Category: Real Estate

William and Oliver Greenlaw arrived in Memphis in the early days of the city’s growth. They built open-air markets, one on Beale at Fourth, the other at the north end of town on Poplar. By 1849 they were assembling land north of the Bayou Gayoso and by 1856 had laid out a 30-block subdivision with cobbled streets, granite curbs, and sycamore trees.

The area prospered. Sawmills, brickyards, and breweries were built along the banks of the Wolf River and close to barge traffic into town. To the east, larger homes sat on prominent corner locations. Smaller duplexes filled in the blocks, and shotguns sat close together on the alleyways. The largest homes were clustered along Seventh Street, which still follows the line of an original Indian trail running north. Seventh Street (originally called High Street) had the only bridge across the bayou connecting Greenlaw to Memphis until the Front Street bridge was built in 1867.

During the Yellow Fever years Greenlaw and the more northern suburb of Chelsea considered seceding and forming their own city. In 1887 the first wells tapped into the artesian water supply below the city and made mosquito-rich cisterns unnecessary. With the advent of a modern water system, population grew. The last two decades of the 19th century were the big building years for Greenlaw.

George Love built a grand home at 619 North Seventh Street in 1888. It stands today and is now home to the city’s Center for Neighborhoods. Love built and bought a lot of property in Greenlaw over the years. Four of the houses he once owned facing North Sixth Street, circa 1890, have recently been renovated by Memphis Heritage, the city’s only preservation nonprofit. Two have been sold and two are still available.

Federal and city funds contributing to their renovation require that these homes go to first-time homebuyers who make less than 80 percent of the city’s median income. That means a single person can make no more than $31,550, whereas a family of three can make as much as $40,550.

These homes still evoke the gracious 19th-century style of Memphis’ early subdivisions. Twelve-foot ceilings and eight-foot doors with transoms above were retained. The houses were gutted, rewired, repiped, and fully insulated. Central heat and air, telephone cables, and security were installed. The grand front parlors are intact, although the original fireplaces were regretfully lost. Just restoring a mantel to its original location would add a lot to these rooms. New baths and kitchens were installed, with the kitchens open to a back gathering room for easy living. Bedrooms have generous walk-in closets.

These houses sit close together, showing how Greenlaw’s density resembled that of New Orleans and resembles neotraditional plans like Harbor Town located just across the Wolf River Basin. The “Uptown” initiative will bring new homes to Greenlaw and lead to even more renovation of original buildings. As downtown fills with lofts for living and entertainment, Greenlaw seems once again poised to be the “renewed” subdivision just north of downtown.

612 and 622 North Sixth Street

1,320 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath; $55,900

Realtor: Sowell & Company, 278-4380

Agent: Steve Solomon

The Greeks thought there was only one sin, and they called it hubris. It translates loosely as excess. The current trend to build mega-houses is very hubristic. Learning to edit one’s life is an art long overdue a revival. It’s never too late to cut the crap and choose quality over quantity.

This house on Walnut Grove was built in 1950 as a retirement home. The intent was not just to downsize but have fewer, bigger rooms and build those very well. The second owner has lived here 15 years and updated all the systems in the house. Obviously appreciating that initial intent, the owner has made a concerted effort to keep the interior light and open. In the yard, a garden has been lovingly installed, showcasing native plants.

Restraint is evident both in and out. True to the mid-century, deep overhanging eaves protect the windows from the summer sun but admit lower winter light. A low-pitched roof and long, narrow brick emphasize the horizontal, tying the house to the land. This line is continued by planters flanking the walk and simply filled with evergreen ground-cover and a well-placed Japanese maple to announce the entry.

The spacious entry has a wall of closets and a floor of marble. The rest of the house has pale white oak. The front dining room overlooks a deep perimeter planting that buffers the views to Walnut Grove. The living room runs across the back, opening to a patio shaded by an elegant, old ironwood tree.

The renovated kitchen deserves special mention. Most of the upper cabinets were eliminated to make room for the art on the walls. At the same time, recessed can-lights were added throughout the house. Ample counters provide both work area and breakfast bar. In addition to the roll-out wire-shelved cabinets, there is exposed wire shelving for pots and pans beneath the cooktop. Glassware and dishes are stored in a glass-doored, floor-to-ceiling cabinet. The adjoining breakfast area could accommodate a cozy seating area just as well as it could a breakfast table.

Both bedrooms are generously scaled, each with two closets with built-ins. The owner has plushed them up with wool carpeting over the oak. The front bedroom has windows on two sides, while the back has windows on three. Every window frames a garden view. There’s one public bath and one in the master. Neither is stinted in size or details. Richly colored tiles are used at floor and wainscot. A narrow, inlaid wave pattern adds ornament. The vanities have rakishly retro slanted fronts that include ample storage drawers. Like the rest of the house, all of the windowsills are granite.

The rear patio is reached easily from the master bedroom, living room, and kitchen. It’s practically another room in good weather. A two-car porte cochere is angled off the rear, so as not to block views. The circular rear drive pivots around a berm planted with sun-loving sumac. The emphasis on native plants coupled with the informal, naturalistic installation makes this garden as easy-care as the house. As a showcase for a well-edited collection of furniture and art, this house is almost sinfully perfect. And that’s no bull!

Memphis architects Walk Jones Sr. and Max H. Furbringer produced
some of the city’s finest early 20th-century houses. They designed this
house, Hillcrest, for Mrs. Walter Goodman and Mrs. J.M. Richardson, a widow
and her widowed daughter. The Goodman family had owned the Mississippi Central
Railroad and operated a major cotton plantation near Southaven.

The design of Hillcrest skillfully combines elements of the
Colonial Revival and French Renaissance Revival. The facade, with its elegant
blend of stonework patterns and textures, gives the impression of two
townhouses joined by a central entrance bay, a characteristic often found in
French and English country houses. The porch has turned stone balusters in the
Colonial Revival style; the open terraces at either end of the porch have
rectangular stone-block balusters often found on Craftsman houses.

Hillcrest has an unusual floor plan for the period: Its front
door opens into an entrance hall, but the “public” rooms of the
first floor are not immediately accessible from the hall. Instead, the
entrance hall leads to a cross-hall opening to the monumental main stair,
which is on axis with the entrance. The major rooms open off the cross hall,
instead of being connected. This arrangement provides a strong sense of
privacy and separation from the entrance, even though the public rooms are at
the front of the house.

In a display of technical virtuosity, Jones and Furbringer used a
different architectural style for each of the major areas on the first floor.
A screen of fluted columns with Italian Renaissance-inspired Scamozzi capitals
marks the entrance to the cross hall, where the stair is framed by tall,
French Renaissance Revival newels. The stair also has a full-width banquette
at its landing and a dazzling two-story window wall of leaded stained
glass.

The east room, known as the men’s parlor, is detailed in the
English Arts and Crafts style and dominated by an extraordinary fireplace
inset with peacock-blue tiles. Beyond the men’s parlor is a small suite,
originally used as Mrs. Goodman’s bedroom and bath, decorated in the
Colonial Revival style, which would serve equally well as either a family
room, guest suite, or first-floor master suite.

The ladies’ parlor to the west of the entrance has delicate
plaster panels and pilasters, deep cornices, and a commanding mantelpiece
detailed with both Colonial Revival and French Renaissance Revival elements.
The “tapestry room,” adjacent to the ladies’ parlor and
originally used as the dining room, has a coffered ceiling and European
tapestry wall panels original to the house.

The kitchen borders on being institutional both in size and
equipment, with commercial appliances that could handle any sort of
entertaining event. Not that the kitchen needs enlarging, but opening the
kitchen to the back porch would provide a small, informal dining area with a
view to the back garden. A butler’s pantry adjacent to the kitchen has
its original floor-to-ceiling cupboards which could easily hold tableware in
the “service for 200” category.

The second floor has five bedrooms and three baths, all large and
elegantly appointed with their original fixtures. The master bedroom has a
Colonial Revival fireplace and a wall of built-in cupboards, and its adjoining
bath has a delightfully odd radiator with towel-warmer shelves. A suite on the
third floor could be a den, media room, or governess’ quarters.

The house is on a one-acre corner lot enclosed by a brick wall.
The house and garage are on the west side of the lot, leaving the east for
development as pool, tennis courts, or gardens. Hillcrest has been
meticulously preserved and is ready to provide the setting for another century
of elegant living on a grand scale.

1554 Peabody Avenue

House: 7,300 square feet

5 bedrooms, 5 1/2 baths

Backhouse/garage: 1,200 square feet

1 bedroom, 1 bath

$775,000

Realtor: The Hobson Company

272-2619, 761-1622

It was the late 1940s. An all-consuming war had just ended. Domestic industries, including the housing market, were resurging. Traditional American forms like this Colonial Revival Cape Cod were the rage. (English Tudor and Mediterranean Revivals were out.) The G.I. Bill was fueling new construction, but most of it was smaller, one-story homes with only vaguely Colonial styling.

This home was obviously custom-designed by an architect. Great care was given to correct massing and details. The high-pitched roof and three dormers centered over the symmetrically placed front door and windows below are taken from early New England antecedents. The Georgian door surround, with its broken pediment and dents, is a touch of Colonial high style. If the shutters were hinged and operable, it would be too perfect.

An entry hall welcomes you. The generous living room runs front to back on the east side, getting natural light from three sides. A wood-burning fireplace is centered on the inside west wall. Even with its gracious scale, this is an efficiently laid out home. No space is wasted. Rather than carve out a full center hall from front to back and locate the staircase there, the stairs are placed at the back of the living room. It hurts neither furniture arrangement nor circulation.

On the opposite side of the foyer is the dining room with kitchen behind. Originally a screened porch ran along the west side, connecting to both these rooms. In the 1960s, the current owners enclosed the porch, creating a family room and enlarging the kitchen. The dining room still proudly displays two corner cabinets with carved-shell tops — another elegant touch like the front-door surround.

There are more custom built-ins throughout the house. In addition to ample work space and a home-office area, the kitchen has separate broom and pantry closets. The two original upstairs bedrooms share a bath with a fold-down ironing board. The upstairs hall has spare closets and walls of built-in drawers. Downstairs, an added master suite has a sitting bay flanked by bookcases. The master dressing and vanity both have fold-out mirrors over polished, white-marble tops and walls of storage.

The sitting bay in the master overlooks a brick patio in the backyard. A screen of evergreens, including some magnificent magnolias, terminate the view. This house isn’t one that’s lacked for maintenance. The installation of some lighting for art, maybe new counters and splashes in the kitchen, and a paint job, and it’s good for the next half-century.

2229 Jefferson Ave.

2,800 square feet, 3 bedrms, 2 1/2 baths; $335,000

Realtor: Sowell & Co., 278-4340, Agent: Ed Beasley

Memphis has about 12,000 buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places and about 7,000 of them are bungalows. Most American bungalows were built in the early 20th century, but the bungalow has a long history closely tied to the global influence of the British empire.

The word “bungalow” comes from the Bengali bangala, which refers to both the Bengal region of India and the area’s native houses, one-story buildings with a porch or “verandah,” probably a Persian word. The imperialists and entrepreneurs who went to India devised many variations on the bangala, incorporating characteristics of English cottages and the conveniences of Western civilization, as well as the British army tent. The resulting bungalows usually had a central living room and an aura of openness created by banks of windows and many exterior doors which opened to porches almost entirely surrounding the core rooms.

The European and American bungalows that developed over the next century were eclectic creatures, idealized retreats set in a garden and associated with a return to the simple life. In many former colonial territories, “bungalow” still refers to a building in a private compound.

This bungalow, mid-block on a shady stretch of Willett between Poplar and Court, embodies many characteristics of earlier Anglo-Indian bungalows. Unlike most American bungalows, it has a symmetrical façade. A prominent gable with Craftsman brackets covers the broad front porch. The central front door has a distinctive transom with thin, horizontal panes. The door opens into a hall, in the medieval sense of entrance room and multipurpose space. Originally the living room, it could serve equally well as the dining room or as a parlor with a couple of easy chairs pulled up to the Colonial Revival fireplace. Doors from this room lead to the kitchen, the back hall, and a large adjoining room, which could be either the living or dining room.

The kitchen has been refurbished with new cupboards and commercial-style appliances. Its arrangement, with an island at the center and a wide-cased opening to the breakfast room, encourages congregating while providing efficient work areas. The breakfast room has double windows and its original glass-doored china cabinet. The original walk-in pantry has been modified to also serve as a laundry.

A vestibule off the kitchen has doors to the basement and the huge, screened back porch, which, like most of the other rooms, has a ceiling fan. One of the two downstairs bedrooms has a French door to the porch. The downstairs bath retains its original hexagonal-tile floor, linen closet with full-height double doors, and classic dish-base tub. The Craftsman-detailed stair in the back hall has pyramid-capped newels and block-spindle balusters.

The upstairs room has four pairs of casement windows facing east and a pair of double-hung windows on the south side. It has a full bath and two large closets. Deciding whether to use it as master bedroom, home office, or summer parlor would be a tough call.

All the rooms have the same period-appropriate color scheme — straw, sage, putty — that imparts a soothing glow. Floors in the living/dining area and the downstairs bedrooms were hand-sanded and have a dark, rich finish. The kitchen, breakfast room, and upstairs floors are painted a light khaki, a traditional country house treatment.

The backyard, shaded by a grove of pecan trees, is enclosed by a high fence with an automatic gate. A new tin-roofed storage shed contributes to the colonial compound feel of this sensitively rehabilitated enclave in the heart of Midtown.

152 N. Willett

1,800 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths; $168,500, FSBO: 237-4975, 525-3044

Belvedere means “beautiful view” in Italian. With its gentle S-curve and wide, landscaped median, Belvedere Boulevard is most appropriately named. The Belvedere subdivision, one of several comprising present-day Central Gardens, was approved for development in 1906. The land was part of an 800-acre farm established by Solomon Rozelle in 1830. When the subdivision was platted, the area had a few houses dating from the mid- to late 1800s. Most of the houses in the new development were built between 1900 and 1940; a few townhouses were built in the 1960s and ’70s.

This is the first new house in the neighborhood in several decades and is now under construction on Belvedere between Harbert and Glenwood, on property that was for many years the garden of the circa-1912 house next door. The deep, narrow lot has been developed with a small lawn and guest parking in the front, a driveway down the house’s south side, and parking for the owners at the rear, behind the garage.

The brick-clad house has a symmetrical facade with a two-story pedimented portico which provides a gracious porch at street level and a balcony for two bedrooms upstairs. The front entrance is a double-leaf door with a transom. The front windows also have transoms.

The central front hall has a view straight through the house to the rear terrace and courtyard. The living and dining rooms, each with a fireplace, flank the front hall. The den, behind the living room, has its own fireplace and a trio of French doors to the terrace. A wide archway joins the den to the breakfast room, which is almost as large as the dining room. A butler’s pantry with capacious cabinets connects breakfast and dining rooms.

The kitchen and its adjunct spaces and the downstairs master suite are in a long, one-story rear ell. The kitchen, with major work areas at the sink and stove and broad expanses of countertop, would easily accommodate the needs of either an amateur cook or a professional chef. A counter with columns at its corners is both a convenient work or serving space as well as an elegant device to separate the kitchen and breakfast room. A four-foot-wide refrigerator and walk-in pantry provide plenty of food and equipment storage; and there’s more storage, as well as a place for a freezer, in the laundry room. A porte cochère on the south side of the house provides a convenient, sheltered, family entrance and loading zone off the back hall.

A gallery stretches down one side of the ell, forming the long side of the courtyard. The master bedroom with a bay window and expansive bath and dressing areas is situated at the end of the gallery. A three-car garage with a bedroom/playroom and full bath upstairs forms the end wall of the courtyard, an area that could be developed as a garden or an outdoor room that is a visual and functional extension of the interior spaces.

The upstairs has four bedrooms, all with nine-foot ceilings. Each bedroom has a large walk-in closet. The two front bedrooms have access to the balcony, and the two back bedrooms open into a sitting room. One front bedroom and one back bedroom have full baths; each of the other bedrooms has a private vanity but share a tub and water closet.

The design of this house incorporates modern “bells and whistles” conveniences with many desirable amenities, such as large rooms and high ceilings, found in older houses in Central Gardens. It won’t be long before this elegant Colonial Revival blends seamlessly with the other distinctive houses along one of Memphis’ most notable streetscapes.

656 Belvedere Boulevard, 5,500 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths; $1,200,000

Realtor: Sowell and Company, Agent: Corinne Adrian, 278-4380, 278-8840

George Mahan and James Broadwell were the architects of this
elegantly massed house on the southeast corner of McLean and Autumn. This was,
in fact, Broadwell’s family home. Mahan built for himself a similarly striking
house on the northeast corner, but it was lost in the preemptive demolition
for the never-built Midtown section of I-40.

This surviving sibling is certainly one of the most romantic
houses in Memphis. The Spanish Revival style swept the country in the 1920s
after the Panama-California Exposition in 1915 in Balboa Park in San Diego.
Mahan and Broadwell were masters of the Mediterranean styles, building Italian
and Spanish fantasies for clients in Evergreen, Morningside, and Central
Gardens.

The current owner purchased this property in disheveled condition
seven years ago and has been relentless in the restoration of the house and
the development of the grounds. The circular drive off busy McLean was
eliminated and the entry reoriented to the quiet block of Autumn, where a new
two-car garage with carriage doors was built. It gives the house a much-needed
air of calm.

The entry begins with an iron-grilled view through the wooden
gate at the street that culminates in a tiered fountain on an axis with the
front door. Formal lawn is surrounded by densely planted beds of shrubs and
trees. Sweetbay magnolias hold pride of place at major points.

The house telescopes from the corner of Autumn and thus increases
in scale as you approach the front door. The asymmetrical massing allows for a
great variety of room heights and window placements. The tiled entry opens to
a multi-level staircase with delicate iron railing that overlooks the double-
height living room. Original Bruce hardwood parquet floors gleam. An
overscale, ornately carved stone mantel surrounds the wood-burning fireplace.
A gently arched, planked-and-beamed ceiling is highlighted by the original
flared-plaster light cove, which still works. A sunroom lies beyond.

Both the living and the dining area overlook a rear fountain that
cascades down to the patio. The breakfast room retains two original pantry
cabinets both with arts-and-crafts hardware and one with a back-lighted
garden-trellis pattern of stained glass. A new kitchen was carved out of three
small rooms and looks into a mini-greenhouse where bougainvillea blooms. The
opposite end of the ground floor contains a guest suite with sitting room,
eat-in kitchen, bedroom, and bath.

Upstairs are an additional three bedrooms and three baths. Two
bedrooms share a dressing/play room and adjoining bath. The master suite is
entered through a library that adds privacy to the sleeping and bathing
chambers. A window seat in the master bedroom looks discreetly over the rear
patio and gardens like a private balcony onto a public square.

This house is rich in original details which have only been
enhanced by a meticulous renovation. It’s hard to believe this quality of work
can still be achieved. The surrounding walls add mystery from the street.
Inside the walls, plantings, paved areas, and fountains harmoniously integrate
the house with its setting. This Spanish Revival residence is simply a
romantic oasis.

410 N. McLean Blvd.

3,800 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 4 baths; $465,000, FSBO: Terry
Barham, 276-2854

If you can’t follow Robert Browning’s advice to “be in England, Now that April’s there,” you might try a leisurely drive through Hein Park, which at this time of year is much like an English village with its winding lanes and meadow-like green expanses. The area was originally a dairy farm, part of which was sold for the campus of Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College). In 1923, the Hein, Mette, and Gerber families, who owned the Memphis Steam Laundry and the John Gerber Department Store, began selling lots subdivided from the property. They called the area Hein Park and wanted the development to have a broad socioeconomic mix. Lots sold from $500 to $16,000, and houses ranged from cottages to mansions.

Hein Park was one of many streetcar suburbs developed within or adjacent to the Parkways during the early 1900s, but its curving streets and deep front yards distinguished it from most other subdivisions with grids and houses set close to the street. Its design is a fine example of the City Beautiful movement, which was greatly influenced by the 18th-century English Romantic and Picturesque landscape movements. While there is a great variety of architectural styles in Hein Park, the Tudor Revival is predominant.

This Tudor Revival cottage has all the hallmarks of the style: a multitude of steep gable roofs, a prominent chimney, half-timbering, groups of small-paned windows, and masonry walls, in this case stone and stucco. The front door, made of stout boards bound by heavy strap hinges, looks like the entrance to a medieval fortress. The entry hall has a coat closet with a diamond-paned slit window through which you can see the porch and front yard. One end of the large living room is entirely open to a sunroom with French doors that lead to a side garden and patio.

The living and dining rooms are joined by a wide archway. Off the dining room is an unusually large breakfast room which has its original built-in china cupboard. The breakfast room, kitchen, and front entry have quarry tile floors. The kitchen has lots of cabinets as well as a pantry. The work areas are perfectly adequate, but the space could be easily expanded by combining the kitchen and its adjoining utility room/back-entrance hall. Remodeling to convert a back bedroom to a family room connected to the kitchen would create a “great room” with access to the pool terrace.

A long, wide hallway runs through the center of the house. Three bedrooms, the kitchen, a bath, and the stairs to the finished attic are ranged along the hall. The house still has many of its original details, including a tiny telephone niche and radiator covers with a faux bois finish to match the red-gum woodwork.

The original master bedroom downstairs has two sets of corner windows overlooking the back garden and pool terrace. It also has its own bath. A second master suite upstairs has a huge, sky-lit bath and a series of spaces which could be used as bedrooms, home office, or walk-in closets and dressing rooms.

The deep lot is not immense, but it has been intensively developed. The front lawn is a lush swath of green leading to the broad, open front porch. The foundation plantings around the porch spill out to the side yards. One side has the driveway; the other has a path that leads around to a garden that runs the length of the house and connects to the pool terrace, a fenced area that is surrounded by dense shrubs and specimen plants. The pool house forms one end of the pool terrace and adjoins the garage. This truly charming cottage is one of the reasons why Hein Park is one of Memphis’ great neighborhoods. n

685 Cypress Drive

3,300 square feet

4 bedrooms, 3 baths; $285,000

Agent: Susan Overton

Realtor: Re/Max Elite of Memphis

Agent: B.J. Worthy

685-6000, 754-5177