Historic Zoning Commission

N/A: Level III

2-D-08-HZ

Applicant Request

Level III. New construction of primary building(s) or deviation from guidelines

Install balconies at several locations on south and east building facades, as shown on attachments; no balconies are to be installed on the south elevation, buff colored brick. Door glass in balcony access doors to be configured to reflect the window pane configuration, and removed windows to be stored. Balconies to be tube steel, suspended with cables from sides of building, requiring window removal and installation of full glass door to gain access to balcony. Width of balconies to encompass width of two windows on east elevations.

Site Info

The Burwell building was designed in 1907 by the Richards, McCarty and bulford architectural firm of Columbus, Ohio, and was built as the Knoxville Banking and Trust Company Building. It was renamed the Burwell Building in 1917, after its purchase by C. B. Atkins. The Tennessee Theater portion of the building was designed by Graven and Maygar, a Chicago design firm, and was built in an addition to the Burwell Building, made in 1928. Seven bays facing Gay Street are arranged into three horizontal divisions. A base is formed by the ground floor, mezzanine and second floor, a cornice separates the third through ninth floors, and a terra cotta belt course separates the ninth and tenth floors, with a heavy cornice at the top of the building on the front façade. The bricks on the front façade, which carry around to the south elevation and are visible from Gay Street, are buff brick. Windows on the front elevation are one light with metal sashes, probably replacing the original windows during rehabilitation that occurred in the 1970's.

To the rear of the building (east elevations), walls are common red brick. Recent additions to the building, required during its conversion to condominiums, are a light colored metal fire escapes in the southeast corner of the building, and general rehabilitation to the building's exterior.

In addition to the west elevation facing Gay Street and the north elevation facing Clinch Avenue, the front portion of the south elevation, faced in buff-colored brick, is also visible from Gay Street. The east elevations of the front building and the south and east elevations of the rear building, while they may be visible from James White Parkway, or from State, tend to get lost in the grouping of other non-distinctive rear elevations of the buildings fronting Gay Street and were at the time of designation and of National Register listing, not regarded as significant. Some of the windows on those elevations appear to be original. Others have been replaced prior to the current renovation.

The east facing elevations of the building, highlighted by common red brick, do not contain significant design elements; the same is true for the south facing elevation at the rear of the building, which is set in from the Gay Street façade and is also built of common red brick. On those elevations, balconies will not be apparent, and will not significantly alter the overall architecture of the building. The commissioners may want to recommend that if original windows are removed from the openings, they be stored in the building to facilitate a reversal of the balconies in the future. Commissioners may also want to be sure that the materials used to construct the balconies match in coloration and design the recently installed fire escape on the rear of the building.

Five balconies are proposed for the south façade nearest Gay Street, and could be visible from Gay Street. They are also proposed for the portion of the building that is surfaced in buff colored brick, and contains cornice elements that wrap around from the Gay Street façade; the designers of that 1928 addition to the Burwell understood that that portion of the building would be visible from Gay Street. The east facing elevations of the building, highlighted by common red brick, do not contain significant design elements; the same is true for the south facing elevation at the rear of the building.

The Secretary of Interior's Standards are used as the guidelines for this building. Two of the Standards address the installation of balconies on the south elevation nearest Gay Street:

#5 - Distinctive features, finishes, and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship that characterize a property shall be preserved.
#9. New additions, exterior alterations, ore related new construction shall not destroy historic materials that characterize the property . . .

The proposed balconies on the south elevation nearest Gay Street would result in a modification of the original design, and would also alter historic materials that characterize the property. Balconies on that portion of the elevation are not recommended. Although the commission discussed the fact that a better design could be achieved by installing balconies on all of the windows that are on the buff-colored south-facing brick, and although including balconies on all of those windows is preferable to omitting some of the balconies, and will result in a less patchy looking installation, the building would still be altered from its original appearance by the balconies, and balconies installed on the buff-colored brick would conflict with Standards #5 and #9.