“It is simply grand. Everything, that is, about Humana Inc.'s new corporate headquarters at Fifth and Main streets. And the dedication ceremony yesterday (June 16, 1985) was choreographed to match the scale of the building.”
This was the opening paragraph on the front page of the Courier Journal thirty-nine years ago by staff writer Mary Ann French regarding the dedication of perhaps Louisville’s most famous building, the Humana Tower.
Handel’s “Royal Fireworks” was performed by the Louisville Youth Orchestra and the loggia’s fountains “sprang to life” as the co-founders of Humana, David Jones and Wendell Cherry, along with design architect Michael Graves, unveiled the HUMANA logo above the 500 West Main entrance.
“And so seemed a crowd of nearly 3,000 who came out to tour the building. The only complaints to be heard were that visitors were not able to see more than the first two floors.”
"Neat!" was how Meredith Lawrence of Breckenridge Lane summed it up.” "It takes my breath away," said Marjorie Bunton.” "It makes me feel good," said Mary Ann Dant of Audubon Park.
Three years earlier, Humana held an architectural competition for the design of its new corporate headquarters. Reporter Sheldon Shafer covered the design selection announcement that occurred May 28, 1982, at Actors Theater.
"This along with the Kentucky Center for the Arts, the Belvedere, the historic Main Street area and the other elements already in place will cause Fifth and Main to be one of the great exciting spots in all the world something Louisville desperately needs and is about to have" stated David Jones, chairman of Humana.
“Initially, Humana will occupy about half of the building's 450,000 square feet leasing the rest to other tenants. About 200 parking spaces will be built underground at the site, which is now occupied by a fast-food restaurant (Ollie’s Trolley). The president of Humana, Wendell Cherry, said the company is "giving back to the city" a building like no other in the country. The building will be granite and marble. Each of the four sides will have its own design.”
Cherry, an avid art collector, said, "Its casual form and line will attract people, synthesizing the old and new in a startling way. Architecture, like art, is changing. This is the vanguard of the future, a scaled-down version of the human form."
Michael Graves, in 1982, “said he hopes the building will grow on Louisville. Give it some time. Like paintings, it is not simply decorative. In time, it will get better.”
At the dedication in 1985, Graves said: "I asked when we won the competition to give us 20 or 30 years I thought I'd be long out of town by then to let the building wear on you a while. Then when the building was nearly finished, I thought we might not need quite that long. And today, I'm ready to give it to you. So I'm really pleased."
“The building (27 stories high) is constructed from about 32,000 pieces of granite that are, on average, 17 feet square and weigh 600 pounds. Most of the granite is pink, and was quarried in Finland. There is also red stone from India, green from Brazil, gray from Spain and Italy, and black from Angola.” The cost was listed as $60 million (about $175 million in 2024.)
Epilogue: Wendell Cherry passed away in 1991, architect Michael Graves in 2015, and David Jones in 2019. In 2023, it was revealed that the building had structural issues. And, in 2024, Humana announced it was vacating the building and is evaluating what future function might occupy it.
Steve Wiser is a local historian, author, and architect. He worked for Humana between 1982 to 1992.
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