Archives Closed Schools A-C: Brown Education Center

Other Name: Brown Hotel; Camberley Brown Hotel

Last Address: 335 West Broadway

Year Opened: 1971

Year Closed: 1980

The Louisville Public Schools (former city district) purchased the historic Brown Hotel in 1971 from the J. Graham Brown Foundation.  The Brown Hotel was one of the city's most notable hotels from its founding in 1923.  By the early 1970's, declines in Louisville's downtown central area and the death of hotelier J. Graham Brown put the hotel on the market.  At the same time, the city schools needed a new headquarters after the district's longtime administration building at Fifth and Hill Streets (once Louisville Girls High School) was condemned for Urban Renewal to widen Hill Street. The city superintendent's office and other offices moved to the Brown and some longtime residents remained at the hotel.  Rooms were also rented to student teachers, consultants, and others.  The 1975 merger placed the headquarters of the merged district at the VanHoose Education Center.  JCPS continued to operate offices at the Brown Education Center until 1980 but began to seek buyers for the complex.  Offices were relocated to other facilities in the district.  JCPS sold the property to the Broadway Brown Partnership in 1984 which reopened the hotel in 1985.