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The Brimer House Inn
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By David E. Booker Sometimes you have to listen to your house before you listen to your guests. That's what David Whaley and Tomica Miller did when restoring their 1909 house at 203 W. Glenwood. And after six years of steady work sometimes guided by unseen hands, on April 1st they will open the first Bed and Breakfast in an historic neighborhood in Knoxville. Decorated in period antiques and reproductions, this nearly 4,000 sq. ft. Neoclassical home with Queen Anne influence will offer 3 bedrooms for rent ranging in price from $125 to $150 a night. In the morning you will have a choice of speciality dishes, including Eggs Brimer House which includes a poached egg on an English muffin, a generous portions of pork tenderloin topped with hollandaise sauce, fresh baked bread, and fruit in season. This meal will be served in a completely restored dining room that features a series of frieze paintings composed of still life frescos that encircle the room near the top of the ten-foot walls. The friezes were covered over with layers of wallpaper when David and Tomica bought the house. After the paintings were discovered, David and Tomica hired a restoration artist to bring the frescos back to vibrancy. "We decided early on," David Whaley said, "that whatever David Brimer liked, we had to like it, too." Brimer, who built such notable structures as the
Blount County Courthouse and the Miller's Building in downtown Knoxville, died in the house he built on W. Glenwood. But his presence doesn't end there. David and Tomica believe that in ways they can't explain, Brimer has overseen the "rebuilding" of what is now going to be known as the Brimer House Inn. Before the house was rewired, David said he was awakened one night and he walked right to an outlet just as it caught on fire. Tomica said she was in a room when the push button wall switch clicked as a button depressed and the lights came on. These and other stories of how they were guided in their restoration are part of the "extras" available at this B&B in historic Old North Knoxville. For more information, go to
www.BrimerHouseInn.com.
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