Status: Preserved Address: 764 Walker Avenue, Memphis Built: 1928 Architectural Style: Local church vernacular Original Function/Purpose: Church History: Second Congregational Church has been the chapel for LeMoyne-Owen College since the late nineteenth century. The current building by Frank Nesbit and Harold E. Smith is the oldest unaltered church in Memphis designedContinue Reading

Status: Preserved Address: 5668 Poplar Avenue, Memphis Built: 1935-1943 Architectural Style: Cemetery; rustic landscape features in folk tradition Original Function/Purpose: Cemetery History: The Crystal Shrine Grotto (shown here) is one of several constructions designed by Mexican artist Dionicio Rodriguez for the Memorial Park Funeral Home & Cemetery in Memphis. Executed overContinue Reading

Status: Preserved Address: 179 Madison Avenue, Memphis Built: 1902 Architectural Style: Beaux Arts and Romanesque Revival Original Function/Purpose: Commerce History: The Scimitar Building was built by Napoleon Hill, the so-called “Merchant Prince” of Memphis, who was at the time the richest man in the city and owner of the Evening ScimitarContinue Reading

Status: Preserved Address: 993 Roland Street, Memphis Built: 1914, ca. 1925 and 1930 Architectural Style: Jacobean Revival Original Function/Purpose: Education History: This school is one of few examples of seventeenth century Jacobean style architecture in Memphis. The 1914 school was designed by architects Walk C. Jones Sr. and Max Furbringer; additionsContinue Reading

Status: Preserved Address: 810 McLemore Avenue, Memphis Built: 1914 Architectural Style: Vernacular American Four Square and Colonial Revival Original Function/Purpose: Residential History: Dr. Christopher M. Roulhac received his medical degree from Howard University Medical School in 1910 and arrived in Memphis in 1913 with his wife Isabelle. His early medical officesContinue Reading

Status: Preserved Address: 478 Scott Street, Memphis Built: 1955 Architectural Style: Neoclassical Original Function/Purpose: Church History: The present church sanctuary was constructed in 1955, above and around the site of an older edifice. The older building dated from before 1927, serving a congregation of the “Colored Methodist Episcopal Church” in theContinue Reading

Status: Destroyed by fire; delisted April 12, 2022. Address: 975 Peabody Avenue, Memphis Built: 1889-1890 Architectural Style: Queen Anne and Eastlake Original Function/Purpose: Residential   History: In 1890, cotton merchant Newton Copeland Richards moved into his stately new Queen Anne-style home with its rounded porch and circular balcony latticework; the architectContinue Reading

Status: Preserved Address: 1020 Rayner Street, Memphis Built: 1856 Architectural Style: Greek Revival Original Function/Purpose: Residential History: In 1856, Eli Rayner, a scientific farmer, moved his family to a large plot of prime cotton land along the route of the yet-unfinished Memphis and Charleston Railroad, and built this house near whatContinue Reading

Status: Preserved Address: 1034 Audubon Drive, Memphis Built: ca. 1954 Architectural Style: Ranch Original Function/Purpose: Residential History: The Elvis Presley House was still new when the entertainer purchased it for his family in 1956 only weeks after he had recorded “Heartbreak Hotel.” He was able to enjoy it for 13 monthsContinue Reading