IN THE NEWS
AT MEMPHIS HERITAGE
“What’s going on with...?”
This is the first of what will be an ongoing column about historic buildings around Memphis and what their future plans may be.
By Ken Armstrong
April 11, 2005
Ever wonder about that beautiful, interesting building on Front Street at Madison? It has a long, rich history and is definitely a part of Memphis heritage. It also has a future. With the help of local government, University of Memphis Law School Dean Jim Smoot hopes to move the Law School from the main campus to the U.S. Customs House on 1 Front Street.
Photo by Mike Cromer
The building did not always look as it does today. It was originally designed by architect James Hill in 1876 and included two towers. Parts of its original Italian Villa design can still be seen inside the current building. In 1903 architect James Knox Taylor added an addition to the building which can still be seen in the center of the west façade. It was in 1929 that a more radical change took place when the building was enlarged to become a post office. Then Supervising Architect of the Treasury James Alexander Wetmore oversaw the tearing down the tops of the two towers and the enfolding of the old building in a great wall of granite on the north, south and east. This is how the building came to look as it does today.
The original Customs House in a detail from an old postcard.
Jim Smoot sees several reasons the building would make a good home for the University of Memphis School of Law. One is its historic use as a federal courthouse before it was a post office. It is also the right size and in good proximity to current downtown law buildings and law firms. Furthermore, the move will happen whether the Customs House is chosen or a new building is built. The current building on the University of Memphis campus is too small and has flooding problems. According to Smoot, the move to the Customs House would cost about the same as building an entirely new structure.
Jim Smoot hopes that the move will happen within four to five years. It has numerous supporters locally. Senator Bill Frist and Congressman Harold Ford, Jr., have been helpful. The mayors, most of the City Council, the downtown Bar and judges and U. of M. President Shirley Raines are all in favor of the move. However, the building is currently owned and operated by the U.S. Post Office.
It is the hope of Jim Smoot and many others that the University of Memphis School of Law will soon make its home at 1 South Front Street. Let us all hope that this will happen and that this piece of Memphis history will thrive in its new function.