Woodlawn is a historic house in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

.James A. Hoobler, ''A Guide to Historic Nashville, Tennessee'', The History Press, 2008, p. 2

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History

It was built in 1822 for John Nichols. It is an Regency architecture, English regency style home reminiscent of

Middleton Place Middleton Place is a plantation in Dorchester County, along the banks of the Ashley River west of the Ashley and about northwest of downtown Charleston, in the U.S. state of South Carolina. Built in several phases during the 18th and 19th cent ...

near Charleston, South Carolina. After Nichols's daughter Nancy (1808–1844) married Willoughby Williams Jr. (1798–1882), son of

Willoughby Williams Willoughby Williams was an American war veteran and politician from North Carolina.Zella Armstrong, ''Some Tennessee Heroes of the Revolution: Compiled from Pension Statements'', Genealogical Publishing Com, 2009, p. 11/ref>William Stevens Powell ...

and President of the Bank of Tennessee, it became their home.''Lineage Book'', Daughters of the American Revolution, 1936, p. 26

/ref> It is believed that Willoughby Williams Jr. hosted occasional gatherings at Woodlawn with his friends Sam Houston and Andy Jackson. By the 1850s, they moved to their property in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

and their son John Henry Williams, his wife Elizabeth, his young grandson, as well as his youngest son Andrew, moved into the house. Andrew was killed during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

of 1861–1865, and the house was ransacked during the Battle of Nashville on December 15–16, 1864. In 1900, the house was sold to Duncan Kenner. He sold it to Henry B. Richardson in 1916. That year, the eastern wing and pavilion were destroyed to build Woodmont Boulevard, and architect Hugh Roland redesigned it. The Young and Moore families subsequently lived in it until about 1981. Later, in an effort to save the historic property, two young Nashville entrepreneurs (Jim Chandler and Gary Ganick) obtained a zoning change for the property. Then, condominiums were built on the south lawns and the house was converted into an office. It was listed 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 ...

on November 21, 1978.

Bibliography

*Samuel D. Smith, ''Woodlawn Mansion, Nashville, Tennessee: History, Architecture and Archaeology'', Northern Telecom, 1985, 130 pages.Google Books
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References

Houses in Nashville, Tennessee Houses completed in 1822 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee National Register of Historic Places in Nashville, Tennessee 1822 establishments in Tennessee {{Tennessee-struct-stub