From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Old City Hall (Knoxville)
Old City Hall (Knoxville)
Old Knoxville City Hall The main building consists of a three-story front sec-
tion measuring 100 feet (30 m) by 50 feet (15 m), and
U.S. National Register of Historic Places two rear wings, each measuring 25 feet (7.6 m) by 79
feet (24 m), giving the building a U-shape.[1] The facade
of the central section contains a portico with four Ionic
columns supporting a large pediment, and accessed by
a marble staircase.[1] One of the rear additions was de-
signed in the Italian Renaissance style, and another con-
tains Neoclassical elements.[1] The buildings’ interiors
have been modified extensively over the years as the roll
of the complex changed.[1]
History
Old City Hall, from a 1983 HABS photograph
Location: Summit Hill Drive Tennessee School for the Deaf
Knoxville, Tennessee Main article: Tennessee School for the Deaf
Coordinates: 35°57′55″N 83°55′24″W / 35.96528°N The Tennessee School for the Deaf, originally called the
83.92333°W / 35.96528; Tennessee School for the Deaf and Dumb, or the "Deaf
-83.92333Coordinates: 35°57′55″N and Dumb Asylum," was authorized by the state in 1844,
83°55′24″W / 35.96528°N 83.92333°W / following legislative efforts intiated by state senator John
35.96528; -83.92333
Cocke of Grainger County.[3] Knoxville merchant Calvin
Architectural style: Greek Revival Morgan (1773—1851) donated the property for the
school, and construction began in 1846.[1] Jacob Newman
Governing body: Private
oversaw the building’s construction, and was probably
NRHP Reference#: 72001241 the building’s architect.[1][4] St. John’s Episcopal rector
Added to NRHP: May 31, 1972
Thomas William Humes delivered the dedicatory address
upon the school’s opening in 1848.[5]
Old City Hall is a complex of historic buildings located at
601 West Summit Hill Drive in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.
Originally constructed in the late 1840s as the Tennessee
School for the Deaf and Dumb (now the Tennessee School
for the Deaf), the complex served as Knoxville’s city hall
from 1925 until 1980.[1] The complex has been listed on
the National Register of Historic Places and has been doc-
umented by the Historic American Buildings Survey. It
currently houses Lincoln Memorial University’s Duncan
School of Law.[2]
Design The "Deaf and Dumb Asylum," as shown on an 1886 map of
The Old City Hall complex stands at the northeast corner Knoxville
of the intersection of Summit Hill Drive, Western Av-
enue, Broadway, and Henley Street. The L&N Station The school’s enrollment grew rapidly during the
stands opposite this intersection to the southwest. The 1850s, but was forced to close at the outset of the Civil
complex consists of five interconnected buildings— the War, when occupying Confederate forces converted it in-
three-story main building, completed in 1851, and four to a hospital.[6] Following William P. Sanders’s failed raid
additions behind the main building, built between 1874 against the city in June 1863, an artillery battery was set
and 1899.[1] The entire complex sits atop a wooded up behind the school building.[6] When Union forces cap-
knoll.[1] tured Knoxville in September 1863, they in turn used the
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Old City Hall (Knoxville)
school as a hospital.[6] The school finally reopened in De- lot.[1] In 1975, a cottage was demolished on the south-
cember 1866.[5] western corner of the lot, and three years later, the Sum-
In 1873, the state appropriated $10,000 for the school, mit Hill Towers were erected on the lot’s northeastern
allowing it to expand.[3] A new classroom building, de- portion.[1]
signed by early Knoxville architect A.C. Bruce, was com- In 1980, the City of Knoxville relocated its main of-
pleted in 1874, and a chapel and auditorium building, fices, including its city hall functions, to the newly-com-
designed by Joseph Baumann (1844–1920), was complet- pleted City-County Building on Main Street.[1] Various
ed in 1879.[1] A second classroom building was added in tenants occupied Old City Hall in subsequent years, in-
1891, and a hospital building was constructed in 1899.[1] cluding the Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership (which
The school continued operating at the complex until moved to Market Square in 2004).[2] In February 2008,
1924, when it moved to its new campus at the old Island Harrogate-based Lincoln Memorial University began
Home estate in South Knoxville.[1] leasing the building for its new law school, the Duncan
School of Law.[2]
City Hall
Knoxville’s first city hall was a small, two-story building See also
constructed on the northern half of Market Square in
1868 (prior to this, the city government met at the cour- • Customs House, Knoxville
thouse).[7] This structure was replaced by a larger, more • History of Knoxville, Tennessee
elaborate building in 1889.[7] This second building was • Knox County Courthouse (Tennessee)
incorporated into the design of the new market house, • United States Post Office and Courthouse (Knoxville,
which was completed in 1897, though the city’s govern- Tennessee)
ment still met on its second floor.[7]
In 1923, at the behest of progressive new city man- References
ager Louis Brownlow, Knoxville purchased the Tennessee
[1] ^ Gary Farlow, Historic American Buildings Survey
School for the Deaf complex for use as a city hall.[4] The
- Tennessee School for the Deaf, 24 September
city council held its first meeting in the building in Fe-
1981. Accessed 11 March 2011.
bruary 1925, and in subsequent decades the building thus
[2] ^ Hayes Hickman, "City Hall To Be LMU School of
played a key role in Knoxville’s development.[4] Rem-
Law," Knoxville News Sentinel, 13 February 2008.
iniscing about the building, local historian Jack Neely
[3] ^ John Wooldridge, George Mellen, William Rule
stated, "lots of major decisions were made within these
(ed.), Standard History of Knoxville, Tennessee
walls, as the city desegregated, fluoridated its water, and
(Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, 1900;
first contemplated a World’s Fair."[8] Over several
reprinted by Kessinger Books, 2010), pp. 538-540.
decades, figures such as Cas Walker, George Dempster
[4] ^ East Tennessee Historical Society, Lucile
and John Duncan, Sr., fought over issues ranging from
Deaderick (ed.), Heart of the Valley: A History of
taxation to the city’s lack of parking spaces.[9]
Knoxville, Tennessee (Knoxville, Tenn.: East
In 1924, the Boyd school (located where the Daylight
Tennessee Historical Society, 1976), pp. 54, 249,
Building now stands) burned down.[4] During the early
267, 416.
1930s, the city made plans to move the school into the Ci-
[5] ^ Robert Booker, Tracing the History of Knoxville’s
ty Hall complex, but as the city’s offices expanded and re-
Old City Hall. Knoxville News Sentinel, 10 February
quired more and more space, these plans never material-
2009. Retrieved: 11 March 2011.
ized.[1]
[6] ^ Robert McKenzie, Lincolnites and Rebels: A Divided
In his 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, A Death in
Town in the American Civil War (New York: Oxford
the Family, author James Agee recalled walking with his
University Press, 2006), pp. 85, 146, 164.
father through downtown Knoxville in 1915. As they
[7] ^ Jack Neely, Market Square: A History of the Most
passed the "deaf and dumb asylum," Agee noted how "its
Democratic Place on Earth (Knoxville, Tenn.: Market
windows showed black in its pale brick, as the nursing
Square District Association, 2009), pp. 28, 82, 90.
woman’s eyes, and it stood deep and silent among the
[8] Jack Neely, "Detour de Knoxville." Metro Pulse, 28
light shadows of its trees."[10]
May 2008. Retrieved: 11 March 2011.
[9] Bruce Wheeler, Knoxville, Tennessee: A Mountain City
Recent history
in the New South (Knoxville, Tenn.: University of
Over the second half of the 20th century, the Old City Hall Tennessee Press, 2005), pp. 42-46, 110-111.
lot, which originally covered 8 acres (3.2 ha), was gradu- [10] James Agee, A Death in the Family (New York:
ally chipped away by development and road work. Dur- McDowell, Obolensky, 1957), p. 17.
ing the 1950s, several buildings on the northern half of • Isenhour, Judith Clayton. Knoxville - A Pictorial History.
the lot were demolished to make way for a new parking (Donning, 1978).
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Old City Hall (Knoxville)
• Knoxville: Fifty Landmarks. (Knoxville: The Knoxville
Heritage Committee of the Junior League of
External links
Knoxville, 1976). • Lincoln Memorial University - Duncan School of Law
— official site
• Knoxville MPC Historic List
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Old_City_Hall_(Knoxville)&oldid=457185337"
Categories:
• Buildings and structures in Knoxville, Tennessee
• National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee
• City halls in Tennessee
• Greek Revival architecture in Tennessee
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