UofL owns Highlands mansion, but nobody's home
With Halloween approaching, the mansion for the University of Louisville president in the Cherokee Triangle is once again decorated for the holiday, and President James Ramsey and his wife, Jane, plan to hand out treats to trick-or-treaters on Halloween night Saturday as they have in the past.
The prime, 1.6-acre tax-exempt property at 2515 Longest Avenue is owned by the University of Louisville Foundation in the sought-after Triangle, a local preservation district, and also includes a renovated, two-story carriage house at Ray and Ransdell avenues.
But Amelia Place, as it's called, has a slightly spooky air to it -- and not just because of the Halloween goblins in the yard or outdoor lights shining during the day.
The Ramseys don't live there. Nobody does.
Since Ramsey became president in 2002, they have gone there to greet trick-or-treaters from their home past Anchorage near Pewee Valley because they "do not want a dark house on Halloween," said Kathleen Smith, James Ramsey's chief of staff.
Instead, the main house is used primarily for fundraising events, dinners and other gatherings and functions, including ones for student groups. The carriage house can be used for smaller events and as a lodging for university guests and others, Smith said.
On Wednesday, the Ramseys were there to hold a lunch for the president's U of L staff, and a reception for university athletic teams was planned in the evening. Jane Ramsey, who said she loves Halloween, handed out sombreros, fake mustaches and veils to more than a dozen people as they arrived, including Smith.
James Ramsey said he views the mansion -- which he calls "the people's house" -- as an "asset" for U of L, and, as with other assets, "we use it to fund raise."
While the Ramseys occasionally spend the night after events at the mansion, neither the house nor the carriage house has been occupied as a full-time residence for years -- despite the overall property being valued at $3 million or so in about 2008, Smith said.
Serving as president of U of L is "a 24/7 job, and sometimes you want some privacy," Smith said. "In that house, you don't have privacy."
James Ramsey, agreed, saying the job is "constant," and Jane Ramsey said the home also is so big it can be inconvenient to get around it. They also have four dogs, and the stairs can be a problem for older ones, she said,
"We can have a party here, and then go home," she said.
The two previous U of L presidents before Ramsey -- Donald Swain and John Shumaker and their wives or other family members -- did live for a time in the president's house. But they bought other homes, too -- the Shumakers on Belknap Beach off River Road and the Swains in eastern Jefferson County, where the Swains continued to live after Donald Swain left U of L, Smith said.
Each of the three presidents has been required to live in the president's house under the terms of his contract, but the requirement was waived for Ramsey, in part because his younger daughter was still in school at South Oldham High and was a cheerleader when he became president, Smith said. The Ramseys did not want her to make the drive to school every day -- which would have taken triple the time -- especially in the early morning in the heavy traffic, Smith said.
The requirement also was waived because the Ramseys were from Louisville, while the Swains moved from California and the Shumakers from Connecticut, Smith said.
The Ramseys have continued to live in the house they bought in 1999 -- which is assessed at $470,000 for tax purposes by Oldham County -- on Adrienne Court off Reamers Road in the vicinity of the Jefferson/Oldham County line. They bought it when he came back to Louisville after teaching at University of North Carolina to become a U of L economics professor. He grew up in the Fern Creek area and caddied at Wildwood and Woodhaven country clubs near Bardstown Road.
Being able to use both the main house in the Cherokee Triangle and carriage house, called Annsley House, in connection with fundraising has helped the foundation raise almost $2 billion, Smith said.
She estimates 20,000 people have been at the house over the years. A list provided by U of L shows that 13 events were held there in 2013 and 21 in 2014, involving 4,318 guests in all. A "Deans & VP Holiday Party" with 43 guests Dec. 16, 2013 raised more than $1.78 million in donor contributions, for instance, according to the list. A "Jewish Heritage Reception" for 45 guests Dec. 11, 2014 raised more than $3.58 million.
The "Donor Contribution" box for 18 of the 34 events was blank or marked "N/A," such as for a "Student Cookout" April 21, 1014 for 142 people. Among the blank boxes were ones for a "1964 Golden Alumni Reception" May 8, 2014 for 683 people and a "David and Betty Jones Dinner" Nov. 10, 2014 for four people.
"The house has been instrumental in giving us the environment to raise money" and offers an opportunity to use a facility that is not institutional, Smith said in an email. The house may be used as many as three to five times a week, although parking always has been a problem, she said.
After questions were raised this year about the finances and management of the foundation, which raises private money for public purposes, state auditor Adam Edelen is in the midst of auditing its operation.
The foundation is behind the redevelopment of most of U of L's Shelby Campus as the ShelbyHurst business and commercial park, and it also is developing the J.D. Nichols Campus for Innovation and Entrepreneurship research park downtown, formerly called Nucleus.
The foundation also supplied $2.3 million in deferred compensation in 2012-13 to James Ramsey, the same year Smith received $1.3 million and then-provost Shirley Willihnganz $1.7 million, according to a Courier-Journal report in March.
Acquiring and maintaining the Cherokee Triangle property is another example of how the foundation's funds have been spent.
Asked if the foundation has ever considered selling the property and putting the proceeds to a different use, given that the president doesn't live there, Smith said it plays too important a role in fundraising efforts.
Hundreds of people also come each year at Halloween to enjoy Amelia Place, and the Ramseys consider themselves stewards of the property, even if they don't live there, James Ramsey said in an email. His family already was established at the Adrienne Court house when he became president and they had strong ties with their friends and neighbors, he said.
"(W)e also feel it is ultimately important to provide consistency for the family by maintaining ownership of the family home," he wrote.
The foundation bought the main house for $250,000 in 1981 and renovated it, in both cases with donations from Humana co-founder David Jones, Smith said. Don Allen, who owned Allen House interior design business, also decorated the house as part of the overall donation, she said.
After Allen sold it in 2003, family members that moved into the house were divorced, and the U of L Foundation, with a donation from philanthropist and businessman Owsley Frazier, then bought the carriage house for $750,000 in 2007. It was renovated by Bittners and Rateau Construction with another donation from Frazier, Smith said, at a cost that she estimated at that time to be several hundred thousand dollars more.
2 U of L trustees urge control over foundation
Allen had lived in the carriage house for about 40 years when it was separated from the main house for about 50 years before U of L bought it in 2007, Smith said.
The carriage house was rejoined to the main house, as it had been historically, and the foundation held a public holiday party and tours of both buildings in December of 2008.
The carriage house is a site for smaller dinners for "donor cultivation" and meetings and provides two bedrooms for guests of the university, Smith said. The head of the Helmsley Organization/Charitable Trust and others have stayed there, also in connection with the Kentucky Derby, U of L's Grawemeyer Awards, and other events.
"It is easier to host the individuals in this setting rather than have them in a hotel," Smith said.
A number of gatherings for student groups are held there around Halloween, including ones recently for the U of L marching band, participants in the Governor's Scholars program and mothers and children in the Family House Scholars program, Smith said.
The presidential medal recently was presented to attorney and civic leader Ed Glasscock at the main house, and the former U of L Trustees board chairman, Bob Hughes, now foundation chairman, has stayed at the carriage house during trips to Louisville from his home in Murray.
Realtor Sandy Gulick with Kentucky Selected Properties, who sells homes in the Highlands area, said a home near the president's house on Ransdell recently sold for $1.6 million, and she estimated the mansion to be worth about $2 million.
Tim Holz, president of the Cherokee Triangle Association, said he's been to a couple of events at Amelia Place, including a LGBT fundraiser, and that he knows of no objections to the setup. The association has been glad that the foundation has taken care of the property and made it a single-family site again, he said.
Historian and Metro Councilman Tom Owen, who works at the U of L archives, said no one in his district has asked about the use of the property or whether anyone lives there -- or expressed any reservations about how it's used.
"The good news is that the house and grounds are maintained," he said. He declined to comment on whether buying and keeping up the property is a suitable use of foundation funds.
Beginning in about 1951, U of L president Philip Davidson lived in another house for the president at 2230 Douglass Boulevard in the Highlands, he said, and the university once had another home on the Shelby Campus that's been torn down.
Regarding the Cherokee Triangle site, "All of the property was paid for in donations from donors," Smith said. "It's to be used as an asset for raising money and to cultivate friends." Ramsey's successor will have an opportunity to live there, too, she said.
The "entire first floor is a public space, and it's always in pristine condition," she said. The Ramseys own the furniture on the second floor -- consisting primarily of three bedrooms, a family room, and a balcony -- and use it when events finish late at night, Smith said. They have clothes in the closets and food in the in the refrigerator, she said.
Where the Ramseys really live
The Ramseys pay their own taxes on their Adrienne Court home, U of L spokesman John Karman said, and Jane Ramsey said they thought they would be paying more taxes on the Cherokee Triangle home if they lived there.
The Ramseys' house on Adrienne Court, which has a Louisville address, has a somewhat confusing background, leaving up in the air whether they live in Jefferson County or Oldham County.
While theirs and 10 other homes on Adrienne Court and Adrienne Way in the Stonehurst Farms subdivision are classed as being in Oldham County, they are shown on maps as being in Jefferson County.
The 15-acre site originally was part of a larger 50-acre tract owned by Adrenne Sue Hancock and Jerome Lesburgueres that was partly in Oldham and partly in Jefferson, according to documents from the Oldham County Planning and Zoning Commission in 1987 when plans for the subdivision were taking shape.
"We are not going to try to tell the commission where the Jefferson County line is," said attorney Fonda McClellan at the time, but a deed from 1890 referred to the property as being in both counties.
Documents say that Reamers is maintained by Jefferson County and that Jefferson County officials wanted the entrance to the subdivision to remain on Reamers. A recent real estate sign at the subdivision entrance said "Oldham County Home for Sale."
Oldham Property Valuation Administrator Barbara Winters said she cannot say whether the home today is in Jefferson or Oldham. Referring to an Oldham County map handed out at her office in La Grange, "I can't tell with 100 percent accuracy this is accurate," she said.
Oldham County surveyor David Garber also said it was "a tough question to answer without doing quite a bit of research."
Starting in 2004, the Jefferson County PVA website began listing the 11 properties with parcel ID numbers after switching to new mapping technology, but the information says they are assessed by Oldham County.
Not always lived in, but always used
The practice of using Amelia Place for presidential events started when Swain came to the university, and it launched its first fundraising campaign called the Quest for Excellence, Smith said. The Shumakers also used Amelia Place extensively during the fundraising campaign called the Challenge for Excellence, she said.
The Ramseys also have used Amelia Place extensively for fundraising and "friendraising," Smith said, calling it a major asset in the Billion Dollar Campaign that was finished in 2014. This past year, the university has raised about $260 million, with help from the site, she said.
In about 1996-97, Amelia Place also had a major overhaul/renovation, included installation of updated mechanical systems, wiring, etc., with donations from philanthropist and businessman Owsley Frazier during Shumaker's tenure, Smith said.
John Shumaker's two sons also lived at the house until the older one went to college, and the younger one went to college about the time he left to become president of University of Tennessee, she said.
Don and Lavinia Swain lived in the president’s house for 14 years until his retirement but also owned the other home in eastern Jefferson County, Smith said. She compared the situation to a couple spending half the year in Florida or having a condominium in downtown Louisville while having a home elsewhere.
Even though the president's house isn't always where the U of L presidents want to live, "the entire complex, including the gardens, are used extensively to promote the University of Louisville," Smith said.
Reporter Martha Elson can be reached at (502) 582-7061 and melson@courier-journal.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MarthaElson_cj.
