KNOXVILLE (WATE) – Knox Heritage will announce their 2015 list of the most endangered historic buildings and places in Knoxville and Knox County on Friday.
Related: Most Endangered Places in Knox County
The “Fragile 15″ list is based on nominations from members of Knox Heritage and the general public. The organization then creates strategies to save each site on the list. They also work with property owners, government officials, citizens and potential new owners.
“Fragile 15″
1. The Paul Howard House – 2921 N. Broadway
The 1910 Craftsman style house is currently under contract to a developer who represents a national big box retailer and their plans call for its demolition. The property is currently zoned for office use, so a rezoning will be required for any retail or commercial use.
Knox Heritage is currently in discussions with the developer in an effort to find an alternative to the destruction of the Howard House. If those efforts fail, they said they will ask citizens to join us in opposing the rezoning of the property.
Previous story: Knox Heritage starts petition to save North Knoxville house from demolition
2. Historic Fort Sanders Neighborhood
For around 130 years, Fort Sanders is one of Knoxville’s oldest neighborhoods. However, Knoxville Heritage said the neighborhood is being threatened by deterioration of houses, demolition or conversion to institutional uses.
The organization said the University of Tennessee is encroaching farther into the National Register-listed area north of Cumberland, and has adopted a master plan that calls for demolition of historic structures inside the Neighborhood Conservation District. Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center / Covenant Health continues to purchase and demolish historic properties, even though those properties are outside areas zoned for hospital expansion and are protected by the Historic Zoning Commission.
Knox Heritage is hoping to work together to make the neighborhood a vibrant and safe community that is an extension of downtown and an asset rather than a liability.
Specific properties threatened: Fort Sanders Houses & Grocery (307 18th Street, 1802, 1804 & 1810 Highland Avenue); The White Avenue Houses (1302, 1308, and 1312 White Avenue); The Pickle Mansion (1633 Clinch Avenue)
3. The H.C. Christenberry House – 3222 Kingston Pike
This prominent craftsman residence along Kingston Pike was built in 1925 for James D. Varnell, a dry goods businessman in Knoxville and longtime treasurer and co-founder of Miller’s Department Store. Varnell lived in the house with his elder daughter, Katherine Varnell Rose, and her husband Mr. Daniel Morton Rose, Jr. Rose was associated with his family lumber manufacturing firm, D.M. Rose & Company. Varnell’s wife, Lucy, died right before the house was built in 1924, after a short illness. Varnell and his family lived in the house until 1946.
From 1947 until his death in 2005, the house was associated with Dr. Henry Edward Christenberry, Jr. Christenberry begin his medical career in 1935, joining is father, a prominent physician, in his downtown Knoxville medical practice, the Christenberry Infirmary & Hospital on Church Avenue. Christenberry retired in 1988 and died in 2005.
This stately home on Kingston Pike sits on over four acres and overlooks the Tennessee River. The property recently sold to new owners who plan to build a new residence along the riverfront. No plans have been announced about the fate of the house as of yet.
4. Knoxville College Historic District – 901 Knoxville College Drive
Knoxville College was founded in 1875 as part of the missionary effort of the United Presbyterian Church of North America to promote religious, moral and educational leadership among freed men and women. The National Register District is composed of ten buildings, eight of which contribute to the district. Knoxville College has significantly contributed to the educational and spiritual welfare of the African American population in Tennessee since 1875. The campus was the first African American college in East Tennessee and hosted prominent figures such as Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois and Martin Luther King, Jr. The buildings at Knoxville College are a tribute to the creativity and resourcefulness of the student body. While pursuing their education, students assisted in the design and construction of these historic buildings using bricks they manufactured at the campus. This spirit of involvement continues today, even as Knoxville College struggles to continue its mission. The historic buildings, with their fine craftsmanship and solid design, are deserving of support from the entire community and their preservation is a critical part of the rebirth of the college.
Representative Properties:McKee Hall, Wallace Hall, Elnathan Hall, McMillan Chapel, Giffen Memorial Gymnasium and President’s House.
5. Standard Knitting Mill – 1400 Washington Avenue
This circa 1945 building is the only remaining structure associated with Standard Knitting Mill. Standard was founded in 1900 with 50 employees. By the 1930s Standard was the largest textile and knitting mill in Knoxville, and employed over 4,000 Knoxvillians. Standard eventually produced over one million garments a week and inspired Knoxville’s title as “Underwear Capital of the World.”
The future continues to be uncertain for the remaining building left from the original Standard Knitting Mill complex. Located in the industrial swath of land between the historic Parkridge and Fourth and Gill Neighborhoods, the original portion of the mill was in place along Washington Avenue by 1903. Later additions almost doubled the size of the complex, but the earliest portion was destroyed in the early 1990s. The current footprint still comes in at over 400,000 square feet and was the home of Delta Apparel until 2007.
6. The Eugenia Williams House – 4848 Lyons View Pike
Eugenia Williams was born to Dr. David H. Williams and Ella Cornick Williams in January 1900. Dr. Williams was a prominent physician and one of the original financial backers who introduced Coca-Cola to East Tennessee. In 1940, Eugenia commissioned her childhood friend, John Fanz Staub, to design her new residence. Staub, a native Knoxvillian from one of the city’s prominent families, is best known for designing homes for many of the wealthiest and most influential Texans, with a little over half of his design work located in Houston. He was also the architect for the well-loved Hopecote on the UT Knoxville campus. Miss Williams’ Regency-style home sits on 24 acres bordering the Tennessee River and Lyons View Pike and features a three-car garage with automatic garage door openers, which was a novelty in 1940. In 1998, the house was willed to the University of Tennessee as a memorial to Eugenia’s father. For many years after her death, Miss Williams’ house was plagued by vandals and a lack of basic maintenance, but its character-defining details remain and the house is still solid.
7. Sanitary Laundry – 625 N. Broadway
The Sanitary Laundry & Dry Cleaning Building was built in 1925. V.L. Nicholson served as engineer and building contractor, using mill work furnished by Knoxville Lumber & Manufacturing Company.
Located in the area now known as Downtown North, this neighborhood was still the northern part of an uninterrupted downtown business district when this brick building was built, and several streetcars per hour squealed past the building on their way toward Fountain City. Nearby Emory Place, named for a beloved minister who was a victim of the 1904 New Market Train Wreck, was Knoxville’s first urban public park.
8. Magnolia Avenue Corridor – 2770 E. Magnolia Avenue
Representative Properties: Burlington Commercial District; Magnolia Avenue United Methodist Church (2700 E. Magnolia Avenue); and Rabbit &; Poultry Barn (Chilhowee Park – 3301 E. Magnolia Avenue.)
The Magnolia Avenue Corridor began with the industrial expansion that followed the 1855 construction of the East Tennessee & Virginia and East Tennessee & Georgia railroads. Workers drawn by that economic boost located in newly developed residential neighborhoods east of downtown. The development of Lake Ottossee (now Chilhowee Park) in 1875, urged urban expansion farther to the east.
In 1890, Fernando Cortes Beaman, with William Gibbs McAdoo, extended an electric streetcar line to Chilhowee Park, with additional lines along McCalla Avenue to Burlington, and the conversion of a horse drawn line to electric streetcars on Washington Avenue. Park City became a strong residential area, with Chilhowee Park as a venue for concerts and fairs. It also hosted baseball and football games, including the 1907 Kentucky-Tennessee game. Magnolia was lined with large homes, and schools and churches also located in the corridor, including Park City Junior High School (1925) and Standard Knitting Mills (1910). Exclusive apartment complexes such as the Aston (2736 E. Magnolia) and the Lakewood (2736 E. Magnolia) were also built in the trolley era.
The next era of growth for the corridor came after World War II, when automobiles and their related commercial uses eclipsed the use of trolleys. Magnolia was designated a Federal Highway (Asheville Highway) and businesses such as the Pizza Palace (3132 E. Magnolia) and the bus terminal (100 E. Magnolia) are reminders of that transition.
The construction of I-40 split the neighborhood, separating Park City from other neighborhoods that had grown up along Broadway and were from the same era, and removed a large portion of the traffic that had created the demand for auto-oriented business. That isolation has continued; the corridor awaits reinvestment and redevelopment, with a focus on preserving the significant historic buildings that remain. The following properties have been singled out as being important examples of the type of consideration that should be given to Magnolia Corridor properties
9. Historic School Buildings
Representative Properties: South High School (801 Tipton Avenue); Rule High School (1901 Vermont Avenue); and Giffin School (1834 Beech Street).
Knox Heritage believes that historic buildings can play a vital role in encouraging redevelopment that includes their rehabilitation. To that end, Knox Heritage has worked with allied preservation organizations across the state to garner approval of state legislation that will allow local governments to enter into contracts with private non-profit entities that wish to insure the preservation and reuse historic buildings; we encourage the local governments to take advantage of that legislation when seeking to dispose of historic structures. Knox Heritage looks forward to working with Knoxville and Knox County to devise a plan for preserving our community’s heritage while being good stewards of these valuable assets.
10. French Broad River Corridor
The French Broad River was a significant settlement area for prehistoric peoples, and was one of the earliest settlement paths in Knox County after European-related settlement began. By the mid-1780s, early homes and industries were located on both sides of the river. The French Broad was the highway for commerce and social interaction, with ferry landings on both of its banks. Francis Alexander Ramsey settled in this corridor and the stone Ramsey House still stands today. There is evidence to suggest that James White built his first house in the area. In The Annals of Tennessee by Dr. J.G.M. Ramsey, the French Broad Corridor is described as the home of Alexander Campbell; the large Georgian style house he built still stands. On both sides of the French Broad are some of the most intact architectural examples of early Knox County including a mill, churches, homes built using the technique of noggin construction, a cantilevered barn, log homes, and early cemeteries and ferry landings.
The French Broad River corridor, because of its relative isolation and lack of urban infrastructure, has retained its historic places, scenery, breathtaking views and vistas and its glimpses of Knox County history during the 18th and early 19th centuries and for centuries before. Some of its buildings are well-maintained, and still utilized by descendants of the families prominent in the 18th and 19th centuries. Others are vacant or deteriorating; if they are lost, a large portion of this portrait of early Knox County will also be lost.
11. University of Tennessee – Knoxville Campus
Representative Properties: Melrose Hall (1616 Melrose Avenue); Estabrook Hall (1012 Estabrook Road); and Isaac Anderson Cabin (Creekrock Lane – Shannondale Valley Farms).
Founded as Blount College in 1794, designated East Tennessee College in 1807, then East Tennessee University in 1840, and eventually the University of Tennessee in 1879, this local institution is tightly woven into the history and geography of Knoxville. Its first home was on Gay Street, but in 1826, construction began atop “The Hill” just west of downtown. The Civil War devastated the campus and its buildings were occupied by both Union and Confederate troops, but it survived and by 1904, there were 16 buildings on the campus. The 20th century saw a rapid expansion of the campus as it overtook surrounding historic residential neighborhoods and many historic buildings were demolished. As a result, even though the university boasts a campus with a 185-year history, only four buildings under its control remain that were constructed before 1900, two of which were originally private residences.
Recent efforts, such as the restoration of Ayres Hall; the completion of a Getty Trust-funded Campus Preservation Plan; and the nominations of Ayres Hall, Tyson House and Hopecote to the National Register of Historic Places, show an apparent evolution in the university’s appreciation for its architectural history, but historic buildings on and off campus are still threatened with demolition or neglect and the preservation plan has not been truly integrated into the new UTK Campus Master Plan.
As UTK strives to enter the ranks of the top 25 public research institutions in the country, it should be noted that preservation is a priority for the majority of those top universities and a significant factor for students as they choose where they will study, especially the millennial generation. History and preservation add a weight and sense of place to university campuses and can create strong bonds with alumni and donors considering financial support of those institutions. In addition, in the current economic environment the maintenance and re-use of existing structures is a fiscally prudent path to take considering the amount of taxpayer funding used to finance construction on campus.
Historic buildings are valued and utilized by top universities around the world. Knox Heritage will continue to work with the administration and the State of Tennessee to devise innovative and cost effective strategies that will preserve the campus while enhancing the learning experience for students and benefiting the entire Knoxville community. Included in those strategies must be rehabilitation that is architecturally sensitive to the historic structures that are its subject, a diminishing role for demolition, and a commitment to ongoing maintenance that values the architectural features of the remaining historic buildings on campus.
13. Pryor Brown Garage – 314 & 322 W. Church Avenue
A model mixed-used parking garage with several retail spaces along both Market Street and Church Avenue, Pryor Brown Garage was built in two stages, the first in 1925 and the second in 1929. Its builder was Pryor Brown, a Knoxville businessman who was born around 1849 on Brown’s Mountain in South Knox County. After the Civil War, Brown moved to Knoxville and found work in local livery stables. By the 1890s, he was running his own stable on this site along Church Avenue. After a fire in 1916, Brown rebuilt his stable with concrete floors capable of accommodating cars, and ran the Pryor Brown Transfer Company. Following the popularity of the automobile, in 1925 Brown built the first section of the garage along Market Street and in 1929 expanded the garage, covering the area of his old livery stable. The parking garage, which operated for more than 80 years on the site of what had been a livery stable and served a comparable purpose in a previous century, makes for a remarkable story of continuity on one site.
Pryor Brown Garage was known for many years as “The House of Brown” and is thought to be the first ramp-style parking garage in Knoxville. It is also one of the oldest garages still standing and in use in the United States.
14. Tennessee Supreme Court Building – 617 Cumberland Avenue
The Tennessee Supreme Court Building was design by the Knoxville architectural firm of Baumann and Baumann, and was constructed with $4.7 million appropriated by the Tennessee legislature in 1951. The building was dedicated in 1954, and its noteworthy design includes large expanses of East Tennessee marble, glass walls, and other characteristics of Mid-century Modern architecture. The building and surrounding site that covers an entire city block was recently the subject of a Request for Proposals for redevelopment. The proposal chosen for implementation has since been withdrawn and the City of Knoxville has opted to delay a second RFP until next year.
15. Legg-England House – 8010 Rutledge Pike
This Federal style home was built in 1846 for John Wesley Legg. The house was a tavern, inn, and early stage coach stop, as Rutledge Pike was located on the early stage coach route to Washington DC. It is rumored that the stage stop entertained prominent politicians such as James Polk, who later became President of the U.S. The house was inherited by Legg’s daughter, Mary Jane, who married Payne England. Civil War battles were reportedly fought in the immediate area with the house serving as a command post and field hospital. The house currently sits on over 17 acres of land.
Often, the endangered buildings and places are representative of issues that endanger other centerpieces of our heritage across the community.
The historic places included on the list are selected by the Knox Heritage Board of Directors from nominations received from members of Knox Heritage and the general public.
The list provides a work plan for the organization over the next 12 months. Preservation strategies are developed for each site on the list and can include working with current property owners, government officials, citizens and/or potential new owners to preserve these important parts of Knox County’s heritage.
For more information, visit www.knoxheritage.org