Author: John Griffin

Waverly is a cotton plantation 13 miles downriver from Memphis at
Bigg’s Landing, Arkansas. The center-hall house is in the Greek Revival
style popular from the 1820s until about 1860. The exact construction
date for this house isn’t known, but trim, doors, and interior details
are typical of the 1870s and 1880s — not surprising, since not
much was built during the Civil War and Reconstruction years, and
styles were slow to change in rural areas. In 1910, the house was
moved behind the new levee to protect it from flooding. It was put on
tall brick piers with a full story below, perhaps replicating its
original construction, since raised Greek Revival cottages were found
in great numbers throughout the South. Waverly is fully restored and is
situated on 31 acres of landscaped grounds, less than a half-hour drive
from downtown Memphis.

The façade has a full-width porch, opening to a wide hall
that runs all the way through the house. The main level has 11-foot
ceilings and narrow oak strip floors, probably installed over the
original heart pine flooring when the house was moved. The hall
begins as a foyer, with four French doors that can be folded against
the walls to promote air circulation. The middle area of the hall is
used as a grand living room. It’s focused on a fireplace with a marble
surround and flanked by arch-headed bookcases with paneled doors. A
large cased opening connects the central living room to a
17-foot-square dining room with an immense bay window that looks west
into the landscape, where an evergreen Southern magnolia and a
deciduous Japanese tulip magnolia are prominently sited just outside
the window, along with a hedge of burning bush and another of indica
azalea.

A renovated kitchen is behind the dining room, and the breakfast
room occupies the rear of the center hall, with a long view down an
allée of Natchez crape myrtles. A cross hall connects through a
library to a sun porch on the eastern side of the house, looking toward
a 12-acre fenced pecan orchard.

Two of the original main-floor bedrooms have intricately planked and
paneled ceilings, fireplaces, and alcoves. The other two bedrooms have
been converted to a master suite. Its sleeping area has an original
fireplace with modern gas logs; and the rest of the space is a dressing
room/office and bath with a large shower and separate tub. The
lower level has been enclosed, doubling the floor space and used for a
handy mudroom, laundry, game room, and guest suite consisting of two
bedrooms, two baths, a sitting room, and a kitchenette.

The property has a parking court out front, another parking area to
the rear, a two-story carriage house, two workshops, a barn, and
stables. The best seat in the house is, and probably always was, on the
high, wide front porch, where long views through the tall pecan trees
stretch over fields of cotton that run as far as the eye can see.

7250 Waverly Road, Procter, AR

Approximately 5,700 square feet

5 bedrooms, 4 1/2 baths; $595,000

Realtor: Coleman-Etter, Fontaine, 767-4100

Agent: Jeanne Arthur, 634-2800

Captain G.C. Adams built this house between 1848 and 1853 in the
then-booming town of Red Banks, Mississippi, not far from Holly
Springs. Cotton was king, and the land here was fertile. In 1853, James
Wells bought the house and 20 acres. He enlarged the land holdings and
lived here during the Civil War.

Originally, the house stood in an oak grove. When Grant was based in
Holly Springs, some of his officers were quartered at Cedar Crest, and
they felled the hardwoods to provide fuel for cooking and heating.
After the war, Lebanon cedars were planted, and the house is named for
the surviving trees.

Family lore maintains that Adams built this Greek Revival house to
resemble his daughter’s doll house. After the War of 1812, the new
American republic rejected its ties to England and embraced Greek
Classicism, because Greece was seen as the cradle of democracy. The
low-pitched roof and columned front of Greek temples became the
principle elements of the new architectural style. Round columns were
more true to the Greek prototypes, but in rural areas, square box
columns were easier to build, as seen here.

Adams harvested all the lumber for the house on the site. The
ceilings are an impressive 14 feet high to cool the house and are
covered in hand planed, butt-jointed boards, some still showing the
original blue calcimine paint. Two large chimneys provided fireplaces
to heat three rooms.

Double doors on the front porch open to the center hall, with a
parlor to one side and dining room to the other. The four-paneled,
pegged doors are 8 feet tall. Windows are even taller to provide ample
cross ventilation. The floors are wide, heart pine boards.

The house was fully updated in 1992, including a new roof and
central heat and air. The kitchen has a galley layout, with painted
cabinets and Mexican tile floors and counters. The current master
bedroom was a detached building moved over and appended to the house at
the beginning of the 20th.

The house sits on eight acres and has several cypress barns. The
drive winds through the property, ending in the cedar grove in front of
the house.

Cedar Crest offers a renovated, historic house and enough land to
develop extensive gardens or a hobby farm. The rear south yard is open
and would be perfect for a kitchen garden and a large entertaining area
with a pool. It’s rare to find a 160-year-old house only a 35-minute
drive from Midtown with such enticing opportunities.

Before there was Uptown, there was Greenlaw, a neighborhood laid out
in 1856 — the first addition to the original city plan.

The brothers Greenlaw moved to Memphis from Virginia, opened a
brickyard, and bought property north of town, across the busy Bayou
Gayoso. The Wolf River and the bayou were sources of transportation for
the many sawmills, blacksmiths, and cotton gins built along their
banks. Because of this, the Greenlaws had little trouble selling their
lots for new houses.

John L. Saffarans, owner of a lumberyard and a partner in the new
subdivision, sold the land for this house in 1859 to Steven B. Costen,
who opened a brickyard on North Third Street and completed his elegant
Greek Revival house just before the Civil War.

Building in Greenlaw peaked at the end of the 1800s and rapidly
declined after three floods in the early 1900s. A flurry of building in
the past five years has reinvigorated this area just north of St. Jude
Children’s Research Hospital. One of the new residents bought the
Costen house in 2001 and spent two years renovating it.

The original block of the house is a typical story-and-a-half Greek
Revival cottage, with two rooms on each side of a center stair hall and
two bedrooms above. Usually, the kitchen was in a service ell off the
rear. The rear wing was rebuilt during the recent renovation, making it
a story-and-a-half also.

The front of the house retains much of its original character. The
rooms have 12-foot ceilings and wide-plank, heart-pine floors. A heavy
four-panel cypress door and tall, walkout windows connect to the deep,
south-facing front porch. These windows were originally shuttered.
Restoring the shutters would add a lovely flourish to the facade. A
retaining wall lifts the house above street level, where it is framed
by two large magnolias. It couldn’t be more Southern.

Two original rooms on the main floor are now a spacious master
suite. In the bath, an old white-marble vanity top gives the feel of a
period washstand. There’s also a capacious shower and a footed tub. A
walk-in closet separates the bedroom and bath.

The rear addition houses the kitchen and breakfast room. The kitchen
has pine cabinets with hard-rock maple counters. The ceiling is
outfitted with salvaged antique beams.

The original back porch has been glassed in and a half bath and
laundry created at the far end. Two new bedrooms, a full bath, and an
office are upstairs. The big backyard has plenty of room for a garage
with easy street access.

This distinctive house is one of a very few antebellum houses left
in Memphis. Its generously scaled rooms and original elements, coupled
with its thorough but sensitive renovation, make this house a Southern
classic. •

274 Mill

Approximately 3,300 sq. ft.

5 bedrooms, 2-1/2 baths

$275,000

Realtor: Crye-Leike, 276-8800

Agent: Anne Marie Upshaw, 301-5391

A lot of houses on the market are stripped of character on the
assumption that it’s the best way to appeal to the widest possible
audience, much like the idea that every apartment must be painted
off-white and have beige carpeting. This house ignores such
preconceptions to grand effect.

The owners have been in residence 10 years, and it feels like they
were busy the whole time. In the front yard, an iron fence made of
recycled metal elements embodies the unconventional attitude often
expressed in Cooper-Young.

Inside shows the same artistic attention. Each room has its own
touch, whether it be a hand-stippled border at the ceiling, a painted
“wallpaper” stripe, or a rug stenciled on the floor. All work together
to create a harmonious and most distinctive interior.

The living room has a rough-cut fireplace with a bracketed stone
mantel shelf. Bookcases flank the fireplace with small paned-glass
doors. An elegant pair of French doors with antique glass are set
opposite the fireplace as entry to the den. This room offers both a
quiet getaway or great overflow space when the hordes descend.

Five-panel pocket doors connect the living and dining rooms. An
exquisite collection of period light fixtures adorn the 10-foot
ceilings. Heart-pine floors run throughout the ground floor, imparting
their rich color to the interior.

The full bath has its original small, white ceramic floor in
impeccable condition, along with a beautifully reglazed, footed tub. An
antique wooden sideboard converted to use as a vanity adds the perfect
eclectic touch.

Two of the three bedrooms are downstairs. The one in the attic is
the largest, and there’s also a nicely sized bonus room upstairs. The
rear bedroom on the ground floor has a large walk-in closet that could
easily become a second full bath and French doors out to a deck. It
also has one wall of Elvis paneling from the 1970s, imprinted with
images of the King. There’s a new workshop that would be a perfect art
studio out back behind the detached two-car garage.

The kitchen is the major highlight. It’s composed in the English,
unfitted style with freestanding sculptural elements. A long,
porcelain-on-cast-iron sink with two integral drain boards is the
central focus with custom beadboard cabinets above. A unique, double
pot rack is composed of two iron-spoked wheels connected by a curving
run of copper pipe. All of this plays off a wall of corrugated,
galvanized aluminum that rolls sinuously up and across the ceiling.

This house is not a cookie-cutter bungalow. It’s quite the romantic
— clearly a labor of love.

1831 Oliver

Approximately 2,140 sq. ft.

3 bedrooms, 1 bath; $189,000

Realtor: Crye-Leike, 276-8800

Agent: Paige Arnold, 870-7653

The architect of this house created a grand two-story entry and
turned it to the side to face the house next door instead of the
street. An open corridor through this atrium connects the bedrooms with
the public rooms, but the siting keeps it private.

This is not the only unconventional twist in this 1970s shed-roof
design that adds to its seclusion. The house’s layout is upside down,
with the main living and sleeping areas on the second floor, maximizing
the views, an arrangement you’d expect to find in a beach house. It is
an ingenious plan, and the minimal amount of glass on its street facade
lends it an aura of mystery.

The bedrooms are placed mostly on the street side. High, horizontal
ribbons of windows in these rooms capture lots of light while providing
plenty of options for furniture placement.

The living spaces are arrayed across the rear, where walls of
floor-to-ceiling glass look out to the backyard. The rooms also benefit
from vaulted ceilings, and they flow out to a full-length, second-floor
deck that connects to a lower deck via an exterior stair. The fireplace
has a wood-burning insert. There’s even a breakfast room with two glass
walls adjoining the kitchen — a perfect spot for small dinner
parties. The kitchen is particularly well laid out with double work
areas, two sinks, and lots of room for guests or guest chefs. The
wood-stained cabinets and plastic laminate counters could easily be
improved with a coat of paint and a slab or two of stone or butcher
block.

Downstairs has a large, two-car garage with an attached, heated and
cooled workshop, all below the bedrooms. A full second set of family
rooms, or the perfect mother-in-law wing, is stacked beneath the public
rooms above. The downstairs living suite’s fireplace also has a
wood-burning insert. These rooms have a view across the deck to the
shady rear yard, where broad walks of Arkansas fieldstone lead you deep
into the wooded, half-acre property. There is, of course, a bedroom on
this floor with an en-suite full bath.

There’s a lot of house here for the money. It’s unusual to have such
expansive views in town without looking into your neighbor’s house and
yard. This clever turn of plan could be your secluded enclave in the
suburbs.

5569 Glen Wild

Approximately 5,000 sq. ft.

5 bedrooms, 3 baths; $299,000

Realtor: Hobson & Company, 761-1622

Agent: Laurie McBride, 312-2962

On the outside, it’s a Tudor Revival. There’s dark brick below, with
half-timbering and stucco in the steeply pitched, front-facing gables.
And there are arches on the front entry porch (hidden by nandinas under
the left gable), but that’s about as far as the Tudor details go. The
facade, with its twin gables and center dormer with the chimney right
behind it, is unusually symmetrical for a Tudor. If there were a center
front porch and siding instead of stucco in the gables, about all it
would take is a coat of white paint to make this a perfect Colonial
Revival cottage.

Inside, there are no arches, no diamond-paned windows, and no stone
mantel — things you would expect, given the exterior treatment.
Nevertheless, it’s a beguiling house, one of those increasingly rare
Midtown homes that has not been renovated (except for a ’70s kitchen
re-do), so you don’t have to wonder how it was laid out originally
— it’s perfectly clear. Now it really needs some sensitive
updating, but it provides the opportunity to do so the way you like
instead of undoing someone else’s ideas.

There are three distinct public rooms across the front: a sunroom
behind the front porch, a central living room with a fireplace, and a
dining room on the same side as the butler’s pantry and the “got to go”
kitchen.

The living room has three tall windows and doors on three sides,
making seating a challenge. The room could more easily hold a big,
round table and be a fabulous occasional dining room and the perfect
entry hall. The original dining room, butler’s pantry, and kitchen
could then be gutted and reconfigured. There’s plenty of wall space for
seating, and by removing two walls, there would be plenty of good
choices for a well-planned kitchen and breakfast area.

The largest of the three bedrooms is on the ground floor. It has the
largest closet and is adjacent to the existing full bath. These rooms,
too, could be combined to create a comfortable master suite, and a new
powder room could be added behind the kitchen.

The house is sited on a wonderful block in Central Gardens. It’s not
hard to imagine it updated and eminently livable by today’s standards.
Some houses can be a real challenge to renovate well, so it’s always a
delight to find one like this that has lots o’ options. It doesn’t
matter if it’s Tudor or Colonial, this one’s ready for a revival.
•

1917 Harbert

Approximately 2,130 sq. ft.

3 bedrooms, 2 baths; $235,000

Realtor: Hobson Company, 767-1622

Agent: Deborah Mays, 312-2939

In Memphis, integrating a house with the landscape usually means
giving it a screened porch, a view from the main seating area, or maybe
a deck around a pool. The temperature extremes are too great here for
much more indoor-outdoor connection. It’s only in tropical or
subtropical climes that the house can truly be open to the
landscape.

The best option around here may be to bring the landscape inside.
This house, designed by architect Robert Brown in 1974, uses an atrium
as the interior organizing element. Guests arrive in this green space
and occupants pass through it frequently as they move around the house.
The exterior stained siding is used on its walls, helping to dissolve
the boundary between inside and out. Four large ficus trees with an
under-story of tropical vines and a tumbling stream animate this area.
You expect to hear bird sounds in this delightful
interior court.

The dining room, living room, and den all open up to
the atrium. The entry’s brick flooring steps up around the central
green space and flows into these rooms, as well. Both the living room
and the den have vaulted ceilings.

The large galley kitchen, with its all-white cabinets and counters,
has a long horizontal window set between the counter and the upper
cabinets to bring the inside out. Just beyond is a well-equipped spa
with a hot tub beneath a large skylight, along with a sauna and a full
bath — all adjacent to the rear pool and deck.

The bedrooms are on the other side of the atrium. The master bedroom
is on the main level. Its bath has floors and countertops of Calcutta
Gold marble. A spiral stair in the master leads up to a dressing
room and a private office, which has a narrow, horizontal
slit opening with a view into the atrium. The four additional
bedrooms are stacked two over two, and these are entered from the
atrium as well.

All of the common rooms share views out to the rear yard. A pool is
tucked into one corner. a  two-level entertaining area tiers
down from the house to the pool. The landscape views from every room
are well framed, but it is the two-story atrium that gives this house
the feel of living outdoors in tropical splendor.  
 

10 Goodway Lane, 38117

Approximately 4,800 square feet

5 bedrooms, 4 baths; $525,000

Realtor: Hobson Realtors, 761-1622

Agent: Laurie Stark, 486-1464

Memphis is in short supply of good mid-20th-century houses. Who
wanted contemporary when you could have a Colonial-styled ranch with
shutters? But the Goulds, of the hair-salon chain, appear to have had a
preference for the modern and built this distinctive house.

The site was carefully designed, with a circular drive sweeping
behind a low brick wall and enormous crape myrtles sheltering the entry
from the street. Theatrically up-lighted, hardy windmill and pindo
palms add a tropical touch. High ribbon windows admit lots of light
while maintaining privacy.

The entry foyer has a marble floor. The living and dining rooms are
off to one side. A Colonial Revival mantle is the only traditional
element; remodeling with a wall of limestone or marble tiles would add
a more contemporary treatment.

The kitchen has windows over the sink and breakfast area, looking
into a carport that has been enclosed. Installing sun tunnels through
the roof would be an economical way to introduce natural light into the
space. The kitchen work area is both ample and well laid out.

Across the foyer, a sleeping wing has four bedrooms and two
all-white-tile baths that look timeless. A spacious den/sunroom has a
beamed ceiling and an entire wall of narrow, stacked stone that is the
period-perfect fireplace surround.

A glassed passage leads out to the half-acre lot and a rear wing
with a fifth bedroom and a big laundry room, too, but only a half-bath.
Fortunately, the laundry could easily be reduced and a full bath
installed.

This bedroom is the largest and most contemporary of the five, and
with its vaulted ceiling and great views of the back yard and pool, it
should be the master suite.

Just outside the sunroom passage is a spacious patio. And a little
farther up the hill is another terrace with a fountain, adjacent to the
pool — all providing a perfect backdrop for cool pursuits in this
modern Memphis pad. •

4549 Laurelwood Dr.

Approximately 3,830 sq. ft.

5 bedrooms

2 full and 2 half-baths

$399,000

Realtor: Sowell &Co., 278-4380

Agent: Steve Soloman, 454-1931

A smattering of brick thrown together with half-timbering creates
the picturesque suggestion of time-honored age. This was the basis of
the popularity of the Tudor Revival in America in the 1920s and 1930s.
The Tudor look was grafted onto various floor plans, including the
popular bungalow, which is exactly what happened here.

This house sits on University Circle, just north of the athletic
fields at Rhodes College. It is graced with some of the common features
of Midtown that are quite desirable: narrow-board oak floors, nine-foot
ceilings, and plaster walls. Sadly, the ceilings had been previously
blown with texture, but the current renovation has restored all these
to a smooth finish.

The kitchen and breakfast room were combined in the recent redo to
make a more space for working and entertaining. The cabinets have been
arranged to create a large “U” of counter space that includes a
breakfast bar. The fourth wall holds the built-in refrigerator and
additional storage. The original butler’s pantry with its glass-fronted
upper cabinets was retained and is now the perfect buffet for a
party.

The third major change was the reclamation of the rear utility room.
It was originally a few steps down from the main floor and held the
furnace and water heater. Fortunately, there was sufficient headroom to
raise this floor flush with the ground floor, and by relocating the
mechanical systems, a very spacious laundry room was created that could
easily accommodate a second refrigerator, a freezer, and additional
counter space.

The three bedrooms and bath occupy one side of the house, as is
typical in bungalows, with the master bedroom usually to the rear or in
the middle.

The front room here opens through French doors onto a large covered
porch that is separated from the Rhodes campus by a small park. The
porch and park make this room perfect for a den with outdoor overflow
space adjacent. Or it could be a wonderful master bedroom, particularly
if the porch had vine-covered trellises to further buffer it.

The floor plan has been improved considerably in the recent
renovation, and both the interior and exterior are freshly redone.

The bungalow plan has certainly stood the test of time as an
eminently livable layout, and the exterior Tudor detailing makes this
one spiffy Tudalow. •

2128 University Circle

Approximately 1,570 sq. ft.

3 bedrooms, 1 bath; $164,500

Realtor: Hobson Co., 761-1622

Agent: Stephanie Evans Taylor, 487-7452

Open Sunday, June 14th, 2 to 4 p.m.

Fred Montesi, owner of a small chain of Memphis grocery stores,
commissioned the architectural firm of Regan and Walker to design this
house. (The firm also designed the Cathedral of the Immaculate
Conception, just up the street.)

The Montesi house is in a restrained Spanish Colonial Revival style,
with stucco walls inside and out, an early use of industrial metal
window frames (many of which have been replaced), and a terra-cotta
tile roof.

The interior has a sumptuously large living room with a vaulted and
beamed ceiling, made to feel even grander by being one step below the
rest of the house. The firebox and chimney were recently redone and a
custom, cut limestone mantel installed.

One of the character-defining elements of the house is its original
tilework, still in perfect condition. The first example most visitors
encounter is the sunroom floor, made of multicolored tiles. Both the
master bedroom, which has recently had a large dressing room added, and
the adjoining bedroom have their original, en-suite baths, each with a
Deco palette of tiles. The master has green tile with matching tub,
toilet, and pedestal sink. All of the original plumbing fittings have
been restored and reinstalled. This bath can be viewed at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has a photograph of it in its
permanent collection, taken by William Eggleston, a longtime inhabitant
of the house.

The current owners have been equally meticulous in the remainder of
the house. The original third bedroom has been converted to a media
room, with doors to the rear yard and patio. Eggleston’s studio and
darkroom were converted to attached guest quarters. This new third
bedroom has its own seating area, kitchen, bath, and walk-in
closet.

The kitchen was remodeled and has a commercial, dual-fuel range with
double convection ovens. The kitchen, too, retains its original tile
floor and is further accented by a hand-painted Italian tile
backsplash. In keeping with the ceramic leitmotif, the adjoining
den/breakfast room has a new Saltillo tile floor.

The grounds were also treated beautifully. The acre lot has been
groomed to a fare-thee-well. The sunny front yard has a Colorado
red-stone patio connecting the parking court to the front entry. Broad
gravel walks encircle the remaining front yard, passing both a formal
pool with a fountain near the entry and a koi pond with a waterfall
further on.

The rear yard has an organic-shaped patio with three seating areas
under several mature shade trees. The perimeter of the property is
filled with a variety of privacy plantings, and it’s all conveniently
irrigated to keep everything picture perfect. •

1592 Central; 3,100 sq. ft.

3 bedrooms, 3 baths; $607,500

Realtor: Coleman-Etter, Fontaine, 767-4100

Agent: Jeanne Arthur