The boarded-up houses in the 600 block of Center Street will get a facelift this spring – if enough volunteers come forward to help it happen.

One member of the Historic Preservation Board has already volunteered to pay a contractor to fix some holes in the houses, while another volunteered to patch roof holes to keep the rain out, said Robin Zeigler, historic preservation planner for the city. The city’s clearing the trash scattered over the properties, local company Porter Paints donated paint to give the buildings a fresh coat, and now Zeigler’s seeking helping hands to continue the work.

&#8220That property has been promised to SKyPAC (the Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center), and my hope is they will come downtown and they’ll need that property; however, it seems like it’ll be a while,” Zeigler said.

While SKyPAC works to secure funding for its $40-million facility, Zeigler would like to keep the houses – some of which have peeling paint, collapsed porches, and falling-down gutters – from being an eyesore.

The sprucing-up, which will culminate with a &#8220painting party” sometime this spring, aims to improve &#8220aesthetic stuff,” Zeigler said. &#8220Not anything close to restoration or rehabilitation or stabilization. … I think they’ll look a whole lot better, and who knows how they can be used in the meantime?”

The houses were initially scheduled to be demolished to make way for SKyPAC when their historic significance was discovered, said Mayor Elaine Walker. The demolition order was canceled, and the houses were boarded up for safekeeping.

When the city decided to save the little cluster of houses, some of which are in the &#8220shotgun” style of architecture, questions arose as to how long the houses would remain before something was done, Walker said. The commission decided to wait three months before deciding to either move the houses to another part of town or incorporate them into SKyPAC’s design.

&#8220You could get them restored and bring them back to life, and it would be a true addition to our community, rather than just tearing them down, because then they’re gone forever,” she said. &#8220I hope people come out to do the sprucing-up, so that they’re not an eyesore and it takes some of the pressure off.”

The area was one of the first two developed when the city grew past the main downtown area, Zeigler said. The slave houses and plantations on the site were sold and the property divided up to create the neighborhood, which was a mixed-race, working-class neighborhood until the 1920s, when it became more African-American, she said.

&#8220It represents our working class, the people who worked at the L&N Depot, the people who were housekeepers at the Helm Hotel – just your everyday man,” Zeigler said. &#8220I think those are just as important to recognize and celebrate as it is to recognize the grand houses connected to some of the bigwigs in the city.”

History isn’t always instantly recognizable, she said.

&#8220When you’re looking at historic significance, I think it’s easy for someone to understand, ‘Well, if Abraham Lincoln was born here, then it’s important,’ ” Zeigler said. &#8220Even our more modest neighborhoods and homes are still significant even if no one important ever stayed there.”

– For more information, contact Robin Zeigler at 842-1953, or e-mail robin.zeigler@bgky.org .