The last magnificent home on Union Avenue
Will the Nineteenth Century Club fall victim to the track hoes?
The Nineteenth Century Club is a philanthropic and cultural women’s organization. The organization bought the magnificent house at 1433 Union Avenue in 1926. The mansion was originally built for Rowland J. Darnell in 1909 and was one of many mansions that lined the stretch of in Midtown. Now it’s the last one standing, the next door neighbor of Taco Bell. The area is now home to fast food joints, strip shopping centers, and modern office buildings and retail.
The property is for sale for $1.5 Million. I know many of us would hate to see the building demolished, so let’s hope an angel arrives in time with the ideas and money to save this house from the wrecking ball. If you are, or know such a person, there are plenty of us who will happily help you will all necessary due diligence.
An estate sale was held last weekend, and I was able to get photos of some of the interior details.
There must be someone in the world who has the resources to preserve this property. Let’s do everything we can to help make that happen.
Note: I get most of my historical Memphis architecture information from Memphis - an Architectural Guide, by Eugene J. Hohnson and Robert D. Russell ( 1990 - University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, TN), which has now become rather hard to find, as evidenced by this Amazon link.
It really will be a shame if this building is torn down. The problem is they need so much money to bring the building up to code, and in the meantime the club hasn’t been able to rent out the building to raise the money because it’s unsafe. I hope they have a fundraiser or something, you can’t replace a building like this.
This house is absolutely stunning!
