Oak Ridge Today

Hospitality Houses at MMC win 2016 Historic Preservation Award

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Hospitality Houses

One of the Hospitality Houses is pictured above. (Submitted photo from March 2015)

 

The Hospitality Houses at Methodist Medical Center have won the 2016 Historic Preservation Award, the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association announced Friday.

The award is presented by the ORHPA each year on Oak Ridge’s birthday, September 19. That’s the day in 1942 that General Leslie Groves selected this area as the first site in support of the top-secret Manhattan Project, a federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II.

The Hospitality Houses are managed by Kim Maes of Methodist Medical Center, a press release said. These houses are original Oak Ridge E-2 duplexes located at 210 and 216 West Tennessee Avenue. [Read more…]

ORHPA to give historic preservation award to former Lakewood Hall

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Lakewood Hall

This year, the selection of the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association’s Historic Preservation Award is Lakewood Hall. This historic building is occupied by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 270. Located on Lincoln Circle, this building in 1945 was headquarters for the Special Engineer Detachment. (Photo courtesy ORHPA)

 

A nonprofit organization will present a historic preservation award to the owners of the former Lakewood Hall on Lincoln Circle on Monday.

The presentation is at 11 a.m. Monday, September 21, at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Union building on Lincoln Circle.

The presentation has been organized by the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association, or ORHPA.

The award will be given to the IBEW Union Local 270, owners of the former Lakewood Hall. [Read more…]

Alexander Inn, Family Pride to receive historic preservation award

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Guest House Senior Living Concept

Artist concept of the Guest House/Alexander Inn Senior Living Center. (Images courtesy ORHPA)

The company converting a historic two-story hotel in Jackson Square into an assisted living center will receive a historic preservation award on Thursday. The award presentation will be held at the front door of the Guest House/Alexander Inn at 12:30 p.m. Thursday.

“When Rick Dover and Family Pride acquired the property in May 2013, it was in total disrepair,” a press release said. “A $6 million investment will restore this beloved icon to its former glory.”

“We’re going to faithfully restore this building to its original look, from the soda-fountain bar in the lobby to the beautiful wide porch out front,” Dover said.

The building is on the National Register of Historic Places and is included as part of the proposed new Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Oak Ridge. It’s been removed from an annual list of endangered places in East Tennessee published by the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance.

Top military leaders and scientists once stayed at the Alexander Inn. The renovation by Family Pride started in July 2013, the culmination of a years-long preservation effort. [Read more…]

Gov. Haslam supports national preservation award for Alexander Inn

Posted at
By 1 Comment

Alexander Inn Groundbreaking

Local, state, and federal officials join volunteers and nonprofit and business executives for a groundbreaking ceremony at the historic Alexander Inn in November.

Gov. Bill Haslam is supporting a nomination for a national historic preservation award for a project converting the Alexander Inn in Oak Ridge into an assisted living center.

Knox Heritage and East Tennessee Preservation Alliance have nominated the hotel for the 2014 The National Trust/Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Award for Federal Partnerships in Historic Preservation.

In a Feb. 25 letter, Haslam said he supports the nomination. The letter was sent to Stephanie Meeks at the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, D.C.

The Alexander Inn was built during World War II, when Oak Ridge raced to help build the world’s first atomic weapons as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project. Guests who once stayed at the two-story hotel included Gen. Leslie Groves, Secretary of War Henry Stimson, and physicists J. Robert Oppenheimer and Enrico Fermi. [Read more…]