARC vote and is hopeful that the Landmarks Commission will approve the move.

Information about the city’s review process for artworks in public places can be found online at https://louisvilleky.gov/government/public-art.