If you know of a landmark that is about to fade into history, you may
nominate it for inclusion here by sending information to Landmark
and
Legend.
Memphis International Airport terminal visibility
Benjamin Hooks
Legend
Charlie Vergos
Legend
Dana Kirk
Legend
Overton Square
Landmark
Vasco Smith
Legend
Libertyland
Landmark
Fred Cook
Legend
Mid-South
Fair in Memphis
Landmark
Isaac Hayes
Legend
Babe Howard
Legend
Sweetbriar/Ridgeway
Trace Apartments
Landmark
French
Quarter Inn
Landmark
Benihana
Landmark
MMHI
Landmark
Baptist Hospital, Medical Center
Landmark
West Hall
Univ. of Memphis
Landmark
University Center
Univ. of Memphis
Landmark
Billy J. "Spook" Murphy
Legend
Highland Street Church of Christ
Landmark
Crump Stadium
Landmark
Threatened Landmarks
|
Have a favorite landmark? Check our threatened list to see if it is known to be at risk.
Select an image of a
landmark or legend from the list to get more information. |
Special Notice: The Land Use Control Board rejected the proposal to demolish the former Union Avenue Methodist Church
building and allow a CVS pharmacy at its July 8, 2010 meeting. CVS is
likely to take the application to the City Council at which time the
Council would hear the proposal anew, meaning the Land Use Control
Board's vote simply is a recommendation and carries no further weight.
|
 Landmark: the Memphis International Airport terminal
is not being removed, its just being hidden from view from a distance from
the front of the building.
|
 Legend:
Benjamin L. Hooks,
preacher, civil rights leader, lawyer, judge, Federal Communications
Commission member, President and CEO of the national NAACP, recipient
of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, died in Memphis, April 15, 2010.
This man was a legend not only in his hometown of Memphis, but far
beyond.
|
 Legend:
Charlie Vergos,
restaurateur. If his name had not been attached to his restaurant it
might not have been so well known, but Charlie Vergo's (that's how it's
spelled on the sign) Rendezvous was well known to most Memphians. The
barbecue restaurant became one of the premier BBQ eateries in Memphis,
a city known for premium pork barbecue, commonly called Memphis BBQ.
|
 Legend:
Dana Kirk,
who came to Memphis in 1979 as the coach of a Memphis State University
men's basketball team that was in the doldrums and took it to a
the NCAA semi-final game in 1985, died February 15, 2010.
|
 Overton Square,
which became the premier dining and nightclub area in Memphis in 1970
after selling liquor by the drink became legal, is gone as the
bustling place it once was. Although many of the buildings remain
leases of existing businesses have not been renewed and in 2009
developer
sought to tear down many of the buildings and to put up a large
grocery. After community opposition, those plans were dropped, however,
the future of Overton Square, much of it now unoccupied, remains in question. |
 The facade of what was once Anderton’s East restaurant
at 1901 Madison Avenue in Memphis is being demolished as of November,
2009. A real estate office will be built in its place. The restaurant
closed in 2005
|
 Legend:
Vasco Smith, local politician, civil rights advocate, and dentist died September 28, 2009.
|
 Poplar Tunes,
for decades a Memphis landmark for those shopping for the latest
musical recordings, closed shortly after noon on September 10, 2009.
Associated stores in Memphis, such as Pop Tunes, had already
closed or closed on the same day.
|
 Libertyland,
the theme park at the Mid-South Fairgrounds closed in 2005 and plans
call for the demolition of most of its buildings beginning in the
autumn of 2009.
|
Legend:
Fred Cook, long time Memphis radio-television personality and executive, died December 9, 2008 |
 The Mid-South Fair closed
its 2008 run in Memphis September 28. After 152 years in Memphis, it
will move to Tunica County, Mississippi in 2010 after a one year exhibition in Desoto County, Mississippi in 2009.
|
|
|
|
|
  Sweetbriar (Ridgeway Trace) Apartments,
before and after demolition |
|
|
  Memphis Mental
Health Institute at Poplar & Dunlap has been
demolished. |
  Benihana Restaurant, destroyed by fire. Now Reopened
|
  West Hall, University of
Memphis is being replaced. |
  University Center, (Student Center), University of Memphis is being
replaced. |
Crump Stadium,
the premier football arena in Memphis from 1934 until 1963, continued
to serve high school games. In 2006 it was demolished. A high school
type of football stadium took its place.
|
Legend:
Isaac
Hayes, of Memphis, nationally and world
renown entertainer, died at the age of 65 on August 10, 2008.
|
|
Legend:
Billy
J. "Spook" Murphy, retired head football coach and
athletic
director for the
University of Memphis for more than 30 years, died Thursday, February
21, 2008.
|
Legend:
W.
S. "Babe" Howard,
philanthropist, civic leader and owner of Millington Telephone Company,
died July 11, 2008.
|
|
Threatened!
The landmarks listed below are threatened
|
 Union
Avenue Methodist Church
at the corner of Union Avenue and Cooper Street is under sale contract
and plans to demolish it and build a CVS pharmacy, with a parking lot
for about 40 cars, have been filed with local government. The
building, a portion of which dates back 90 years, was
the church
home for 3 or 4 dozen members when they ended holding services there on
Easter Sunday, 2010. They put the property up for sale because it is
difficult for so few to maintain. The church once had
about 1,800 members. The congregation is merging with another
United Methodist church. Memphis Heritage
says another organization, perhaps a church, is interested in the
property at a competitive price. The National Trust for Historic
Preservation says it has an 11 year old agreement with CVS in which CVS
says it is committed not to demolish properties individually listed on
the National Register of Historic Places. The Union Avenue Methodist
Church is listed on that register. CVS has responded, "our position is
there's no official agreements."
The plans for the new CVS store were rejected by the Land Use Control
Board July 8, 2010 by a vote of 6 to 1. CVS has the option of taking the plans as they
exist or modifying them to the Memphis City Council, which would hear
the application anew with the Land Use Control Board's action only
serving as a recommendation.
 The Rowland J. Darnell House was built in the first decade of the 20th century at 1433 Union Avenue in Memphis and has been the headquarters of the Nineteenth Century Club since 1926. According to the Shelby County General Sessions Environmental Court,
the house must undergo substantial repairs to meet current fire and
construction codes or face the consequences. There is concern that the
consequences could be demolition. The Nineteenth Century Club, an
organization for women, was organized in 1890 and moved into the
mansion in 1926. The club mostly serves as a philanthropic organization
today and it also makes the home available for parties and weddings. A
club spokesman says the ordered repairs could cost more than
$1.5-million but that the club does not have that kind of money. The
judge told the club to find the money for the repairs or a plan to get
them, and to report back to the court August 10, 2010.
 The site of the Scottish Rite Building
at 825 Union Avenue in Memphis is desired by the University of
Tennessee Health Services Center for a clinic. According to The
Commercial Appeal, a decade of discussions between the University and
the Memphis Consistory of the Ancient of the Accepted Scottish Rite
resulted in an appraisal of the property which came in at $2-million.
However, the Scottish Rite officials said they have no interest in
selling at that price. If the University should acquire the building
and land, it would demolish the building and replace it with a medical
clinic.
 The Sterick Building in
downtown Memphis was put on the "Ten in Tennessee" of endangered
historic structures in May, 2010. The Tennessee Preservation Trust
calls the 29 story building a "unique example of a Gothic Style office
building with attendant interior and exterior period architectural
detailing..." At its construction in 1930 it was the tallest building
in the South. until 1965, the tallest in Memphis. It has been closed
for more than 20 years. The building remains boarded up, with various
owners over the years finding it uneconomical to renovate. It is said
to contain environmentally hazardous materials such as asbestos. The
Tennessee Preservation Trust says it is endangerd by "inappropriate
renovations, redevelopment challenges, and a looming land lease
expiration." As a major office building for decades in Memphis and the
tallest skyscraper for many of those years, the Sterick Building was
and is truly a landmark. Even today, it remains the fifth tallest
building in the city.
 Riverfront
cobblestone landing - Many say plans of the Riverfront Development
Corporation would seriously devalue the historic cobblestone landing in
Memphis. For more information, see the websites of Memphis Cobblestones, Friends For Our Riverfront, and the Memphis Riverfront Development Corporation.
 The
Mid-South Fairgrounds, which the city purchased in 1897 for the
horse racing track Montgomery Park, was first used as a fairgrounds in
1912. It is under redevelopment consideration. Most
long-term contracts for uses of the property have been allowed to
expire. The Mid-South Fair was forced to move after its contract ran
out, a long running monthly flea market got the same deal. The initial
impetus for the changes seemed to be the offer by the Salvation Army to
build, by providing $2 for every $1 Memphis provided, one of its Kroc
Centers. A Salvation Army Kroc Center is
now planned for opening in 2011, offering a community center
with worship areas, two gymnasiums, indoor aquatics, multi-purpose
rooms and a fitness center. It will take 15 acres of the 168 site. A
developer proposed mixed commercial, residential, and open space for
some of the remainder of the land but a competing proposal for development with
less commercial and more open public space is now also on the table. Major structures like Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium will
remain. The future of the Mid-South Coliseum is questionable as it no
longer is being used. Libertyland, the 1976 renovation of the
Fairgrounds, has closed and the structures there are being removed. See
Mid-South Fair for related information.
 The
Tennessee Preservation Trust has listed the Anderson-Coward House in
Memphis, which was the location of what was then considered the city's
finest restaurant for many years, Justine’s, as an endangered historic
property due to vandalism and neglect. The is believed to have been
built in the 1840s and remodeled and expanded in the 1850s. See the Tennessee Preservation Trust website.
 The
Harrson-Goyer-Lee House, upon which construction begun in 1948, is in
jeopardy due to neglect and uncertain control in the future. It was
also the original location of the Memphis Academy of Art. The home has
been vacant since 1959. A lease to The Association for the Preservation
of Tennessee Antiquities runs out in 2011. See the Tennessee Preservation Trust website.
The
Public Promenade on the river bluff at Memphis. The Tennessee
Preservation Trust says this property is in danger of being "leased to
developers, and 400 foot high office buildings and a mall would be
constructed that would change the entire character of the riverfront
area--- and separate a significant portion of the city center from its
long-standing relationship with the Mississippi River." See the
websites of The Tennessee Preservation Trust and the Memphis Riverfront Development Corporation.
|
|
|
