Historic Memphis Buildings

This page pays homage to many of the city's fine historic buildings.  Some, like the theatres, churches, and department stores, have been covered on separate pages of this website.   In many cases, a notable business is associated with a particular building and those will also be covered here. 

What makes a building historic?  In a city that's not especially known for appreciating its past, simply surviving the demolition crew would seem to be the number one criteria.  In addition they must be largely unaltered, be associated with famous people or events, be the work of notable architects or craftsmen, be of a particular architectural style or have archeological value.   We were surprised to learn that Memphis is the #6 City in the nation for listings of properties on the National Register of Historic Places - behind Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, and New Orleans.  We were even more surprised to learn that almost all the buildings on this page are still around - although not necessarily thriving, or completely out of danger. 

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The Memphis Business Men's Club was founded in 1899.  Their purpose was simply to promote the interests of Memphis.  Their building was designed by Shaw and Pfeil in 1910 and inspired by the designs of architect Louis Sullivan.  In 1913 the Business Men's Club changed their name to the Memphis Chamber of Commerce.   In 1980 the building was converted to office space.  The Chamber of Commerce  has now moved to the Falls Building on Front Street.
The various names of the Chamber of Commerce since 1838:  Memphis Businessmen’s Club (1838) . Memphis Businessmen's Club Chamber of Commerce (1916) .  Memphis Chamber of Commerce (1917) .  Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce (1975) .  The Chamber – Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce (1982)  .  Memphis Regional Chamber of Commerce (2002)  .  Greater Memphis Chamber (2007).

* Memphis churches have their own comprehensive coverage on another section of this website >  Click here

Built in 1907, this structure housed the Commercial Appeal from 1907 to 1933.  It featured a famous electronic sign that kept Memphians up to date with the latest headlines.  WMC, one of Memphis' first commercial radio stations, was established on the top floor of the building in 1923 .  The Commercial Appeal moved to a new location in 1933, and the building became headquarters for the Welcome Wagon organization, which was founded in Memphis in 1928.

* Cossitt Library has its own comprehensive coverage on another section of this website >  Click here

The beautiful old Cotton Exchange building was demolished in 1910 to make way for the new skyscraper Exchange Building, where the Cotton Exchange would occupy space until their new Cotton Exchange Building was built in 1924-25 at the corner of Union and Front.   Today the Union-Front building has been renovated and the Memphis Cotton Museum occupies the lower floor and apartments occupy the upper floors. 

This extremely rare set of illustrations (below) was printed in 1885 as a souvenir to celebrate the opening of the Cotton-Merchants Exchange Building.  The illustrations were tied together with ribbons and were meant to be hung vertically on a wall as decoration (See #1).  When folded they could have been sent by mail.  This predated the actual postcard by quite a few years.                                                                                                                      -  Collection of the Janet Hendricks Harden Family        

* Drug Stores and Drug Supply Houses are covered on another section of this website >  Click here

This building dates from at least 1905 - a date that is verified with a listing in the Memphis Directories.  The structure remained the home of the Elks until 1926, when it was demolished - along with the entire block, to make room for the 12 story Elks Club Building-Hotel.  This new building became the Hotel DeVoy and later the better known Hotel King Cotton.   The DeVoy and the Hotel King Cotton are both covered on the "Hotel" section of this website.

Exchange Building  .  9 N. Second Street

The Equitable Building, which was located on the corner of Main and Jefferson, dates back to 1889-1890.  This have been verified with listings in the Memphis Directories.  The structure was built primarily as an office building and it housed the old Appeal Newspaper and for a few years became known as the "Appeal Building".  When Bry's Department Store bought the building in the early 1900s, it was updated and the roof architectural accents were removed.  They eventually almost doubled the size of the building by enlarging the building next door.  Lowenstein's purchased Bry's in 1956.  Bry's closed in 1962 or 64 and Lowenstein's demolished the building and built Lowenstein's Tower at 99 N. Main, in 1969.     Lowenstein's closed and liquidated in 1981.  The Renaissance Apartments tower and its parking garage occupy this site today. 

Featuring extra wide windows, the Falls Building was designed especially for cotton merchants.  It was built in 1902 and there was a nightclub called The Alaskan Roof Garden, because of the cool breeze on the roof.  This became Memphis' premier nightclub and W. C. Handy was the featured bandleader.  He introduced one of his most famous compositions, "St. Louis Blues" here in 1914.  In addition a group made the city's first radio transmission from the roof in 1913.  Today, the building is home to the Memphis Chamber of Commerce - now known as "Greater Memphis Chamber".

 

The 14 story Farnsworth Building at Main and Union is a notable Art Deco mid-rise co-designed by William Van Powell in 1927.   Powell went on to design Fairview Junior High - another Art Deco masterpiece.  Decorative detailing will become the signature of Powell's work.  In 1938 a ladies clothing store named "The Three Sisters" moved here and stayed a long time.  This building became known as the Three Sisters Building.  Much later  the Business Journal took over the building and added their sign on top.  They have since moved to Brinkley Plaza,, but their sign has remained.  The building was added to the National Register in 1983.

Goodwyn Institute Building *  .  165 Madison

William Goodwyn was a successful Memphis cotton merchant. He bequeathed his entire fortune for a public library and an annual series of educational lectures. The Goodwyn Institute opened in 1907 and the beautiful 7-story Beaux-Arts building was notable for four large columns above the entrance and for lions heads in terra-cotta. The top floor held the library and the third floor was taken up by a 900 seat auditorium. It was a grand building.  The building was demolished in 1962 to make way for a bank.

* More information and photos will be found on the MOVIE-LEGITIMATE THEATRE page of the website.

For many years, the Memphis building was associated with Haverty's Furniture.  Haverty's was founded in 1885 in Atalnta, and the business expanded in 1889 and went into partnership with Rhodes, a partnership that would be dissolved and then re-instated several times over the next 10 years.  The Havety Building, in Richardson Romanesque style, was built in Memphis in 1891 during one of their expansions.    It was listed on the National Register in 1980.  It has now been renovated.   Haverty's Furniture is still in business.

EMAIL: "The building that eventually became the Helen of Memphis shop was the former home of St. Luke's Episcopal Church, founded in 1894, which built its first church home at Union and Idlewild in the early 1900s before it moved to a new location in 1912 at Peabody and LeMaster...When the Helen of Memphis shop was still open, you could walk inside and look up and see remnants of the old church structure." - Skip Howard, Church Archivist, First Baptist Church of Memphis, 3-23-2013

* The distinctive Kress Building is covered on the Department Store section of this website >  Click here

For almost 120 years, the Loeb family has operated businesses in Memphis.  In 1887 Henry Loeb Sr. was in business making and selling hats and shirts.  And then he opened a laundry to launder the shirts.  This market was considerable and he found the business constantly growing.  By 1910 he had expanded the business into a 3-story plant on Madison Avenue.  And then he introduced horse-drawn delivery service.  When Henry Sr. died in 1936, his son William took over the family business, but only lived another five years.  The business then became a trust for his two sons - Henry and Bill, with Bill eventually buying out his brother.  Bill expanded the laundry operations, reaching the 500 employee mark in the 1960s and 70s.  He also founded a chain of 100 successful barbeque restaurants.   In the 1980s, Louis and Bob, the fourth generation of Loeb's took over the family business.

Marx-Bensdorf was established in 1868 and is the oldest real estate firm in Memphis.  It's also one of the oldest businesses in the city, having been in continuous operation since its founding.  For many years their main office was the classic Bensdorf building at 152 Madison, built in 1905.  They moved to another classic building built in 1928 at 149 Monroe.  The Building on Monroe is now known as The Cadre Building and is an Events Rental Facility.   The secondary address for this building is 42 S. Second.  Former soccer coach Seamus Loftus opened "The Brass Door" - an Irish pub and restaurant in the old building at 152 Madison.   

The Tennessee Consistory #1, Scottish Rite Masonic Cathedral was built in 1909 at Dunlap and Union.  Either the original building was remodeled or rebuilt because the Masonic Cathedral still standing at this location is a different design - although it's similar and is still an impressive structure.

The Masonic Temple at Court and Fourth was built in 1914 by architects Jones and Furbringer.  The Neo-Classical building is still standing.  Click on the 1914 Souvenir Book below to see some rare photos of the interior.

Piggly Wiggly was the first true self-service grocery store, founded in 1916 by Clarence Saunders.  Customers entered the store through turnstiles and walked through 4 aisles to view items sold in packages and organized into departments.  They selected their own merchandise in baskets or carts and moved to the cashier.  Packaging and brand recognition became important to companies.  The date the building was demolished is not known, but a marker identifies the spot in downtown Memphis.

The D. T. Porter Building was built in 1894 as the Continental National Bank Building and was the city's first skyscraper.  The architech was Jones, Hain and Kirby.  For many years it was the tallest building in the mid-south.  In addition it had Memphis' first elevator.  Folks came from miles around and paid 10 cents for an elevator ride to the roof the view.  D. T. Porter was a pharmacist who never opened a pharmacy in Memphis - but he prospered in the wholesale grocery business.  He was also responsible for adopting the water system that cleaned up the city and prevented further outbreaks of yellow fever.  He died in 1898 and left money for his family to use as a memorial.  In 1900, his family purchased this office building and renamed it in his honor.  The building was renovated in 1983 and is condominiums today.    It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Puck Building is located in the heart of the South Main Historic District.  Built in 1912, the building was designed by Jones and Furbringer and included Terra Cotta detailing.  The building originally housed the Puck Grocery and Warehouse and it still carries the "Mid Summers Night Dream" Puck Crest in mint condition at the roof line.  More recently the building was home to the Jay Etkins Gallery.  Today, it has been renovated and is currently for sale.  It was added to the National Register in 1999.

* W.T. Rawleigh Factory is covered on the Drug and Drug Supply Houses page ... >  Click here

Reichman-Crosby Building  .  60 S. Front Street - Between Union and Monroe

The Rex Cub, dating from 1861, was a social organization for Jewish men which eventually developed into the Ridgeway Country Club.  The Rex Club and the Y.M.H.A joined forces to build this structure in 1910.  The grand building had a banquet hall, ballroom, bowling alley, swimming pool, auditorium, seating 400, and a gym.  It was also apparently expensive to maintain because the organizations sold the building in 1920 to the O. K. Houck Foundation, who made some modifications to the building.  It was sold again in 1933 to UTMU, who acquired the building for use as their student center and renamed it University Center.  The structure was demolished in 1969 to build the UT General Education Building.  The 1910 postcard (below) might  be the architect's original plan for the building.  With its rounded corner entrance and arches in the front, It's far more beautiful than the final building. (We're still researching this one). 

The Scimitar building was built in 1902 by Napoleon Hill, the "Merchant Prince of Memphis", and was originally named the "Madison Avenue Building.  The architects were Chigazola and Hanker.  The Romanesque structure features a row of lions and fleur-de-lis running beneath the cornice.  The Memphis Press Scimitar called this building home for many years and that is the name that's closely associated with the building now.  It is also sometimes known as The Memphis Light, Gas, and Water Building.  The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.  The builder, Napoleon Hill was the richest man in the city and lived in a most impressive mansion across from the present day Sterick Building.   The building is being renovated into a boutique hotel named Hotel Napoleon.

The grand opening of Sears Crosstown was in 1927.  At that time it was the South's only Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog order plant.  There were 11 floors and 650,000 square feet of floor space.  It was also a Gothic architectural gem.  The building was expanded over the years, but in 1983 it closed, and the building has been vacant sine 1996.  Today there are broken windows and rusty fire escapes, but there is a bright future.  In 2007, the property was purchased and the new owner is expected to renovate the building as a retail facility.  Some of Memphis' most influential organizations, along with some high-profile real estate, construction and design professionals, are now banding together in an effort to reclaim the former glory of the Sears Crosstown facility.  They plan to convert the 1.5 million square foot building into a multi-tenant commercial property with 850,000 leasable square feet.  The mammoth structure's new life is foreseen as a "vertical urban village" .

Sears - 50 years in Memphis ... This booklet was published to celebrate Sear's 50th year in Memphis.  Frank Hemmen, the grandfather of Historic-Memphis.com team member Maureen Thoni White is on page 10 in the 1937 and the 1947 group photos. 

This building was originally built in 1924 and housed the Shelby County Criminal Courts and jail, until 1982.  It's built in a Renaissance style of design.  In the "old days" of 1933, the third floor of the jail was cleared for a single inmate - George "Machine Gun Kelly" Barnes.  In 1968, the third floor was cleared once again for James Earl Ray, the killer of Martin Luther King Jr.    After the courts and Jail moved in 1982, the building reopened as the Archives and Hall of Records building.

The Shelby County Courthouse was built between 1906-1909.  It was the first monumental architecture designed for local government by James Gamble Rodgers, and was meant to rival the buildings of the larger Northern cities.  The opulent building succeeded on all levels.  The neoclassical structure covers an entire city block and features 6 large seated figures - each carved from a single block of Tennessee marble by John Massey Rhind.  The figures represent Wisdom, Justice, Liberty, Authority, Peace and Prosperity.  It also features a portico supported by a row of 17 large Ionic columns.  Up until 1966 this building housed state and local courts in addition to the mayor's offices. The Shelby County Courthouse has been a popular building for several major  movies filmed in Memphis.

Shrine Building  .  66 Monroe

This ornate castle-like structure was built between 1877-1890.  It was originally constructed for the Memphis Brewing Co in 1877.  In 1885 it was purchased by the Tennessee Brewing Co who took advantage of Memphis's pure artesian water which helped make their beer (Goldcrest) the largest seller in the South.  The brewery was enlarged in 1890 to it's present size.  It closed in 1954 and the building remained vacant for 50 years.  The building was added to the the National Register in 1980.  There have been plans to renovate, but all have fallen apart.  It was recently purchased by developer Billy Orgel and will become the centerpiece of a $27.5 million residential development that begins construction in the fall of 2015.

* Memphis Theatres have their own comprehensive coverage on another section of this website >  Click here

Built in 1965, 100 N. Main, at 37 stories, is the tallest building in Memphis.  Designed by Robert L. Hall, it's a focal point of the city skyline.  It's tenant base consists primarily of attorneys, title companies, and various other professionals, but in January 2012, only 30% of the building was occupied.  For years, the building was crowned with an illuminated "UP Bank" sign.  The sign was dismantled in 2005 when Union Planters National Bank  was acquired by Regions Bank.  When the building opened, there was a revolving restaurant atop the main roof. This restaurant operated under several different owners, but is currently vacant. In their 1986 book architects Eugene J. Johnson and Robert D. Russell, Jr. called 100 N. Main "one of the least interesting" downtown structures.

* Van Vleet Drugs and Peter Van Vleet are covered on another section of this website >  Click here

The YMCA was built in 1909.  President Howard Taft was a special guest at its dedication.  The impressive structure features open arches and a row of gargoyles.  It was recently renovated into the YMCA Lofts which occupy the top 4 floors.  The YMCA remains on the ground floor as a community building-exercise facility.  President Barack Obama made a low-key visit in 2008 when he stopped in for a midnight game of basketball after the debate in Oxford, Mississippi.

The Young Women's Christian Association goes back to 1871.  This building was named the Anne Brinkley Home in 1892 and served as a boarding home for young working women and became the Women's Christian Association's headquarters.  The structure was demolished in 1970.  Interesting:  In the color and black and white photos below, the frieze at the top of the building was removed when the building became the YWCA.

Credits

The Historic-Memphis website does not intentionally post copyrighted photos and material without permission or credit.  On occasion a "non-credited" photo might possibly be posted because we were unable to find a name to give credit.  Because of the nature of our non-commercial, non-profit, educational website, we strongly believe that these photos would be considered "Fair Use.  We have certainly made no monetary gain, although those using this website for historic or Genealogy research have certainly profited.  If by chance, we have posted your copyrighted photo, please contact us, and we'll remove it immediately, or we'll add your credit if that's your choice.  In the past, we have found that many photographers volunteer to have their works included on these pages and we'll  also do that if you contact us with a photo that fits a particular page. 

The "Historic-Memphis" website would like to acknowledge and thank the following for their contributions which helped make this website possible:  Woody Savage for his many 'on call' photos, Google Earth, Memphis Public Library, Memphis University Library, Memphis Law Library, Memphis Commercial Appeal, Memphis Press Scimitar, Shelby County Register of Deeds, Memphis City Schools, Memphis Business Men's Club, Memphis Chamber of Commerce, Memphis City Park Commission, Memphis Film Commission, Carnival Memphis, Memphis Historical Railroad Page, Memphis Heritage Inc, Beale Street Historic District, Cobblestone Historic District, Memphis Historic Districts, Vance Lauderdale Family Archives, Tennessee State Archives, Library of Congress, Kemmons Wilson Family, Richard S. Brashier, Lee Askew, George Whitworth, Woody Savage and many individuals whose assistance is acknowledged on the pages of their contributions.  Special thanks to Memphis Realtor, Joe Spake, for giving us carte blanche access to his outstanding collection of contemporary Memphis photos.

We do not have high definition  copies of the photos on these pages.  If anyone wishes to secure high definition photos,  you'll have to contact the photographer  or the collector.  (To avoid any possibility of contributing to SPAM, we do not maintain a file of email addresses for anyone who contacts us).