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Memphis Heritage regrets the publication of incorrect information concerning the future of the Union Ave. Methodist Church in our September/ October Keystone. We apologize to Union Ave. Methodist Church and Redeemer Presbyterian Church for this inaccurate information regarding their organizations. Memphis Heritage will print updates regarding the Union Ave. Methodist Church as information becomes available.
New Chick-fil-A store won't destroy church facade
By Carla Underwood (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
Thursday, November 13, 2008
When a new restaurant opens on Union Avenue next year, it will share a lot with a familiar face.
Officials at the Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A have determined that they will be able to preserve the facade of the Cumberland Presbyterian Center at 1978 Union. The company released renderings of the new restaurant to be constructed next to the facade and tower, which will be used as a front for an outdoor dining area.
Facade of Presbyterian center will front an outdoor dining area.
The project made news earlier this year when local preservationists tried to stop demolition of the Cumberland building, urging Chick-fil-A to instead consider adaptive reuse of the space. Chick-fil-A, which operates 11 restaurants in Memphis and 1,340 nationwide, purchased the Union property from Cumberland Presbyterian Church in July for $1.3 million.
The center, built in 1951, served as the international headquarters and archives of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, a denomination of about 50,000 founded in 1810 in Dickson County. The church's headquarters and archives were relocated to Varnas Drive in Cordova last spring.
A new structure housing the restaurant will be built on Union adjacent to the facade and outdoor area. Designers came up with the concept after both sides concluded that adaptive reuse would be cost prohibitive.
"It's a good compromise," said Don Perry, Chick-fil-A vice president of public relations. "It will be a delicate process to salvage and maintain that whole front structure, but the additional cost, time and effort, we think, is worth it."
"The most attractive part of the building, the part that grabbed everyone's emotions, obviously, was the front of the building, so we are working to save that entire front wall," said Perry.
Although only part of the building will be spared, Memphis Heritage executive director June West, who spearheaded the campaign to save the building, considers the outcome a victory for everyone. West and other supporters -- through a barrage of e-mails, calls, and letters to company officials -- sought to prevent the loss of what she called "one of the last historic buildings of its kind on Union."
The compromise "is not perfect, but it's better than losing everything," West said. "There are preservation purists who see this as a defeat, but I find it important that it gives some streetscape integrity that we would not have had if we had lost the whole thing."
Pending final approval from the city, construction is set to begin in February.
News about the Cumberland Presbyterian Archives Building
Memphis Heritage has had two successful meetings with representatives from Chick-fil-a over the past several weeks to discuss plans for the union ave. site. as many of you know, memphis heritage was allowed to visit the entire building with 4 local architects to review the possibility of cfa adaptively reusing the building as their restaurant. after the visit our architects realized this would not be possible based on the construction of the building; so we have been looking at ways to save the components of the building.
a plan has been suggested to save the tower and the facade along union ave. with the restaurant behind this area. while this plan does not save the entire building, we feel this is the best alternative to losing the entire structure. representatives from cumberland presbyterian told memphis heritage they would demolish the building if the cfa deal fell through so they would no longer have to deal with the preservation issue. they would then be selling just the land parcel.
cfa went to work to develop new drawings with this concept in mind. as of last friday, june 6, we have had meetings with cfa and the office of planning and development and have great hopes that this new plan will move forward. cfa would have an outside eating area behind the facade with plans for the new structure to be compatible with the existing building. their plan would be to use salvaged bricks from the back part of the building to use in retaining walls, etc. the willingness of cfa to come up with an alternative for this site shows their interest in working with the local community and developing a compromise that will work. after finally getting to work with the cfa staff we have found them to be tremendously supportive of our preservation and community interests.
we will keep you posted on any new information when it is available. once again thank you all for your tremendous support. without your emails and phone calls none of this would have been possible.
"thanks for helping us give our past a future!"
Memphis Heritage is proud to be a partner in Heart of the Arts Memphis !
This article is an excerpt from the 2006 Annual Report for the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis. Used with permission.
Community Foundation of Greater Memphis
Memphis Heritage to get new Headquarters — Donation of Historic Home Adds Momentum to MHI Plans for 2006/07
Memphis Heritage has something major to celebrate during this year’s National Preservation Month, May 1 through 31, 2006, a new home!
MHI will soon have a new address thanks to the very generous donation of a major home in the Historic East End Neighborhood in Midtown Memphis. The property at the North East corner of Madison and Edgewood will become the new headquarters and offices for Memphis Heritage later this summer. Mr. Hal B. Howard Jr., a Memphis native, is gifting the property to serve as the home for Memphis’ largest Historic Preservation organization.
Memphis Heritage, a 501 ( c) 3 non profit agency was founded in 1975 to educate and coordinate individuals and groups to save, improve, reuse, and maintain architecturally and historically significant buildings, open spaces, streets, neighborhoods, parks, and cultural artifacts of Shelby County, Tennessee.
The new mhi headquarters will be named Howard Hall in honor of Mr. Howard’s family’s heritage. The headquarters will house a research library named in memory of Nash Buckingham, a local writer, outdoorsman and a long time friend of Mr. Howard’s father. As a legacy to West J. Crawford, Mr. Howard’s grandfather, an upstairs room will be named the Crawford Suite.
As plans are finalized for the move, watch for more exciting news about this most amazing gift and what it means to the future of Memphis Heritage and its role in supporting the history of Memphis through its preservation efforts.
Chisca Hotel faces uncertain future
by Ken Armstrong
The Chisca Hotel stands eight stories tall at 272 South Main. It may be an eyesore now but it was once an impressive building and has the potential to be one again. Currently owned by Church of God in Christ (COGIC), it has a 93-year history but its future restoration seems in grave doubt.
The Chisca, not on a level with the Peabody or Gayoso, does have wonderful, interesting architectural elements and a place in Memphis history. Built in 1913, it stood as the largest hotel in its district. However, it was more utilitarian than luxury. The authors of Memphis: An Architectural Guide point out that “it was clearly built on the cheap.” But, “on the cheap” in the 1900s was far better than most upscale new build today.
The hotel’s historic significance comes partially from its connection to Elvis. From 1949–56, its mezzanine was the broadcast base for WHBQ radio’s “Red, Hot, and Blue” program. It was from there that Dewey Phillips broadcast Elvis’ first record on July 7, 1954. Elvis’ first radio interview was also conducted in the hotel by Phillips.
The building was donated by the Snowden family to the Church of God In Christ (COGIC) for $10 in 1971. cogic acquired the hotel along with other downtown properties with the intention of creating a group of developments to be called Saint Center. These plans never materialized but cogic made the hotel their headquarters from the early 1980s to the late 1990s when it was abandoned because of its expensive upkeep in favor of Mason Temple. The building has since been neglected and fallen into disrepair. Fines of over $500,000 are owed by COGIC due to anti-neglect.
Current plans for the hotel have elicited a mixed reaction from preservationists. In June 2005, cogic announced plans for an $80 million joint venture with the Florida-based development firm Group One Productions and Area Hotels, llc. Including four square blocks surrounding the hotel, the plan would convert it into a five-star, 150-room Hilton Garden Inn. According to Jeff Sanford of the Center City Commission (CCC), this would fill a need for more high-end hotel space within walking distance of the Cook Convention Center and attract more conventions to the city. However, these plans did not materialize.
A new plan recently submitted to Land Use Control shows part of the Chisca gone in their sketch, raising suspicions among local preservationists. Memphis Heritage and the South Main Neighborhood Association is opposed to demolition of the Chisca and are supporting a plan that would include its restoration.
Its future uncertain, the Chisca Hotel sits on South Main as it has for years, derelict and decaying. But hopefully development will take place to bring back its former glory.
If you want to get involved in saving the Historic Chisca, e-mail June West at mailto:jwest@memphisheritage.org or call 529-9828 to be part of the Save the Chisca committee.