Burwell Building Tennessee Theater

About this property

The Burwell is the oldest of Knoxville’s historic skyscrapers, situated on the landmark corner of Gay Street and Clinch Avenue in Knoxville, Tennessee. The building contains the historic Tennessee Theatre. Views from the Burwell include the Sunsphere, Krutch Park, Gay Street, the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, Kuwohi, Mount Le Conte, and the Tennessee River. The Burwell was designed by the architectural firm of Richards, McCarty & Bulford and built by George A. Fuller Construction, known for the erection of early skyscrapers. It is built in the Second Renaissance Revival architecture style. The Burwell was originally completed in 1908, and the portion of the building that sits above the Tennessee Theatre was added in 1928. The Burwell was the tallest building in Knoxville prior to the construction of the Holston in 1913. The Burwell lobby entrance is at 602 South Gay Street adjacent to the Tennessee Theatre, and the iconic theater sign is affixed near the southwest corner of the building. The L-shaped building features yellow brick on its street-adjacent facades and red brick elsewhere. The building exterior typifies the Second Renaissance Revival style. The ground floor, mezzanine, and second floor form a base, with pilasters from the ground to the mezzanine topped by second floor entablatures. A cornice divides the second floor from the third floor, a terra cotta belt course separates the ninth from the tenth floor, and atop the tenth floor is a parapet above a heavy cornice with interwoven large and small dentils. Outward-facing windows are arranged in single or double bays and open by rotation around a central axis. Some rear-facing windows feature antique pebbled “chicken wire” glass. The lobby floor and elevator landings are laid using Tennessee marble, and the lobby walls are covered in Carrara marble. A vintage post office box remains in the lobby with a mail chute from the upper floors. In the 1790s, a two-story log structure on the site of the Burwell hosted classes for Blount College, considered by some to be the first co-educational university, and which later evolved into the University of Tennessee. The building itself was originally built and owned by the Knoxville Banking and Trust Company. The steel frame structure was completed in 1907, after which Maud the mule was hoisted as part of the topping off ceremony attended by thousands of people. Maud became the construction crew mascot after frequently hanging around to watch the building construction, and she was named after the ornery female mule in the comic strip And Her Name Was Maud. The building was completed in 1908. As a 10-story steel frame building measuring 166 feet (51 m) in height, the Burwell was Knoxville's tallest building until the completion of the Holston in 1913, and the first considered a skyscraper. The Knoxville Banking & Trust Building became a prestigious address for Knoxville professionals.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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