 Perhaps the most noted architect of yesteryear in Chattanooga was Reuben Harrison Hunt, who designed such buildings as the Hamilton County Courthouse, City Hall, the Carnegie Library and Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences, among many others. In contrast, this man whose work was also prolific throughout the South until his death in 1937 has a few local descendants whose remembrances of him have been much less publicly chronicled than his buildings. But these great-grandchildren are no less appreciative than those who have been highlighting Mr. Hunt’s talents in calling for the preservation of his Medical Arts Building, which is scheduled to be razed by owner First Presbyterian Church. In fact, at least one of them is joining the chorus of support. “I hate to see history destroyed like that,” said great-grandson Ed Street. “A lot of his buildings are very beautiful. They are probably expensive to fix up, but if we tear everything down, there is not going to be any history left.” With the help of Ed’s wife, Pat, Mr. Street and his two brothers, Tom Street and David Street, recently gathered at Rembrandt’s coffee and pastry shop to offer their scant memories but great appreciation for their great-grandfather. They are the children of Mary David Houston Street and Thomas G. Street Jr. Mr. Street was one of three children of Mr. Hunt’s only child, daughter Louise Hunt Street, who was 103 when she died in 1998. Her husband, Thomas G. Street Sr., was also an architect. The three great-grandchildren of the prominent architect said they were not told a whole lot of detailed stories about their great-grandfather growing up, and that they do not have access to his old plans. But Tom did say, “Grandma used to tell us (about his buildings) as we’d drive around. We’d be driving through Chattanooga, and she would point out some of his buildings he had done.” They added that if he made a lot of money in his highly successful practice, they know of no great inheritance immediately passed down. Pat did say she contacted Louise Reagan of Murfreesboro, a daughter of Louise’s daughter, Katie, recently, and she has a box of Hunt memorabilia and items that she plans to show them in the near future. But what information and anecdotes the three great-grandsons have are comforting to them and shine positively on the architect just like his buildings seem to do. “He was a very nice man,” Ed said he was told. “During the Depression, he would put food out on the back porch and leave it.” A story has also been passed down about the way he would design smaller church buildings for free or a discounted rate. Another story of his big heart shared by Pat was that his daughter, Louise, said that when they lived in a home on Oak Street, it had a third-floor room designed as a small ballroom, but he converted into a roller-skating rink for Louise and her friends. Later, he drew plans for his own Missionary Ridge home at 37 South Crest Road that was similar to one he also designed for his daughter at 212 South Crest Road. The descendants said that both homes have thick walls to make them fireproof. Mr. Hunt, whose wife, Katherine, was from the DeGeorgis family that ran a popular confectionary store of yesteryear in downtown Chattanooga, was the oldest of nine siblings. Youngest sibling Ben F. Hunt was also an architect, and after his death there was some kind of disagreement between Louise and Thomas G. Street Sr. and Ben over the R.H. Hunt name in work. The two architects had broken up their partnership in 1944. “There was some ill feeling,” said Ed Street. The descendants and Pat added that this was sad to hear knowing R.H. Hunt was considered a caring and Christian man and was a member at First Baptist Church; he would not have liked any such rifts. Of the three great-grandchildren, none became architects, but they did all study engineering at Georgia Tech. David, a Chattanooga City High graduate, was a computer programmer for Texaco in Houston and retired to Lookout Mountain. Tom did some electrical engineering work before teaching community college math in Northwest Georgia. Ed, a McCallie graduate (even though grandmother Louise had attended Baylor in its first stint as a coed school around the turn of the 20th century) was a chemist in Atlanta and worked in Chattanooga for Chattem. He had met Pat, a City High and UTC graduate, at a McCallie reunion she happened to attend. But despite finding their own work, they still have much appreciation for the architect and man R.H. Hunt, whose name is still often in the news over his buildings that are both appreciated and sometimes threatened. “I get to see his name in several places,” said Tom Street. “Covenant College, which is just a half mile from our house, has a plaque in its lobby with his name on it since he designed the main building on campus (Carter Hall, the former Lookout Mountain Hotel).” David added simply, “I don’t know that much about my ancestors, but I do happen to know of my great-grandfather, the famous architect.” by John Shearer | R. J. Hunt Buildings in Chattanooga First Baptist Church (lost) Second Presbyterian Church Erlanger Hospital (lost) Women’s Christian Temperance Union Miller Brothers Building Central Baptist Church (lost) Chattanooga Public Library (Carnegie Library) Chattanooga High School (lost) Engine House No. 5 (lost) Pound Building (Chattanooga News Building) Chattanooga Electric Railway Company Barn Building Central High School (lost) James Building Chattanooga Municipal Building (City Hall) Central YMCA Building (lost) Hamilton National Bank (First Tennessee Bank) Highland Park Baptist Church Hamilton County Courthouse Ellis Hotel (St. John’s Restaurant) Park Hotel (Newell Towers) Northside Presbyterian Church Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Auditorium Wyatt Hall (CSAS) Maclellan Building The Bright School (lost) Richard Hardy Junior High (lost) First Methodist Episcopal Church (lost) Chattanooga Bank Building East Lake Methodist Episcopal Church Clay Evans Elementary School (lost) Highland Park Elementary School Lookout Mountain Hotel (Covenant College) Frances Willard Home The Medical Arts Building T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital (lost) Brainerd Junior High School Joel W. Solomon Federal Building Backman Elementary School Ganns Middle Valley Elementary School |
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