Fourth & Gill (Knoxville, Tennessee)
Encyclopedia
Fourth and Gill is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee
, USA, located north of the city's downtown area. Initially developed in the late nineteenth century as a residential area for Knoxville's growing middle and professional classes, the neighborhood still contains most of its original Victorian-era
houses, churches, and streetscapes. In 1985, 282 houses and other buildings in the neighborhood were added to the National Register of Historic Places
as the Fourth and Gill Historic District.
Knoxville's rapid economic growth after the Civil War
brought about a housing boom that lasted into the early twentieth century. The presence of the railroad drew heavy industry to the pasturelands north of the city, and residential areas such as Fourth and Gill were developed to provide housing for the managers and workers in the growing number of mills and factories. Fourth and Gill was initially part of the separate city of North Knoxville, which was annexed by Knoxville in 1897. The neighborhood is named for a community center established at the corner of Fourth Street and Gill Avenue in the 1960s.
on the east, Broadway (part of U.S. Highway 441) on the west, Glenwood Avenue to the north, and East Fourth Avenue to the south. The Old North Knoxville
community lies just to the north, Parkridge lies on the other side of Hall of Fame drive to the east, and the Emory Place Historic District
(part of the city's Downtown-North Corridor) lies just to the south. The neighborhood's community center and oldest houses lie along North Fourth Street just east of I-40.
The Fourth and Gill neighborhood includes parts of Morgan Street, Gratz Street, Deery Street, Luttrell Street, and Eleanor Street, which run roughly north-to-south, as well as Wells Avenue, Caswell Avenue, Gill Avenue, Lovenia Avenue, and Third Avenue, which run east-to-west. North Fourth Street runs east-to-west across the area before veering north to join Gill Avenue as the latter passes under I-40, and then continuing north for several blocks on the east side of I-40.
The housing boom north of Knoxville brought increased demand for city services, and as bureaucratic issues prevented quick annexation by Knoxville, Fourth and Gill—along with what is now Old North Knoxville—incorporated as the separate city of North Knoxville in 1889. L. A. Gratz, for whom Gratz Street is named, served as the city's first mayor, and the city's townhall was located at 977 Gratz Street. North Knoxville had its own school (located off Broadway near Happy Hollow), improved roads, and electric street lights.
During the 1880s and 1890s, several prominent figures built houses in the Fourth and Gill area. Tennessee governor Robert Love Taylor
lived in what became known as the Caswell-Taylor House at 803 North Fourth (the house burned in 1985). Architect Albert B. Baumann, Sr.
, designed the Queen Anne-style cottage at 839 Deery Street for his younger siblings in 1892. Lovenia Avenue, which intersects Deery Street at the cottage, was named for Baumann's sister. During the following century, residents of Fourth and Gill would include furniture magnate James G. Sterchi
, philosopher Albert Chavannes
, White Stores founder Frank McDonald, Knoxville mayor Fred Allen, and Knoxville city manager Charles Karns.
The advent of the automobile in the 1930s led to a migration from urban areas to suburbs on the periphery of the city, and Fourth and Gill began to decline. Many of the neighborhood's houses were converted into low-rent apartments and duplexes by absentee landlords, and began to deteriorate. During the late 1970s, however, Fourth and Gill became one of the first neighborhoods in Knoxville to launch a successful urban renewal project, and many of its houses have since been restored.
/Craftsman
designs. Other architectural styles in Fourth and Gill include Gothic Revival
, Mediterranean Revival, Tudor Revival, American Foursquare
, Shingle
, and Colonial Revival
.
The Caswell-Taylor House (803 North Fourth), the home of Governor Robert Love Taylor, was considered a contributing property in the Fourth and Gill Historic District, but is no longer standing. The two-story house was built in the Queen Anne style circa 1880.
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
, USA, located north of the city's downtown area. Initially developed in the late nineteenth century as a residential area for Knoxville's growing middle and professional classes, the neighborhood still contains most of its original Victorian-era
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
houses, churches, and streetscapes. In 1985, 282 houses and other buildings in the neighborhood were added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
as the Fourth and Gill Historic District.
Knoxville's rapid economic growth after the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
brought about a housing boom that lasted into the early twentieth century. The presence of the railroad drew heavy industry to the pasturelands north of the city, and residential areas such as Fourth and Gill were developed to provide housing for the managers and workers in the growing number of mills and factories. Fourth and Gill was initially part of the separate city of North Knoxville, which was annexed by Knoxville in 1897. The neighborhood is named for a community center established at the corner of Fourth Street and Gill Avenue in the 1960s.
Location
The Fourth and Gill neighborhood is roughly bounded by Interstate 40Interstate 40
Interstate 40 is the third-longest major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States, after I-90 and I-80. Its western end is at Interstate 15 in Barstow, California; its eastern end is at a concurrency of U.S. Route 117 and North Carolina Highway 132 in Wilmington, North Carolina...
on the east, Broadway (part of U.S. Highway 441) on the west, Glenwood Avenue to the north, and East Fourth Avenue to the south. The Old North Knoxville
Old North Knoxville
Old North Knoxville is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, located just north of the city's downtown area. Initially established as the town of North Knoxville in the late-19th century, the area was a prominent suburb for Knoxville's upper middle and professional classes until the 1950s...
community lies just to the north, Parkridge lies on the other side of Hall of Fame drive to the east, and the Emory Place Historic District
Emory Place Historic District
The Emory Place Historic District is a historic district in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, located just north of the city's downtown area. The district consists of several commercial, residential, religious, and public buildings that developed around a late nineteenth century train and trolley...
(part of the city's Downtown-North Corridor) lies just to the south. The neighborhood's community center and oldest houses lie along North Fourth Street just east of I-40.
The Fourth and Gill neighborhood includes parts of Morgan Street, Gratz Street, Deery Street, Luttrell Street, and Eleanor Street, which run roughly north-to-south, as well as Wells Avenue, Caswell Avenue, Gill Avenue, Lovenia Avenue, and Third Avenue, which run east-to-west. North Fourth Street runs east-to-west across the area before veering north to join Gill Avenue as the latter passes under I-40, and then continuing north for several blocks on the east side of I-40.
History
What is now Fourth and Gill remained pastureland throughout most of the nineteenth century. The construction of the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad just north of Knoxville in 1855 made development in the area more feasible, and by the outbreak of the Civil War, what is now Emory Place had already been annexed by the city. After the war, factories were built along the railroad, and a market developed at Emory Place. This industrial growth brought about a demand for labor and a need for new housing, and around 1880, the first houses were built in what is now Fourth and Gill.The housing boom north of Knoxville brought increased demand for city services, and as bureaucratic issues prevented quick annexation by Knoxville, Fourth and Gill—along with what is now Old North Knoxville—incorporated as the separate city of North Knoxville in 1889. L. A. Gratz, for whom Gratz Street is named, served as the city's first mayor, and the city's townhall was located at 977 Gratz Street. North Knoxville had its own school (located off Broadway near Happy Hollow), improved roads, and electric street lights.
During the 1880s and 1890s, several prominent figures built houses in the Fourth and Gill area. Tennessee governor Robert Love Taylor
Robert Love Taylor
Robert Love Taylor was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1879 to 1881, Governor of Tennessee from 1887 to 1891 and from 1897 to 1899, and subsequently a United States Senator from that state from 1907 until his death. He is notable for winning the governor's office in an election against...
lived in what became known as the Caswell-Taylor House at 803 North Fourth (the house burned in 1985). Architect Albert B. Baumann, Sr.
Baumann family (architects)
The Baumann family was a family of American architects who practiced in Knoxville, Tennessee, and the surrounding region, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It included Joseph F. Baumann , his brother, Albert B. Baumann, Sr. , and Albert's son, Albert B. Baumann, Jr....
, designed the Queen Anne-style cottage at 839 Deery Street for his younger siblings in 1892. Lovenia Avenue, which intersects Deery Street at the cottage, was named for Baumann's sister. During the following century, residents of Fourth and Gill would include furniture magnate James G. Sterchi
James G. Sterchi
James Gilbert Sterchi was an American businessman, best known as the cofounder and head of the furniture wholesaler, Sterchi Brothers Furniture Company. At its height, Sterchi Brothers was the world's largest furniture store chain, with sixty-five stores across the southeastern United States and a...
, philosopher Albert Chavannes
Albert Chavannes
Albert Chavannes was a Swiss-born American author, philosopher, and sociologist, active primarily in the late 19th century...
, White Stores founder Frank McDonald, Knoxville mayor Fred Allen, and Knoxville city manager Charles Karns.
The advent of the automobile in the 1930s led to a migration from urban areas to suburbs on the periphery of the city, and Fourth and Gill began to decline. Many of the neighborhood's houses were converted into low-rent apartments and duplexes by absentee landlords, and began to deteriorate. During the late 1970s, however, Fourth and Gill became one of the first neighborhoods in Knoxville to launch a successful urban renewal project, and many of its houses have since been restored.
Fourth and Gill Historic District
The Fourth and Gill Historic District, added to the National Register in 1985, consists of over 250 houses, a school, and three churches, all built between 1880 and 1934. Unlike other Knoxville neighborhoods which developed during the same period, such as Fort Sanders or Mechanicsville, Fourth and Gill still contains most of its original houses, with few modern intrusions. Most of the houses built in the 1880s and 1890s have Queen Anne-style designs, while most of the later houses are BungalowBungalow
A bungalow is a type of house, with varying meanings across the world. Common features to many of these definitions include being detached, low-rise , and the use of verandahs...
/Craftsman
American Craftsman
The American Craftsman Style, or the American Arts and Crafts Movement, is an American domestic architectural, interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts style and lifestyle philosophy that began in the last years of the 19th century. As a comprehensive design and art...
designs. Other architectural styles in Fourth and Gill include Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
, Mediterranean Revival, Tudor Revival, American Foursquare
American Foursquare
The American Foursquare or American Four Square is an American house style popular from the mid-1890s to the late 1930s. A reaction to the ornate and mass produced elements of the Victorian and other Revival styles popular throughout the last half of the 19th century, the American Foursquare was...
, Shingle
Shingle Style architecture
The Shingle style is an American architectural style made popular by the rise of the New England school of architecture, which eschewed the highly ornamented patterns of the Eastlake style in Queen Anne architecture....
, and Colonial Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...
.
Notable buildings
- The Knoxville House of Faith (816 Lovenia), a two-story Gothic Revival-style church built in 1908. Originally called the Trinity Methodist Episcopal, the church is now home to a Pentecotal congregation.
- Central United Methodist Church (201 Third Avenue), a two-story Gothic Revival-style church built in 1927, and designed by architects R. H. HuntR. H. HuntReuben Harrison Hunt , also known as R. H. Hunt, was an American architect who spent most of his life in Chattanooga, Tennessee and is considered to have been one of the city's most significant early architects....
and Albert Baumann, Sr. - 800 Luttrell Street, a two-story Tudor Revival-style church building constructed circa 1900.
- T. W. Fisk House (800 Deery), a one-story Queen Anne-style cottage built circa 1890, and designed by architect George Barber.
- 821 Deery Street, a two-story Queen Anne-style house built circa 1890, and designed by architect George Barber.
- 839 Deery Street, a one-story Queen Anne-style cottage built circa 1890, and designed by Albert Baumann, Sr., of the architectural firm, Baumann BrothersBaumann family (architects)The Baumann family was a family of American architects who practiced in Knoxville, Tennessee, and the surrounding region, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It included Joseph F. Baumann , his brother, Albert B. Baumann, Sr. , and Albert's son, Albert B. Baumann, Jr....
. - The Eugene Harold Wilson House (941 Eleanor), a two-story Colonial Revival-style house built circa 1905, and designed by architect George Barber.
- 1003 Eleanor Street, a two-story Colonial Revival-style house built circa 1900, and designed by architect George Barber.
- Mrs. J. W. Taylor House (703 Luttrell), a one-story Queen Anne-style cottage built in 1902, and designed by architect George Barber.
- 907 Luttrell Street, a two-story Picturesque Vernacular-style house built circa 1895, and designed by architect George Barber.
- Cleveland Park (729 Morgan), a three-story Mediterranean Revival-style apartment house built circa 1925.
- 800 North Fourth Street, a two-story Picturesque Vernacular-style house built circa 1885; now serves as the Fourth and Gill community center.
- 804 North Fourth Street, a two-story Queen Anne-style house built circa 1880.
- 808 North Fourth Street, a two-story Queen Anne-style house built circa 1885.
- 812 North Fourth Street, a two-story Picturesque Vernacular-style house built circa 1880.
- 816 North Fourth Street, a two-story Queen Anne-style house built circa 1880, and designed by architect George Barber.
The Caswell-Taylor House (803 North Fourth), the home of Governor Robert Love Taylor, was considered a contributing property in the Fourth and Gill Historic District, but is no longer standing. The two-story house was built in the Queen Anne style circa 1880.
External links
- Fourth and Gill — official site