Metro Pulse/Urban Renewal

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by Matt Edens

Is there any denying that historic preservation has finally come of age in Knoxville? It arrived in style, too, complete with a coming out party courtesy of Cherokee Country Club. Sure, things didn't quite go as the hosts and hostesses over on Lyons View planned—leaving them scandalized (and wondering where they're going to park). But the notion that old buildings are more than just something in the way of "progress" has been formally introduced into society.

There were doubts along the way. A long, troubled adolescence frittered away doing odd, arty things in the rougher parts of town, places the older generation thought weren't safe. Late nights spent in paint-spattered clothing full of radical talk and political rabble-rousing. People wondered if preservation would ever grow up, put on a suit and get out and earn a living in the real world. There were those who feared (or hoped) that maybe all the chemicals would go to its head until it faded away into some hollow-eyed burnout, rattling around in some drafty, tumble-down rat trap in bohemian obscurity, raving about the Establishment.

Well, the fears turned out to be unfounded. Preservation has spent these past few formative years putting together a fairly impressive portfolio: several multi-million dollar deals downtown—Millers, Sterchi, The Phoenix and Emporium—a good bit of equity to draw on in Fourth and Gill, Old North Knoxville, Mechanicsville and elsewhere, plus a fairly thriving commercial concern in the Old City. Is it any wonder that this growing business reputation has landed preservation a good bit of political clout?

But just because preservation has suddenly gotten all uptown and respectable doesn't mean it's sold out. For all the attention it drew, the coming-out party at the country club was an anomaly, really. Most days you'll still find it hanging out in the funkier parts of town. And, just when an old hangout starts getting a little staid and respectable, preservation'll pack up and move on, looking for the latest thrill.

This place on Washington Avenue, for instance. Purchased and renovated by Knox Heritage—the local preservation group that's enjoying its own equally astonishing coming of age—the house is the third the non-profit has bought and fixed up for resale. The first was a gutted, boarded-up wreck over on Oklahoma in Old North. The second was a fabulous George-Barber-designed Victorian in Parkridge. And the third, just around the corner from the second, is a late-Victorian Queen Anne Cottage that, at 2,300 square feet, is far bigger than it looks at first glance. In fact, when Heritage purchased the place, it was divided into a duplex. Drawing on a line of credit from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the East Tennessee Foundation and the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, Knox Heritage did the hard work of turning the house back into a single-family dwelling. That means, assuming you've got a little pioneer spirit, you can get a three-to-four bedroom, three-bath house loaded with historic character for less than six figures. And, assuming you do up and get it, Knox Heritage can get on with the business at hand, getting started on numbers four, five and six. Thanks to funding from the city, an Empowerment Zone grant and private donations, Knox Heritage is gearing up to hire staff and kick its real-estate efforts into overdrive. The non-profit is betting that, with a little nudge, Parkridge is likewise about to come of age as a destination for folks interested in restor-ation. And, considering that downtown wunderkind David Dewhirst has recently invested in a bungalow just across Washington Avenue from this house, they just might be on to something.