Amos Shinkle Summer Residence

​Consultants working with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet worked to survey the mid-19th century Italianate residence which received a remodel in the Classical Revival style during the 1930s. These investigations documented the Victorian era summer residence of businessman Amos Shinkle (1818-1892) located at 2755 Mansion Place in Crestview Hills, Kentucky.  Mr. Shinkle built the home as his country seat.  His business ventures included stints in the coal and steamboat industries as well as serving as Director of the Covington and Cincinnati Bridge Company where he became the primary force behind the planning and construction of the Roebling Suspension Bridge (1867) across the Ohio River.  In addition, he served as President of the First National Bank of Covington, and as a residential property developer he built more than thirty dwellings in Covington.  The estate of Amos Shinkle at his death in 1892 is estimated to have been worth two million dollars, no small sum at the end of the nineteenth century.  Currently, the former summer residence serves as the office for the National Real Estate Investors Association.​​

​The Amos Shinkle Summer Residence in Kenton County, Kentucky, appears to represent an early example of Gilded Age architecture in the post-Civil War era.  It served as the country estate for the wealthy financier and businessman Amos Shinkle whose primary residence(s) were approximately nine miles to the north in Covington, Kentucky.  The residence helps to document the evolution of such mansions over time as styles changed.  The original Italianate style of the residence, particularly visible in the windows, was superseded to a great degree by the Classical Revival portico which was added to the façade in the 1930s, an addition not uncharacteristic of that era.  This addition gave the home an even more monumental and ostentatious quality, a projection of the wealth of the owner.  With ongoing development around the nearby I-275 corridor, the residence also serves as a reminder that resources can be delisted from the NRHP particularly with the loss of integrity.  Currently, the Amos Shinkle Summer Residence still retains the integrity to remain listed on the National Register of Historic Places.​