Blending in: New home in old style gets neighborly nod of approval

March 9, 2005
By Ed Marcum (Knoxville News-Sentinel)

"The majority of people who come by to see the house have asked if we are doing a renovation," Deborah Duncan said.

An understandable mistake, because that's what such a sight in Old North Knoxville usually means.

That is not what is happening here, though. Duncan and her husband, builder Greg Hyde, are building what the Old North Knoxville Inc. neighborhood association says is the first house in the neighborhood to be constructed according to design guidelines residents established when the area became a historic district in 1992.

It's a brand-new two-story, three-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath house built in the American Four-Square style common from the 1900s to 1930s. Hyde, who grew up in the neighborhood, said the idea for the house came about when his wife saw the house design in a magazine and said it would be great to find a place to build it.

Driving around one day, they saw vacant property on Grainger and bought it.

To build the house, Hyde said, he had to submit a proposal to the Knoxville Historic Zoning Commission. He worked with Ann Bennett, Metropolitan Planning Commission planner in charge of historic preservation, to make sure the house plan met the neighborhood guidelines.

Some Knoxville developers don't want to deal with building under historic zoning, but Hyde said it was not much of a problem.

"People think that Ann Bennett and the Historic Zoning Commission are hard to work with and, in a way, I'm glad they think that way, because it means I can come in and buy more lots," he said.

Hyde said following the guidelines adds a little more expense to a project, but that is not a problem. There is always a market for a well-built house, he said.

Chester Kilgore, who has lived a few houses west of the property since 1980, said residents are delighted to see the house take shape and hope there will be more. The neighborhood is at a point where many of the vintage homes have already been bought, and there seems to be some interest in building homes on vacant lots, he said.

Hyde said he and his wife plan to build another vintage-style home next to the one going up, and they are looking at buying other lots in Old North Knoxville.

The house at 1335 Grainger combines features of older homes, such as cedar-plank/cedar-shake construction and 10-foot ceilings on the lower floor, with modern features such as large closets and a whirlpool tub in the master bathroom. The living room has a gas fireplace with a mantel salvaged from a vintage home.

Hyde said he got interested in building through his father, Ray Hyde. While Greg Hyde said building is his primary job, his wife works for Brunswick Boat Group and works with him in her spare time, mainly dealing with the financial issues.

"Greg jokes that I'm the brains and he's the brawn in this operation," Deborah Duncan said.

The couple live on Fairmont Boulevard, about a mile from Grainger, with their son, Luka Hyde, 1. They said they live close enough to Grainger that they feel they have a stake in the neighborhood.

"It's important to us that this house brings this area up. We want to maintain that area, living nearby," Duncan said.

Hyde said there is also a matter of pride.

"I have an 18-month-old boy, and I want to be able to come by here with him sometime and say, 'Look. Daddy built that house,' " he said.