The significant architecture of Washington covers the period 1765-1850.
Taking into account the time lag between architectural styles fashionable on the Atlantic seaboard and in the frontier, the lack of refined, period examples within the town that can be found elsewhere in the state becomes understandable.
Eighteen buildings were earmarked within the boundaries of the original historic district (approved January 21, 1970).
They included the most important buildings historically and architecturally, for example:
The Paxton Inn (c. 1810), a brick three-story Federal style example of an early Kentucky public inn
Albert Sidney Johnston House, representative of simple early frame domestic buildings in Kentucky, is reputed to be the birthplace and childhood home of Confederate States of America Army General, Albert Sidney Johnston
Federal Hill (1800), is a two-story brick house with transitional details of Georgian and Federal styles built by Colonel Thomas Marshall and completed by his son.
Another son, John Marshall, became the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1801-1835).

Marshall Key House (1807), a two-story brick house, has a Federal style main body with a Georgian style doorway.
The builder was Colonel Marshall Key, who moved to Kentucky in 1795.

Arthur Fox House (also Fox-Bickley House, c. 1785), a two-story frame and nogging clapboarded structure, was built by one of the original trustees of Washington.

The rich variety of buildings include a "flat-boat house", the only surviving example of this unique kind of structure, a bank, an inn, row buildings, churches, a school building, a group of log, frame, brick, and stone homes along with several types of outbuildings.
The significant architecture of Washington covers the period 1765-1850. Taking into account the time lag between architectural styles fashionable on the Atlantic seaboard and in the frontier, the lack of refined, period examples within the town that can be found elsewhere in the state becomes understandable. Eighteen buildings were earmarked within the boundaries of the original historic district (approved January 21, 1970). They included the most important buildings historically and architecturally, for example:
The Paxton Inn (c. 1810), a brick three-story Federal style example of an early Kentucky public inn
Albert Sidney Johnston House, representative of simple early frame domestic buildings in Kentucky, is reputed to be the birthplace and childhood home of Confederate States of America Army General, Albert Sidney Johnston
Federal Hill (1800), is a two-story brick house with transitional details of Georgian and Federal styles built by Colonel Thomas Marshall and completed by his son. Another son, John Marshall, became the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1801-1835).
Marshall Key House (1807), a two-story brick house, has a Federal style main body with a Georgian style doorway. The builder was Colonel Marshall Key, who moved to Kentucky in 1795.
Arthur Fox House (also Fox-Bickley House, c. 1785), a two-story frame and nogging clapboarded structure, was built by one of the original trustees of Washington.
The rich variety of buildings include a "flat-boat house", the only surviving example of this unique kind of structure, a bank, an inn, row buildings, churches, a school building, a group of log, frame, brick, and stone homes along with several types of outbuildings.
Washington Historic District (Washington, Kentucky)