The Burwell building is situated on the landmark corner of Gay Street and Clinch Avenue in

Knoxville 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' ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

above the majestic Tennessee Theatre, and is the oldest of Knoxville’s historic skyscrapers. Views from the Burwell include the

Sunsphere The Sunsphere located in World’s Fair Park in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, is a high hexagonal steel truss structure, topped with a gold-colored glass sphere that served as the symbol of the 1982 World's Fair. Design Designed by the Knox ...

, Krutch Park, Gay Street, the

Women%27s Basketball Hall of Fame The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame honors those who have contributed to the sport of women's basketball. The Hall of Fame opened in 1999 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. It is the only facility of its kind dedicated to all levels of women's ba ...

, Clingmans Dome, Mount Le Conte, and the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other name ...

Design

The Burwell was designed by the architectural firm of

Richards, McCarty & Bulford Richards, McCarty & Bulford was an American architectural firm. The General Services Administration has called the firm the "preeminent" architectural firm of the city of Columbus, Ohio. A number of the firm's works are listed on the National R ...

and built by

George A. Fuller George A. Fuller (1851 – December 14, 1900) was an American architect often credited as being the "inventor" of modern skyscrapers and the modern contracting system. Early life and career Fuller was born in Templeton, Massachusetts, near W ...

Construction, known for the erection of early skyscrapers. It is built in the

Second Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

architecture style. The Burwell was originally completed in 1908, and the portion of the building that sits above the Tennessee Theatre was added in 1928. The Burwell was the tallest building in Knoxville prior to the construction of

the Holston The Holston is a condominium high-rise located at 531 South Gay Street in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Completed in 1913 as the headquarters for the Holston National Bank, the fourteen-story building was the tallest in Knoxville until t ...

in 1913. The Burwell lobby entrance is at 602 South Gay Street adjacent to the Tennessee Theatre, and the iconic theater sign is affixed near the southwest corner of the building. The L-shaped building features yellow brick on its street-adjacent facades and red brick elsewhere. The building exterior typifies the

style. The ground floor, mezzanine, and second floor form a base, with pilasters from the ground to the mezzanine topped by second floor entablatures. A cornice divides the second floor from the third floor, a

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

belt course separates the ninth from the tenth floor, and atop the tenth floor is a

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

above a heavy cornice with interwoven large and small

dentils A dentil (from Lat. ''dens'', a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice. Dentils are found in ancient Greek and Roman architecture, and also in later styles such as Neoclassical, Federal, Georgian Rev ...

. Outward-facing windows are arranged in single or double bays and open by rotation around a central axis. Some rear-facing windows feature antique pebbled “chicken wire” glass. The lobby floor and elevator landings are laid using

Tennessee marble Tennessee marble is a type of crystalline limestone found only in East Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. Long esteemed by architects and builders for its pinkish-gray color and the ease with which it is polished, this stone has been ...

, and the lobby walls are covered in

Carrara marble Carrara marble, Luna marble to the Romans, is a type of white or blue-grey marble popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It has been quarried since Roman times in the mountains just outside the city of Carrara in the province of Massa ...

. A vintage post office box remains in the lobby with a mail chute from the upper floors.

History

In the 1790s, a two-story log structure on the site of the Burwell hosted classes for Blount College, considered by some to be the first co-educational university, and which later evolved into the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

. The building itself was originally built and owned by the Knoxville Banking and Trust Company. Burwell Steel Frame

The steel frame structure was completed in 1907, after which Maud the mule was hoisted as part of the topping off ceremony attended by thousands of people. Maud became the construction crew mascot after frequently hanging around to watch the building construction, and she was named after the ornery female mule in the comic strip

And Her Name Was Maud ''And Her Name Was Maud'' is a comic strip by Frederick Burr Opper. It first appeared in the Hearst newspapers on July 24, 1904.George Polley the “human fly,” who took less than 30 minutes to climb the 166 foot structure. In 1912, the building was acquired by the Southern Railway Company, who established their Knoxville ticket office in the prior bank lobby. In 1917, the C.B. Atkin Realty Company purchased the building, naming it the Burwell after the family name of Mary Atkin (née Burwell). The Burwell was purchased in 1981 by Dick Broadcasting Company, and it was added to 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 ...

in 1982. Over the years, the Burwell has been home to many prominent businesses, including the now defunct Knoxville Mercury and

Metro Pulse ''Metro Pulse'' was a weekly newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1991 by Ashley Capps, Rand Pearson, Ian Blackburn, and Margaret Weston, and was a member of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. In 2007, ''Metro Pulse'' ...

newspapers. In 2007, the upper floors were converted from office space to condominiums. The Burwell’s ground floor faces Gay Street and is currently home to Clancy’s Tavern, the Burwell lobby, and the entrance to the Tennessee Theatre. Businesses are located on the mezzanine and second floors of the Burwell, and the upper eight floors are residential.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burwell Bank buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee Skyscrapers in Knoxville, Tennessee Residential buildings completed in 1908 Renaissance Revival architecture in Tennessee 1908 establishments in Tennessee National Register of Historic Places in Knoxville, Tennessee Residential skyscrapers in Tennessee

Design

History

See also

References