The Mary Boyce Temple House stands like a sentinel on Hill Avenue at the northern end of the Henley Bridge. During the second half of the 20th century its original grandeur slowly faded and most Knoxvillians only remember it as a shabby apartment building or an abandoned building occupied by the homeless. Built in 1907, the Queen Style structure has endured an odyssey that would have destroyed most houses. Instead, it was saved from the brink of destruction by a mayor, many preservationists, a hotel developer and one very dedicated architect. It is a fitting outcome for the former home of one of Knoxville's first preservationists.
The house was built for the Chambliss family, but its most prominent owner was Mary Boyce Temple, the daughter of Oliver Perry Temple and Scotia Caledonia Hume Temple. She lived in the house from 1922 until her death in 1929. Miss Temple was a woman of amazing accomplishments for the era in which she lived. She was educated at Vassar and spent each social season in Washington, DC, where she entertained guests at the Willard and Mayflower Hotels. She represented the State of Tennessee at expositions and official ceremonies around the world, including the Paris World Exposition and the opening of the Panama Canal. She also achieved national stature as a suffragette. Locally she had an enduring impact through her civic activities, including founding the Bonny Kate Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, serving as a founder and president of Ossoli Circle, and leading the effort to save Blount Mansion from demolition for a parking lot. The mansion is now Knoxville's only building designated as a National Historic Landmark.
Upon her death Miss Temple left her house to the University of Tennessee. It was later sold and its era as a rental property began. In the 1940s, it became the Aston Tourist Home as its owners took advantage of the tourist traffic passing through Knoxville on the way to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. During that time a smaller structure was built on the lot between the Temple House and the Lord Lindsey in order to maximize guest accommodations. Residential and office rentals followed and the house continued to deteriorate as it made its way down the rental food chain. Mountain River Associates and Gameday purchased it in 2001, and the house stood empty, its fate uncertain, as it was vandalized by vagrants.
In 2002, it was revealed the developer of the Hampton Inn on the corner of Main and Henley was considering purchasing the Temple House and the Lord Lindsey. The plans at the time called for both houses to be destroyed and replaced with a parking lot for hotel guests. Preservationists rallied support to save both buildings and Mayor Victor Ashe protected the properties and others on the block by initiating the creation of the local Hill Avenue Historic District. Discussions continued with the developer, Shalesh Patel, who redesigned his parking plans and joined forces with those working to save the houses. He even agreed to direct a portion of his tax increment financing toward the restoration of the Temple House. Now the house just needed a new owner - or in this case, a savior who would take on the Herculean task of its restoration.
The person who emerged was an unlikely savior - a local architect who didn't fit the profile of a big time downtown developer with a pocket full of cash and banking connections. Brian Pittman had assisted in efforts to save the house from the wrecking ball, and in the process, fell in love with the place. Through sheer force of will and a persistence that is rarely seen, he managed to purchase the house from Mountain River and Gameday. He planned to finance the restoration the old fashioned way - through a bank loan and selling his mid-century modern house in South Knoxville. There is one unusual twist in his plan though. Brian is the artist who creates the intricate and breathtakingly beautiful cathedral drawings that now hang in galleries downtown and in Bearden. The money made from the sale of each cathedral is used to restore the Temple House.
Though progress has been frustratingly slow, due to the scale of the project and the current real estate market, but the forward motion has never ceased - even when it wasn't visible from the street. Brian began by gutting the interior of the Temple House to remove decades of alterations and debris and removed exterior additions that obscured its classic beauty. He then turned his attention to the little house next door. Now that he has sold his home in South Knoxville, that is where he will live until the restoration of the Temple House is complete.
The project recently reached a milestone thanks to some fireworks. The three-story-tall metal fire escape was removed while the City of Knoxville closed the Henley Bridge to traffic for the Independence Day celebration. This summer the repair of the brick can begin and that will allow new windows to be installed. Brian has even managed to obtain the windows as a donation from Pella and they will be appropriate for the historic character of the house. The porch will be rebuilt, the foundation and chimneys repaired and the newly-restored, original wrought iron details will be reinstalled. Then the interior restoration can begin.
Brian has created a website about the house and its restoration. You can visit www.maryboycetemplehouse.com to learn about its history and see photos of the house before and during the restoration. When the project is complete it will be a tribute to one of Knoxville's early preservationists brought about by the passion of one very dedicated architect.
nice house..:)
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