For The Tennessean
East Nashville savers of dogs and old houses, Jean and Troy Harrison, will soon strap a historic, 19th-century Queen Anne cottage to an enormous flatbed.
They will move the endangered house from 1008 Fatherland St. to 1208 Russell St., where the Harrisons will give the house enough TLC so they can move in – again.
The house was scheduled to be demolished to make way for a series of mixed-use developments being referred to as the Martin Corner Development. Over a two-week period, movers will slowly jack up the house from its foundation.
The home, built in the late 1800s, is in the historic neighborhood of East End.
“A home that stands alone is not protected by the (historic) overlay,” Troy Harrison said. “The overlay only applies to homes that are together in a row.”
A neighborhood conservation overlay is a zoning tool aimed at preserving a neighborhood for architectural or historic reasons. This overlay zoning regulates teardowns, additions and relocations of property and carries less stringent requirements than the historic preservation and historic landmark overlays.
Foster parents
Jean Harrison, along with her husband, is not new to renovation.
She said it would be a “sad loss” to tear down the significant structure, but wryly added it was taking a toll.
“I’m attempting to wreck my marriage through extreme home-improvement projects,” she said. “Although not much to look at from the outside, the house is pretty much in pristine condition in the interior.”
She said reasons for saving the house were twofold:
“One, it’s an opportunity to rebuild the house ourselves from scratch and do the renovation properly, and this is the first time we’ve had that opportunity. I mean, obviously, we are old-house junkies. You don’t take on this project unless you are.
“And two, my big fat sausage of a dog, Floyd, can’t walk up the stairs anymore, so I needed a level flat lot.”
The Harrisons are foster parents for dogs, some of whom don’t make it to the next family. They own four and are fostering a fifth. And they foster houses.
“In the end, my goal is to only own one house. I don’t really need two or three within a block of each other,” said Jean, adding that when stabilizing the house for transport, Troy found some old movies in the walls and a few other notable items.
The most notable? “Hands down, it would be the way they used the “Boner for Mayor” sign for roof decking, which is clearly visible. That’s the kind of special touch that money can’t buy.”
“Never moving again”
What the Harrisons love about the home enough to invest in the move is the interior’s condition.
“The ceilings have never been lowered, and they almost invariably lower the ceilings,” Jean said. “The original trim is still in there. The original pocket doors and hardware are still there, and the original tile and fireplace is largely intact. It has been maintained fairly well.”
Troy, the labor behind the management, is dismantling some parts of the home so it can be moved without damaging it. He also had to remove an addition to the home built in the 1930s.
“We had to take one chimney completely out, and the other two have to be taken down to the ceiling level, brick by brick,” Troy said.
His wife, a well-known East Nashville attorney, wants to put down roots that will finally take hold. She said if she mentions another move to “anyone,” she wants to be committed.
“I’m never moving again. Unless my husband provides me with an antebellum plantation with live oaks and Spanish moss, I am not moving.”
