Residential demolition was so thorough in downtown Knoxville, that in the main part of the city proper there are very few structures standing that were originally intended as homes. Some of those have suffered “improvements” over the years and have been diminished in their claims to original construction. Remarkably, some that have survived are among the oldest built on the site: The James White home, the Blount Mansion and a handful of others. Row homes, which were once common downtown are now only represented in their historic form by Kendrick Place.
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| Rainbow Row, Charleston, S.C., photo by Sasha Azevedo |
Charleston has, of course, done a much better job at preserving historical structures. The famous “Rainbow Row” pictured above, features historic homes of alternating colors.
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| Knoxville’s Rainbow Row? Eleventh Street, Knoxville, February 2011 |
We don’t have anything that can quite compare, but we do have a row of Victorian homes, currently under repair and renovation by Knox Heritage, that remind me a little of that famous row. They are located on Eleventh Street in the Fort Sanders neighborhood, just a few yards from the Green House featured previously.
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| Fire Damage, Victorian home, Eleventh Street, Knoxville |
Sadly, a closer look reveals the damage from an early morning fire last spring. The middle home appears to have repairs to the fire damage underway, but the one most damaged doesn’t seem to have repairs underway. I know the damage was extensive, but I hope the home can be saved. Two homes don’t make a very good rainbow.
