An MTSU Student’s Guide to Architectural Attractions
Oaklands Mansion in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, is a historic home built in sections over the course of about forty-five years from 1815 to 1860. It started out as a simple one-and-a-half-story Federal style home with just two rooms on the main floor in the late 1810s. A second Federal style structure was added in the 1820s, this time with two full stories. Then a full second floor and a two-story rear addition were added to the original structure in the 1830s. Finally, a grand, two-story, Italianate style section was added at the front from 1859 to 1860, completely transforming the look of the house. Each section displays the style, materials, and building techniques common at the time it was constructed. Now a museum, the house is an excellent history lesson on Antebellum Middle Tennessee through architecture. This is just one specific example, but there are many other historic buildings to see and tour in Murfreesboro. For students at MTSU, the town’s historic architecture offers both fun things to do in free time and opportunities to learn local history. In this guide, I will list several historic buildings to tour in and near Murfreesboro as well as some of the styles of architecture that can be seen on East Main Street, with specific examples included.
Historic Building Tours:
· Bradley Academy Museum and Cultural Center
The Bradley Academy first opened in the early 1800s, but this particular building, which served as an African American school beginning in 1918, was built in 1917. It is located at 415 South Academy Street in Murfreesboro, and is now a local history museum open Tuesday through Saturday.
· Cannonsburgh Village
Cannonsburgh Village is a collection of historic buildings at 312 South Front Street in Murfreesboro that includes a blacksmith shop, caboose, doctor’s office, general store, gristmill, houses, a school, and a wedding chapel; all from approximately 1830 to 1930. The village also features a collection of antique farm equipment. Self-guided tours of the village are free, guided tours are available for a small price, and the grounds and several buildings can be reserved for events.
· Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County
The Heritage Center at 225 West College Street in Murfreesboro is not in a historic building, but they do offer tours of the town square discussing the local architecture and walking to historic buildings nearby.
· Oaklands Mansion
As I discussed earlier, Oaklands Mansion is a historic home built and expanded from 1815 to 1860. It is an excellent example of an Antebellum Murfreesboro home and Federal to Italianate architecture, as it was built in sections over the course of forty-five years. The home, at 901 North Maney Avenue, is now a museum open for tours Tuesday through Sunday. Admission for students with IDs is just $6.00. The museum also puts on several special events throughout the year including an Oktoberfest and the Christmas Candlelight Tour of Homes.
· Sam Davis Home
The Sam Davis Home is a Greek Revival style Antebellum home and museum. It is not in Murfreesboro, but nearby in Smyrna. The home was built around 1810 and remodeled in 1850. It was the home of Sam Davis, a Confederate courier who was executed as a spy, and is widely known as the “Boy Hero of the Confederacy.” The museum is located at 1399 Sam Davis Road on 168 acres, and also includes several other historic buildings. It is open for tours Monday through Saturday, February through December. Admission is just $6.00 for students with their IDs.
Other Historic Buildings to See:
For students interested in seeing a wider range of historic architectural styles, I would recommend taking a walk down East Main Street from campus to the square. Along this one street you can see examples of numerous styles including Greek Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Queen Anne, Folk Victorian, Colonial Revival, Neoclassical, Tudor Revival, and others. Here are just a few of the many examples of historic architecture on East Main Street:
· Greek Revival
This style was extremely popular in Middle Tennessee from about 1825 to 1860. Some of the most notable characteristics of the style include a low-pitched gabled (or occasionally hipped) roof and a prominent entry porch (portico) or full-width porch of either one or two stories, with large square or rounded columns. Simple, rectangular windows, a band of trim just below the eaves, large chimneys on the sides or gable ends, and front doors surrounded by sidelights and a transom window are also common features. The Clark-Goodman House (below) was built in 1858, and displays all of these features.
· Italianate
This style was very popular in Middle Tennessee from about 1850 to 1880. Common characteristics of the style include a low-pitched hipped or gabled roof, a band of trim with decorative brackets just below the eaves, and tall, narrow, arched windows and doorways with elaborate trim. Although front porches are also common, they are typically much less prominent than in the Greek Revival style. The Italianate home below was built in 1869 or 1870 for Joseph B. Palmer, a lawyer, legislator, and retired Confederate general. It displays all these characteristics including windows with both rounded and flattened arches.
· Second Empire
This style was never very common in Middle Tennessee, but it was most popular from about 1870 to 1885. The most notable feature of the style is the mansard roof, which is made up of two slopes; one very steeply pitched and typically with dormer windows, and one (at the top) very low-piched or even flat. Besides the roof, it shares most of its features with the Italianate style. These include a band of trim with decorative brackets just below the eaves, less prominent porches, and tall, narrow, arched windows and doorways. The 18-room, 8,000 square foot Second Empire mansion below is one of only two examples of the style in Murfreesboro, and one of the few remaining in Middle Tennessee. It was commissioned by Ingram Blanks Collier III, a farmer, cotton broker, and Murfreesboro mayor, in 1873. It features all the common characteristics of the style.
· Queen Anne
This style was extremely popular in Middle Tennessee from about 1880 to 1910. Common characteristics of the style include a steep-pitched hipped and/or gabled roof, asymmetry, windows of various shapes and sizes, wall shingles, bay windows, towers or turrets, and one-story entry, full-width, or wraparound porches with turned spindle posts in early examples and classical columns in later examples. Early examples typically feature elaborate woodwork or masonry, while later examples typically feature simpler woodwork and masonry with some Colonial Revival influence. The Byrns-Roberts House (below) was built for Charles H. Byrns, a successful hardware merchant, in 1903. It was designed by Nashville architect Thomas J. Moore, and displays typical Queen Anne features such as the tower, wraparound porch, and asymmetrical design along with Colonial Revival porch columns.
· Folk Victorian
This style was very popular in Middle Tennessee from about 1880 to 1915. Common characteristics of the style include a simple basic structure with a gabled roof and little, if any, ornamentation, and a one-story porch (or porches) with turned spindle posts and decorations, or other elaborate woodwork. As with most Folk Victorian homes, there is little information available on the home below. However, you can see that it displays the common characteristics of the style, as it is a fairly simple brick structure with little ornamentation besides the spindlework on the wraparound front porch.
·Richardsonian Romanesque
This style was never common in Middle Tennessee, but it was most popular from about 1890 to 1900. Common characteristics of the style include heavy brick and/or stone masonry, terra cotta trim, porches with massive columns and arches, asymmetry, towers, and rectangular windows with some arched windows, typically in the upper stories. The home below was built for former mayor J. T. Rathers in 1898, and displays most of the common characteristics of the style.
· Colonial Revival
This style was extremely popular in Middle Tennessee from about 1890 to 1955. Common characteristics of the style include a side gabled or hipped roof with a low to medium pitch, a band of trim (often with decorative brackets) just below the eaves, a symmetrical or nearly symmetrical design, a large one-story front porch with classical columns, and large, rectangular windows. Later examples often lack a front porch, but have an ornate pediment above the front door with decorative columns on either side. There is not much information available on the home below, but it displays the typical characteristics of an early example of the style.
· Neoclassical
This style was very popular in Middle Tennessee from about 1895 to 1950. Common characteristics of the style include a side gabled or hipped roof with a low to medium pitch, a band of trim with decorative brackets just below the eaves, a symmetrical or nearly symmetrical design, a large two-story front porch with massive classical columns, and large, rectangular windows. It is very similar in many ways to the Colonial Revival style, but the porch columns’ height and size typically distinguish between the two. The Neoclassical mansion below was built in 1913 for the Darrows family, who previously lived at Oaklands Mansion. The 7,500 square foot house was designed specifically with entertaining in mind, and a ballroom on the third floor.
· Tudor Revival
This style was popular in Middle Tennessee from about 1900 to 1940. Common characteristics of the style include a steep-pitched roof with a complicated roofline and numerous gables, windows with many panes, prominent chimneys, asymmetry, and brick, stone, and/or false half-timbered walls (rough timber frames filled with stucco, brick, or occasionally stone.) The apartment building below was built in the early 1900s and is known as Gladstone. It features almost all of the common characteristics of the style.
