Greystone, also called the Camp House, is a prominent historic home in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state' ...

, that houses the studios and offices of

WATE-TV WATE-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Nexstar Media Group. The station's studios are located in the Greystone mansion on North Broadway/ SR 33/ SR 71/ US 441, and i ...

. It is an imposing structure, and is on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. The mansion is located at 1306 Broadway.

History

Major

Eldad Cicero Camp Eldad Cicero Camp, Jr. (August 1, 1839 – November 21, 1920) was an American coal tycoon, attorney and philanthropist, active primarily in Knoxville, Tennessee, and the vicinity. He was president of the Coal Creek Coal Company, president of th ...

began constructing his home in 1885. Architect Alfred B. Mullet designed the mansion in the

Richardson Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesq ...

style. Mullett had previously designed the

Customs House A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting ...

building in downtown Knoxville. The home is two and a half stories, with a three-story tower in the front. The exterior of the home is sheathed in stone from a quarry in

Lake City, Tennessee Rocky Top (formerly Coal Creek and Lake City) is a city in Anderson and Campbell counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, northwest of Knoxville. The population was 1,781 at the 2010 census. Most of the community is in Anders ...

. The home contains elaborate hand-carved mantels from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Each room is paneled in a different type of wood. The heads of windows include stained glass panels, and 22 different types of

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

are used in the house. The site also includes a

carriage house A carriage house, also called a remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack. In Great Britain the farm building was called a cart shed. These typically were open ...

.''Knoxville: Fifty Landmarks''. (Knoxville: The Knoxville Heritage Committee of the Junior League of Knoxville, 1976), page 8. Major Camp was born in Ohio, served in the

Union army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, made Knoxville his home and was appointed a

U.S. District Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...

by President

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

. The Camp family used the home until 1935. When Camp's heirs were no longer able to maintain the house, they sold some of the furnishings and subdivided the mansion into apartments. The condition of the building declined during its rental use, until

purchased the building in 1965 at a cost of $75,000. Over the next two years, the mansion was restored and renovated for use by the television station. The restoration and renovation process cost $1.5 million. The first floor of the building was preserved and restored largely in its original form. A new addition on the back of the building housed the station's studios. In April 1973, Greystone was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

References

External links

WATE-TV: History of Greystone and WATE-TV
{{Registered Historic Places Houses in Knoxville, Tennessee Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee Houses completed in 1890 Alfred B. Mullett buildings National Register of Historic Places in Knoxville, Tennessee