APPROVE Certificate 102303GEN. The proposed sign and marquee replicate the c.1900-1909 features that were removed from the building around 1965. They will give the Bijou a more prominent position on Gay Street and provide clues to its history.
The Lamar House was built as a residence before 1816, and was a three and one-half story late Georgian/early Federal style building, with symmetrical elevations and a horizontal and vertical alignment of bays, windows and door spacing on Gay Street. The present street level Gay Street entrance was the original basement entry until Gay Street was regraded in 1837. Post-Civil War photographs show the building with six over six light, double hung windows, alternating plain and segmented style window capitals, a portico and balcony entrance, an attic story pediment gable, brick chimney stacks and a standing seam metal gable roof. Major renovations in c.1900-1909 gave the building its current appearance, with two over two windows, a theater lobby and a marquee replacing the earlier balcony/portico entrance. The hotel lobby was relocated at the north end of the Gay Street façade, and a flat roof replaced the attic story and gable roof. The present front façade followed the 1900's rehabilitation, and was recently restored. Side walls of the auditorium exhibit exit doorways and iron fire escapes.
The proposed sign and marquee are part of the Bijou Board's ongoing efforts at retaining the visibility and viability of the Bijou.
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Knoxville-Knox County Planning
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