Chattanoogans have become used to watching new downtown area hotels rise from the ground up, but the new Waymark Hotel has taken shape from inside out.
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That is because the historic Chattanooga Bank Building, as it was known for decades, has been restored, remodeled and refurbished into a Tapestry Collection by Hilton hotel. As a result, some of the finer elements of architectural adornment typically put in banks of old remain to offer what hotel officials hope is a unique experience for travelers.

“I think people will definitely appreciate the historic aspect of this hotel, including all the original elements from 1927 that are incorporated into the building,” said hotel director of sales Katie Cox as she offered a tour a couple of weeks before its formal opening in late January. “That includes an original letter drop, elevator doors, the elevator dials and Tennessee white marble throughout,” she said.

And some of the other aesthetic features that now might draw the most eyes - like two bank vault doors where a basement speakeasy bar will be - were originally put in just for function.

 But there is no doubt this building on East Eighth Street between Market and Broad streets is uniquely a hotel, with people checking in where checks were cashed, and maybe a passport instead of a passbook now in a traveler’s pocket.

Ms. Cox said the hotel - which features 148 rooms of uniquely varying shapes and sizes and several meeting spaces - also has a unique name strictly attached to this Chattanooga hotel. A waymark is a directional sign on a trail for a hiker, and the hotel is, yes, banking on it to be a popular destination for the various out-of-town visitors who come to Chattanooga to enjoy outdoors activities in the nearby mountains and waterways.
“We are looking for the urban mountaineer,” she said. “We are looking for the hiker, rock climber and mountain biker. And when you are here, you can immerse yourself into being a local.”

That draw is emphasized through some earth-tone color accents throughout the hotel’s rooms and public areas, as well as some outdoorsy photos and artwork that grace the walls. This is also made evident by the larger-than-typical exercise room with multiple pieces of equipment.

But the hotel also has plenty of draw for the true urbanite as well, primarily through its historic and architectural detail that might let one feel as if he or she is in Manhattan or another big American city. Historic preservationists might find the hotel as appealing as hikers, and Chattanoogans who have admired or frequented the building over the years might even be tempted to stay there.

Of course, it is not the only hotel in a historic building in Chattanooga. The current Read House building has been around since 1926 and has always been a hotel, and the old Park Hotel near the Hamilton Courthouse was also refurbished and recently reopened after being an office building with a mid-century covering for several decades, among others.

The Chattanooga Bank Building opened amid much local fanfare on Oct. 26, 1927, as the Chattanooga Savings Bank. A key bank official was Z.W. Wheland, and he chose R.H. Hunt to be the architect because Mr. Wheland had also been involved as a civic volunteer with the construction of the Hamilton County Courthouse and Memorial Auditorium and liked Mr. Hunt’s work on those structures. 

By 1929, the bank merged with First National Bank, and the lobby area was remodeled. The bank was unfortunately a victim of the Great Depression a few years later, but the building remained for decades and now appears ready to be around for many more years with its new polish and use. 

Mr. Hunt, incidentally, also had his office in the Chattanooga Bank Building for a period, as have people such as the late Coca-Cola bottling magnate Cartter Lupton. In more recent decades before the building closed as new development opportunities there were sought, tenants included noted portrait artist Gordon Wetmore in a 10th floor penthouse, the Clements Jewelers clock and watch repair business, and the offices of identical twin lawyers Chamberlain McAllester and Robert McAllester. On the lobby level were Rone Regency Jewelers and a small Mediterranean-style restaurant.

Among the new features of the building and pointed out by Ms. Cox are an expanded lobby with intricate ceiling molding work touched up and recreated by local sculptor Aubrey Charnell, plenty of comfortable lobby seating, a central check-in area, a grab-and-go food station in the lobby and several meeting spaces. The latter includes a second-floor parlor space and one with the building’s uniquely large arched windows in view and overnight rooms attached.

Some glassed-off spaces near the lobby will also be leased for complementary retail uses.

The outside terra cotta that had been damaged had to be replaced in places using a laser scan, she said. 

New elevators were also put in place, although some of the original doors remained, with others built to replicate them. The original ones have the appearance of being more wood like.

The old terrazzo and tile floors and lobby-accessible stairways remain, as does the mail chute. Some of the floors in the hotel rooms have very minor markings or are slightly imperfect due to years of use, and Ms. Cox said officials hope that adds to the charm of the building. 

Also remaining is the sign showing the old office and business rooms of the former tenants of recent decades.

One new feature that almost appears to complement perfectly the older features is the Iris Rooftop Bar, which HK Architects and principal Alex Reyland worked into the rooftop area where HVAC systems had been to give the building an 11th floor.

It might give an additional mountaintop experience as well to someone out climbing a local mountain or rock during the day. “It is the highest rooftop bar in downtown Chattanooga, offering brunch on Saturday and Sunday with a DJ,” Ms. Cox said. She added that the setting is especially great at night, with views of the area mountains and some of the other downtown buildings designed by R.H. Hunt. It features outdoor seating areas as well as windows that open in the warmer season. It also has a long bar, with countertops and other features being hoisted up there recently by crane.

Ms. Cox, who said she moved to Chattanooga about a year ago to work at this building owned and developed by HKS Holdings of Milwaukee and being remodeled by Grace Construction, has enjoyed her time here so far. While trying to get this building ready for adventurers and other guests, she has enjoyed her own new adventure, she hinted.

“It’s been a blast,” said the University of South Florida graduate. “This is the second hotel I’ve opened, and watching everything come to life the last few months has been very rewarding.”

by John Shearer

A familiar building for those traveling down Lookout Mountain, as well as through St. Elmo, is the former Wann Funeral Home. For many residents of that part of Chattanooga and beyond, the building at 4000 Tennessee Avenue is well known inside and out. Not only have many people zoomed past it in their daily travels, but it was also a place to stop and receive comfort and service when their own lives were halted due to the death of a loved one. Countless distinguished Chattanoogans and all kinds of people have passed through there on their way to their final resting place.

 The historic building - part of which dates to the 1930s - is adding a new chapter as well, as it has been for lease recently. The Florida-based property company, Strategic Sites/Clifford Commercial, has been advertising the expansive brick building with adequate parking in the back.

 A promotion for the property at the company’s website says, “Terrific opportunity for restaurant user. This building is available with outdoor patio space and a blank slate for the restaurant entrepreneur. On-site parking is available. Site is well-situated in heart of St Elmo.” The leasing agent is John Jewell.

A look at the former parlor’s history shows that Wann Funeral Home began leasing the building in 1964 and by 1965 had completed the addition of a chapel wing on the south end. The new part was designed by Rufus Holt of Selmon T. Franklin Associates, reports said.

This was said to be at a time when funeral homes were beginning to locate away from the heart of downtown Chattanooga.

The structure’s beginning also dealt with paying tribute to someone who had passed, but not through the services of a funeral home. In 1937 the building opened as the James Craig Lodor American Legion Post No. 148 in memory of Lt. Lodor. He was one of the first Chattanoogans to give his life in the World War I effort when he was killed fighting along the Marne River in France in July 1918.

The post was first located beginning in 1922 in a modest lodge clubhouse with an expansive porch on the north side of the Incline Railway. By the time the new clubhouse was opened across the street and closer to Forest Hills Cemetery in 1937, the post had around 85 members.

During that dedication ceremony, as the Great Depression continued, State Legion Commander Tom Morris spoke. He praised the new facility, telling the members, “You are making history in 1937, just as you did in 1917 and 1918.”

Over the years, members gathered there during happier times for meetings and events as well as during somber times, when they found their younger military comrades having to fight in World War II and Korea.

At the time the American Legion post began leasing the facility to the Wann firm and using a smaller place nearby, Jimmy Wann was running the funeral home. Both his grandfather, J.H. Wann, and father, Paul Wann, had been in the undertaking business, but they met premature deaths, which perhaps gave the family added compassion for dealing with grief in their business.

James H. Wann, who was only 57, was in a car with his wife, Florence, near Loughman, Fla., in the inland part of the state in March 1919 when a fast-moving roadster passed them and caused an accident. The driver of the other vehicle apparently left the scene before authorities arrived. Mr. Wann’s wife was injured.  
 
In 1928, her son, Paul H. Wann, died from what was believed to be a stroke or aneurysm after not feeling well while being downtown and taking a room at the Read House to rest. He was only 40 years old and was said to be friendly and compassionate toward people and families needing funeral home services.

Paul’s wife, Ethel Creekmore Wann, then ran the business as a pioneering woman entrepreneur before sons James C. “Jimmy” and Paul H. Wann Jr. helped take it over. Jimmy Wann was president when the St. Elmo site began being used.

Wann Funeral Home started around the turn of the 20th century when the elder J.H. Wann took over the Sharp Funeral Home, located closer to the Georgia line. Later mergers and moves resulted in the business being located at 541 McCallie Avenue about the time of World War II. A newspaper caption below a 1937 photograph of the firm said it had a fleet of 12 Cadillacs and Packards for use.

In the late 1950s, the business moved into the former Central Baptist Church facility near McCallie Avenue and Palmetto Street before later securing the additional St. Elmo site.

Jimmy Wann - the father of Broadway musical actor Jimmy Wann and former Chattanooga Times journalist Libby Wann Duff - sold the business to John Hargis in 1972 but stayed involved with the funeral home for a number of years before his death in 1984.

Cade and Shawn Williamson of the former Williamson Funeral Home family in Soddy-Daisy, and who also operate Legacy Funeral Home, purchased the building in 2013 before closing and selling it in 2020, old news reports say. At the time, the firm was looking for another location.

And now the old building - which has a marker on its grounds honoring World War I soldiers - sits waiting on a new tenant, possibly a restaurant, which might be a more carefree line of work than being a mortuary. Perhaps a play on the building’s past use could be included in a restaurant name, such as calling it Doughboy’s Doughnuts, Death by Chocolate, the Die-Ner, the Crematory Creamery or the Chicken Casket Basket.

Regardless, the building that first was a home for military veterans who served their country has attractively stood like a proud brick sentinel on a slightly elevated spot at the foot of Lookout Mountain for decades.

by John Shearer

With its stone facing, the Lookout Mountain Elementary School at 321 North Bragg Avenue blends in almost seamlessly with many of the other homes and churches on the mountain. 
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Different from most of the other Hamilton County schools that are brick or (in the case of those from the mid-20th century) feature plenty of multi-paned glass windows, the school has also distinguished itself educationally as a Tennessee Reward School.

As we look at the history of this school that is praised inside and out, a glance at some old newspaper articles reveals that the building is not too far from being 100 years old. Actually, as the school states on its logo, LMS dates to 1878.

According to a pamphlet history written about the school and Lookout Mountain in 2003 by the late former student Dyer Butterfield Jr., a small red school building with two classrooms was used as the first school. It was at what is now the southwest corner of Forrest Avenue and Scenic Highway.

The Town of Lookout Mountain operated the school in those days, and, in 1900, a nice structure using stone from the same quarry as that used for the Point Park entrance and for some homes by the top of the Incline Railway was completed on Bragg Avenue. It was located just south of where the original part of the current school was built but was torn down when the new school was built.

At the time, Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church was located where the original part of the current school is. By the 1920s, as the mountain and student populations were growing, a white house across Bragg Avenue was purchased and used for additional school space for a period. It was called the Annex.

But the school population continued to grow. After an unfortunate fire in January 1928 burned the Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church to the ground, all parties agreed to a swap of the church land and the school land. As a result, a new Lookout Mountain Presbyterian that is part of the current church campus was built across Bragg Avenue.

The old church land was given to the Hamilton County School Board, which had taken over the operation of Lookout Mountain Elementary in 1927, a time when seventh- and eighth-graders were being phased out.             

Plans were made for a new main school on the old church property, so the current stone school with an eye-catching vertical design in the front was opened for the 1929-30 school year. To help ensure a building of the highest quality, the Town of Lookout Mountain also agreed to pay any costs over the county’s pledge, with hopes of eventually being refunded. In case you are wondering, the school was built in the late 1920s for between $50,000 and $100,000, which would probably not even get you a single classroom today.

The original 1929 school building featured eight rooms, an auditorium, a cafeteria, a library, and several auxiliary rooms.

The architect was Chattanoogan Clarence T. Jones, whose other still-standing works include the former YWCA building by Lindsay and Eighth streets, the Industrial YMCA building off Mitchell Avenue and recently remodeled into Common House Chattanooga, the National Guard Armory off Holtzclaw Avenue, and the observatory now bearing his name by Brainerd Road and Tuxedo Avenue.

On Lookout Mountain, he also designed for newspaper publisher and hotel operator J.B. Pound the Mediterranean-style and now-razed Stonedge home, where some condominiums were later built. Known for his direct manner in conversation before his untimely 1951 death of heart problems after a fall down some steps at the Warner Park Pool, the former Centenary Methodist Church member’s buildings were also known for their rather straightforward, but eye-pleasing, appeal. 

Among later changes to the school, a memorial gymnasium addition was also made on the south end of the school in 1949, and these additional amenities included uniquely a skating rink operated by the Town of Lookout Mountain.

The school continued to shine architecturally and educationally, it also did in terms of social conscience. While a school for Black students in the days of segregation had been on Lookout Mountain for years (one was built at Watauga Lane, Lincoln Street and Sprayner Terrace using the stone from the previous school), according to Mr. Butterfield’s history, the Chattanooga and Hamilton County school systems were to desegregate grades 1-3 in 1962.

In what was a thoughtful and well-planned action that included encouragement for desegregation/integration by such business leaders as W.E. Brock Jr. and the placing of an armed policeman at every school to prevent potential protesters, the plan was successful. And Lookout Mountain Elementary was in the forefront, as it and the also-still-operating Hixson Elementary were the only two previously white-only county schools that saw the enrollment of Black students.

Some 14 Black children attended both schools combined that first week, and an old newspaper photo shows two black male adults in business suits holding the hands of a daughter and son coming into school amidst the backdrop of the school’s familiar stone siding.

The old stone walls of Lookout Mountain Elementary have witnessed quite a bit of history, including in the more than 60 years since, and LMS students continue to learn evolving history and other core subjects inside the building in a way that continues to draw praise.

And so does the classic building architecturally among historic preservationists and others with a nostalgic bent.    

by John Shearer

Residents in Riverview now have something new to remember something old.

As has been noticeable in recent weeks, some street sign “toppers” saying “Historic Riverview” have been put above the regular street signs at different places throughout the community. 

While some of these historic signs in other longtime neighborhoods in Chattanooga were put up with more direct help and guidance from the city of Chattanooga, this was done primarily by the Riverview Neighborhood Association. According to Falmouth Road resident Marcy Porter with the association, it was done simply to remember the original boundary of the neighborhood dating to the early part of the 20th century. “We thought it would be nice to designate the original outline of the Riverview community, and that is why we named it Historic Riverview,” she said.

They simply chose the old boundaries at the time Riverview became its own municipality in 1913 before later becoming part of the city of Chattanooga. The date 1913 is also on the sign. The area recognized with the signs includes that within the Tennessee River on the east side, the area up near Bright School on the north, Hixson Pike on the west, and Hanover Street and Dorchester Road on the south end.

The idea for the signs, she said, came from fellow association member Mark Harman. “He organized it and raised the money from the neighbors, and he ordered the signs,” she said. “He is the one that led the charge.”

This area just north of the river, plenty of which has been documented in detailed stories in the Mountain Mirror by Judy Rowland, is almost as full of mystery as history, at least in determining its exact timeline and factors regarding development. That is, unless one takes the time to go through some old deeds or newspaper articles about apparently multiple ownership changes and land use ideas for this part of town. 

Long before the town of Riverview was formed in 1913, much of the land had been owned for decades around the Civil War by the Beck family. But in about the late 1880s, as Chattanooga was starting to expand, the Chattanooga Land, Coal, Iron and Railway Co. was formed. It had as investors such people as H.C. Beck from the family, noted developer C.E. James, newspaper publisher Adolph Ochs, members of the prominent Montague family, architect and builder J.W. Adams, and a Creed Bates, perhaps an ancestor of the City High principal by the same name.

They had bought 5,000 acres around Hill City in North Chattanooga, 6,000 acres near the point of Waldens Ridge on Signal Mountain, and about 8,000 acres of coal-rich lands in the Chickamauga gulch, or valley. The latter is apparently up where North Chickamauga Creek begins near Soddy Daisy and Montlake Mountain.

The original investors evidently ran into some economic-related issues, although some such as C.E. James apparently continued a couple of decades later with plans to develop Signal Mountain with an inn, some cottage-like homes, and a golf course.

Around 1896, the North Chattanooga/Riverview part of the operation was now affiliated as the Chattanooga Land Co. with headquarters in Manchester, England, and was managed by a T.J. Nicholl. The British connection might be why many of the streets in this area have English names. They include Dorchester, Falmouth, Hanover, Tremont, Dartmouth, Lexington, Concord, Devonshire, Sterling and maybe some others.
And some of the names like Hillcrest and Riverview roads came after those streets originally had other names.

The English connection also might have been why the Chattanooga Golf and Country Club was founded in 1896 in that area along the river. More research might be required to see if the company and early club official Mr. Nicholl had pushed the golf course idea to help spur residential development in that area, or if some of the original club members who had been exposed to the game in the Northeast were more the innovators. Or maybe it was a little of both.

The firm, or similar Riverview development firms, were also involved in such projects as the development of a “normal” university near where Normal Park School was built, the old White Oak cemetery that was at the site of a spring and became Chattanooga Memorial Park, and the streetcars that ran to Signal Mountain and to Riverview Road near where No. 2 tee is now on the course. Some other Nicholl family members were also involved in some of these operations. 

There was also an old drama house where the streetcar line ended in Riverview and which was used as the first clubhouse by the golfers on what was believed to originally be a nine-hole course.
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An old quarry was also behind the current clubhouse, and rock from it was used for the Walnut Street Bridge piers and the old First Methodist Church on Georgia Avenue, the steeple of which is all that remains. And a sawmill for wood was evidently in front of the current No. 17 green, with a hole that was a course hazard until it was covered in the 1970s.

Places that were part of the original acreage owned by the development firm might have also included the area where the Frank Harrison family farm was and the Lupton City/Dixie Yarns mill and golf course, built years later. An amusement park had also been where the Chattanooga Country Club golf course was. Figuring out how or if all these fit together with the development company would require a little more investigation by a historical researcher.

Regarding the 1913 decision that was the inspiration of the current signs and that years ago allowed Riverview to become a municipality, it had evidently come about following a move by the state legislature, according to some newspaper articles found at the Chattanooga Public Library. Coca-Cola bottler J.T. Lupton of the new Lyndhurst mansion, Judge M.M. Allison, and Frank Spurlock were named the original commissioners in October 1913, and Mr. Allison was chosen as mayor two weeks later at the Allison home. The article discussed the boundaries, mentioning the John A. Patten Minnekahda home property on the north end, and a road named “Roxbury,” another English name, but now changed to something else, as another marker.

The story also mentioned that Riverview had 79 adult males who could vote in municipal elections. Among them was C.E. James, who would later become more connected with Signal Mountain. Women at that time were still seven years from having the right to vote.

It was a different era, but the olden times for this still very desirable neighborhood have come back to life again with the new signs.

by John Shearer

In 1882, Samuel Josiah Abner Frazier returned to Chattanooga after the Civil War to start his life as a young lawyer and settle in a community that had literally saved his life a few years earlier.

Today, Frazier Avenue is a main thoroughfare in Chattanooga’s Northshore community. It runs parallel to the Tennessee River from North Market Street to the Veterans Bridge at Barton Avenue. It is the hub of shopping, dining and community activity. Most Chattanoogans don’t know that it is steeped in history … named by a Civil War hero who made his home there and whose offspring became one of the most prominent families in Tennessee.

These families lived through the period of Chattanooga’s growth from the village stage into one of the most important and progressive communities in the South. Their properties played a prominent role in growth and development of the community of North Chattanooga.

In SJA Frazier’s obituary, the Chattanooga Times called him a “good and useful citizen, one of the best known citizens of this entire section, a gallant Confederate veteran.” Funeral services were held at the family home, “The Cedars.” Honorary pallbearers were members of the Nathan Bedford Forest Camp of the United Confederate Veterans. These elderly men were requested to wear their uniforms, and many of them did.

Samuel Josiah Abner Frazier was born (and raised) in Rhea County, in Washington, Tenn., on January 29, 1840, to Ruth and Samuel Frazier. The family built the first brick house in Rhea County. Following his father’s footsteps, SJA graduated University of Tennessee in 1860, later becoming a lawyer. When the unrest of war permeated the South in 1861, young Samuel answered the call to enlist in the Confederate Army and served as second lieutenant in Company D of the Nineteenth Tennessee.

At Shiloh, after his cousin Capt. Joseph Frazier was killed, he succeeded him in command of the company. During the Battle of Chickamauga, SJA was shot through the windpipe, a truly life-threatening injury. Three of his men attempted to carry him to the place where the wounded were gathered, and the young captain was dropped on the battlefield. Federal soldiers took over. One took the sword Capt. Frazier had captured at Shiloh. He could not talk, but did have a pencil and paper. The Yankees did not want to waste time with a (presumed) dead Rebel. He was ultimately taken by ambulance (actually a wagon loaded with other critically injured men) to Chattanooga.

At this point, we switch to the perspective of a personal recollection of Dr. T. Hooke McCallie, a Presbyterian minister.

“On Saturday morning, September 19, the sound of cannons booming south of us could be heard in our city. On Sunday, September 20, we went down to church, and we had a good congregation. The day was beautiful. Just before the service, looking up Market Street to Ninth Street, I saw evidence of excitement and a movement of a long line of ambulances. I gave my Bible to my wife and told her to go home and that I would be there shortly.

“I had scarcely reached Ninth Street when a soldier stepped up to me with a note in his hand that read thus: ‘Please come here, [signed] SJA Frazier.’”

I asked the soldier where the man was who gave him the note. He pointed out an ambulance. I went up to it. It was standing still, filled with wounded men. Federal and Confederate [wounded men] were filling and congesting the streets from College Hill on the west, out on Ninth Street back on Market Street for a great distance.

In the ambulance sat my old friend and schoolmate Capt. SJA Frazier, shot through the throat and unable to speak above a whisper. I at once said to him, ‘I will stay right by you and if possible, take you to my house.’
“I followed the ambulance to College Hill, went at once to the medical director’s office, and not finding him in, but finding his little son, a lad of about 12, taking his father’s place, I made known my business when the young fellow at once said I could take the Confederate soldier home and wrote out an order to that effect, signing his father’s name to it. This order served as good a purpose as if it had been issued by the doctor himself.

“I at once had the ambulance to drive the captain across town to my home, stopping by the way to summon Drs. Milo Smith and P.D. Sims. These physicians came, took charge of the case and did all they could for his relief. They both said that if the captain had gone to the hospital and been neglected amidst the thousands of other wounded ones, he would have died that night.”
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I hate to leave you hanging, but this story of history, sacrifice and serendipity will continue next month!
by Judy Rowland