LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- A construction crew restoring a row of historic buildings in downtown Louisville found an underground room that was briefly a sex club in the 1990s.

An artist who painted graphic murals in the large sub-basement room under a building on Main Street says it attracted people interested in sadomasochism.

The surreal, sometimes grisly murals by artist Judson Baker are reproductions of famous paintings by Salvador Dali, Edvard Munch and other artists. Baker says the club at 119 Main Street was only open for one night. The Courier-Journal reports (http://cjky.it/RLhNDB ) that preservationists are going to try to save the murals after demolition is finished on portions of the buildings. The underground space has deteriorated from rainwater that leaked into the abandoned building.

WHAS-TV first reported the discovery of the underground club.