The Victorian Village District is an area of Memphis, Tennessee.
Geography
The Victorian Village is located in the eastern quadrant of downtown Memphis.
History
During Memphis' early period of growth in the mid-19th century, a few wealthy Memphians built grand, Victorian-style homes in what was then the outskirts of the city. The homes in Victorian Village were built from 1846 into the 1890s, and range in style from Neo-classical through Late Gothic Revival. Edward C. Jones, one of Memphis's most significant Victorian-era architects, and his partner, Matthias Harvey Baldwin, built the Woodruff-Fontaine House (1870) and renovated the Harsson-Goyer-Lee House (1871).
thumb|Massey House
alt=Mallory Neely House Museum|thumb|Mallory Neely House Museum
The Massey House, the oldest in the area (ca. 1846), was built for Benjamin A. Massey, an early Memphis lawyer.
The Harsson-Goyer-Lee House (690 Adams, see photograph) was once the home of riverboat owner James Lee. It was expanded in 1871 by Charles Goyer, a founder of Union Planters Bank.
The Pillow-McIntyre House (ca. 1852) is a two-story Greek Revival home purchased in 1873 by Mexican War and Confederate General Gideon Pillow. This striking eclectic-style Victorian had been unused for years, but with the assistance of corporate and community donations it was refurbished in 2004.
The Snowden home in the Annesdale-Snowden Historic District dates from the same era. In 1850, Dr. Samuel Mansfield built this "Italianate villa" on his plantation just outside Memphis. The house was situated on a knoll above what was then the stage route to Mississippi. In 1869 Colonel Robert C. Brinkley bought the estate as a wedding gift to his daughter, Annie Overton Brinkley, and her new husband, Colonel Bogardus Snowden. The estate was named Annesdale in her honor. In the first decade of the 20th century, Col. Snowden and his sons John and Robert built two subdivisions on the estate, Annesdale Park (1903), claimed to be the first in the South, and Snowden Homestead (1910). The streets in these then-affluent subdivisions were named for the Snowden children. Memphis entrepreneur Kemmons Wilson and other well-known Memphis names resided there. After World War II, the neighborhood gradually declined until it began to be gentrified in the 1970s and after it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The Snowden home is not open to the public.
Present
Some of these three- and four-story mansions now stand near the city's downtown along Adams Avenue. While most of the original homes are now gone, several remain as museums: the Magevney House (198 Adams), the Mallory-Neely House (652 Adams) and the Woodruff-Fontaine House (680 Adams). The Magevney House is currently open the first Saturday each month from 1pm-4pm with free admission. The Mallory-Neely House is open Friday and Saturday, 10:00-4:00. After 60+ years of being vacant, the Harsson-Goyer-Lee House has been renovated into a high-end Bed and Breakfast.
See also
- History of Memphis, Tennessee