The Brycc House

The Brycc House (Bardstown Road Youth Cultural Center) was much more than a venue... well, it was always meant to be.

It was born in 1999 when Bill Allison, a candidate for Third Ward Alderman, met with the staff of Brat Magazine to discuss their concerns about city government and youth issues. One of the things that the Brat staff wanted was a youth-run youth center on Bardstown Road. Allison agreed that this would be a good idea since many voters/constituents had expressed concern that kids were wandering up and down Bardstown Road. From one point of view, the kids were causing trouble and should be swept off the street; from another point of view, the kids had no place to go and needed a place of their own. Allison promised to get money for the center if the Brat staff would put together a proposal and form a nonprofit corporation to run the center.

That was exactly what happened. The nonprofit, Brycc House Inc, was formed in 1999 and obtained IRS 501(c)(3) status shortly thereafter. After several months of searching, the group found a building at 1055 Bardstown Road.

There were many plans for things such as an on-air radio station (which did make it as internet radio), a darkroom, a community computer lab (this was somewhat functional under the directive of the Hex Collective), meeting space for radical groups (some groups met there, including the Green Party of Louisville), and much more. Much of the same work is being carried out at the new location, which has been dubbed The Brick House. The extraordinary rent caused the Brycc House to relocate to Old Louisville, renaming itself The Brick House, where it lived on for a few years after the original founders departed.