Kyle seeks state historians’ help to save Nineteenth Century Club

NASHVILLE — State Senate Minority Leader Jim Kyle has asked state historians to help with efforts to save the Nineteenth Century Club mansion on Union Avenue from demolition by its new owners.

Kyle, D-Memphis, said he met with the head of the Tennessee Historical Commission after receiving numerous calls from constituents about the 106-year- old structure’s planned destruction.

“I trust the judgment of the people who devote their lives to studying the history of Memphis and Tennessee,” Kyle said. “What they are saying is that this is one of the most historically significant residential buildings in the state, and I want to be sure the Tennessee Historical Commission stays abreast of developments in Memphis.”

Patrick McIntyre, the commission’s executive director, said there is “no authority to my knowledge to stop the demolition based on historic preservation law.” But he said he has written the new owners to let them know about incentives the state can offer, including rehabilitation tax credits and other historic preservation programs.

“We continue to monitor the situation closely,” McIntyre said Tuesday. “We have written the owners to ask to communicate with them. It’s an extremely important landmark, and we hope it can be saved. I am also continuing to stay in touch with Memphis Heritage on this issue and have been following this since the sale.

“It’s a local issue. Obviously, it’s playing out in court now.”

Four current and former members of the Nineteenth Century Club won a temporary injunction in Chancery Court last Wednesday to temporar- ily block demolition of the mansion at 1433 Union. Their lawsuit contends club leaders auctioned off the property in January without gaining approval of members. Further proceedings will be set later.

Union Avenue Group LLC acquired the property for about $550,000 in the January auction. Arkansas restaurant owners Shon and Dana Lin are the firm’s principals.

Contractors filed for a demolition permit last Tuesday, and a large elm tree on the site was downed the next day.

The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, but that also does not protect it from demolition. The home was built in 1907 by Memphis lumber magnate Rowland Jones Darnell and was acquired in 1926 by the Nineteenth Century Club, a philanthropic women’s organization. It is one of the last of the mansions that once lined Union Avenue.