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
