The Sprankle Building

By: Kim Davis (Old North Knoxville webmaster)
February 22, 2002 (updated March 24, 2005)

Update, March 31, 2005: A must-read tribute to the former Sprankle building, by Jack Neely.

Update, March 24, 2005: Mayor Haslam announced his approval today of Home Federal's plans to raze the Sprankle building in order to "keep 250 employees downtown." Crews appeared on the site this morning.  The site will serve as surface parking until at least 2007.  Knox Heritage opposes this move.  There was no mention of the originally agreed-upon 45-day notice or approval by City Council before demolition commenced. 

Some of you that frequent various downtown eateries such as Pete's Diner may be painfully aware of the discussion lately surrounding the possible fate of the Sprankle Building (or Sprankle Flats when it served as an apartment building), located at Union Ave. and Walnut.  (Read Jack Neely's Secret History columns on the Sprankle Building here and here.)  To summarize, all of the ground level retail establishments have been notified to relocate by the owner, Home Federal.  Rumors have been abounding of the pending demolition of this building, which has been deteriorating under the current owner's hands since 1991.  There are no tenants in the upper floors, but still some remnants of the original architectural features, as shown in these photographs taken by local architect Buzz Goss:

Area preservationists are imploring Home Federal to consider the potential of this historic 1904 Italianate-inspired building, which deserves better than to end up in a landfill for... surface parking.  As a design exercise, area architects Phil Hunter, Sean Martin, and Mike Reynolds presented a rendering of how the Sprankle could look in a re-use scenario:

Not bad, huh?  And not far-fetched, considering the numerous rehab projects (e.g., the Millers, Fowlers, Sterchi, and Emporium buildings) taking place in the downtown area.  Quoting Knox Heritage member Matt Edens (who recently was reported on in a Knoxville News Sentinel article for his Parkridge restoration efforts), historic preservation IS economic development!

If you are interested in helping to change area attitudes about the value of preservation of Knoxville's history, please consider joining Knox Heritage, our local champions of these important links to our past.

Sprankle gargoyle photo courtesy of the Metro Pulse.

Update, February 26, 2002: A sign appeared at the corner of Union Ave. and Walnut St. yesterday that states there will be a MPC Public Hearing on March 14, to change the zoning for the Sprankle Building from C2 to C2-H1.  According to Rob Frost, 4th District (and Old North Knoxville's) City Council representative, this is due to Mayor Ashe filing a H-1 overlay for the property.

Update, April 14, 2002: The original MPC meeting scheduled for March 14 was postponed until April 11.  However, due to the fact that several of the Home Federal Board Members were out of town, the meeting was postponed again until May 9, 2002.

Update, May 8, 2002: MPC has again postponed the May 9 hearing on the Sprankle rezoning for another 60 days. 

Update, July 12, 2002: Yesterday, the MPC again postponed action on a bid by the city to place historic overlay zoning on the Sprankle Building.  According to the Knoxville News-Sentinel, City officials are still in talks with Home Federal Bank, the owner of the Sprankle Building.

Update, October 2, 2002: Knoxville News-Sentinel reports that the status of the Sprankle is still in "limbo."

Update, April 7, 2004: Jack Neely of the Metro Pulse updates readers about Home Federal's latest publicity campaign to destroy the Sprankle Building, now that their biggest adversary, former Mayor Victor Ashe, has left office.

Update, August 15, 2004: Mayor Haslam admits (in so many words) that in order to keep Home Federal downtown, he would look the other way should the bank apply for a demolition permit for the Sprankle building.