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 The home at 1300 Kenyon, with its circa 1900 Neoclassical architectural detailing, is one of Old North Knoxville’s outstanding Bungalow style homes. A pyramidal hipped roof with wide dormers opens up the second floor, providing spacious, light filled rooms that match the elegant center hall plan of the first floor. Paired and tripled round columns on brick piers highlight the spacious front porch. This house was one of Knox Heritage’s intensive restoration projects, selected because its deterioration was a blighting influence on this section of the neighborhood. Ladderback doors, large windows, mellow wood floors, and a detailed stair confirm the architecture of the late 19th century. The path to rehabilitating this house was a
long one that began with difficulty in locating the owner, who lived in California and had allowed the house to sit vacant for many years. Following months of intensive effort, Knox Heritage’s first rehabilitation project was virtually complete when the house suffered a weekend fire. Although the fire damage was confined to the southwest corner of the building, thanks to a rapid fire department response, the water damage throughout the structure meant that the entire rehabilitation had to begin again. The Partains, who had already agreed to purchase the house, were so married to the place they agreed to wait until the second rehabilitation effort was complete. Knox Heritage’s efforts were, as they always are, the catalyst for other rehabilitation efforts on the block, including two houses to the west and several across the street; this once deteriorating block in the neighborhood is well on its way to securing its former prominence.
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