Easements
What is a preservation easement?
A preservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between a property owner (easement donor) and a qualified preservation organization (easement holder). This agreement protects a significant historic, archaeological, or cultural resource by giving the easement holder certain rights and responsibilities associated with perpetual protection. The easement does not prevent future sales, leases, or estate planning, and the property owner remains responsible for maintenance and taxes.
Is Knox Heritage a qualified easement holder?
Yes. As a nonprofit organization with a mission focused on historic preservation, Knox Heritage is qualified to accept and hold preservation easements. Our organization currently holds preservation easements on several historic structures including Giffin School, the Eugenia Williams House, the Alexandra Inn, and the Airplane Filling Station.
I'd like to donate a preservation easement to Knox Heritage. Who do i contact for more information?
For more information about preserving your historic property, please contact Hollie Cook at hollie@knoxheritage.org or (865) 523-8008 ext. 3.
The National Trust also has a very helpful summary of preservation easements.
Easements Held by Knox Heritage
The Alexander Inn
The Alexander Inn, originally known as The Guest House, was constructed during the Manhattan Project to accommodate official visitors and later operated as a hotel. A 44‑room wing was added in 1949, and the federal government sold the property in 1958. Hotel operations continued until the mid‑1990s, after which the building sat vacant for years. Following an $8 million restoration by Dover Development, the historic structure reopened in November 2015 as a senior living community.
The Airplane Filling Station
Brothers Henry and Elmer Nickle originally built the structure as a gas station, designing it to resemble Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis. In 2005, the Airplane Filling Station Preservation Association purchased and restored the distinctive building. Knox Heritage owned the property from October 2018 until March 2023, when it was sold to its current owners.
The Buck Brothers/Rexall Building
The Buck Brothers/Rexall Building, constructed by brothers J.H. and W.A. Buck, has served as a versatile cornerstone of the community for more than a century. Over its long life, the building has housed a pharmacy, retail shops, a doctor’s office, a dance hall, a meeting hall, the local phone company, an armory, and even the town’s post office. Its layered history reflects the evolving needs of the area and the Buck brothers’ role in shaping a true multi‑purpose gathering place.
The Shell House
Designed by William Starke Shell (1937–2017), a longtime University of Tennessee architecture professor who retired in 2010, the house is a striking modernist glass structure perched on the Tennessee River cliffs in the Lakemoor Hills neighborhood. Shell served as the designer, contractor, project manager, and much of the labor force, with additional help from his students. The house, along with an adjacent vacant lot, was later donated to the Knoxville Museum of Art, and KMA partnered with Knox Heritage to place a protective easement on the property in 2018.
The Jacob Brown House
The Jacob Brown House sits on land first bought by Jacob Brown from the Cherokee in 1775, and the brick home standing today was built by his grandson Byrd Brown in 1845. It’s one of Jonesborough’s oldest surviving ties to the area’s frontier roots and has been part of the Oak Ridge Historic District since 2014.
The Lloyd Branson House
The Lloyd Branson House was built in 1922 by Lloyd Branson (1853–1925), a well‑known regional artist who had bought and subdivided about 15 acres off Broadway years earlier—what was then Rhode Island Avenue, later renamed Branson Avenue. He planned and built several homes in the area, but his own house eventually fell into disrepair and was declared blighted before entering the City of Knoxville Homemakers Program. Knox Heritage later restored the property and placed a preservation easement, keeping Branson’s legacy rooted in the neighborhood he helped shape.
3031 E. Fifth Avenue
3031 E. 5th Avenue is a historic home built by Frank C. Wilson, a superintendent at Regal Manufacturing Company, and designed in the Folk Victorian style. As the neighborhood evolved through the 20th century, the house remained a quiet marker of the area’s early residential growth. It was purchased in 2017 by Knox Heritage through the City of Knoxville Homemakers Program, securing its preservation and continued place in the community’s history.
The Eugenia Williams House
The Eugenia Williams House was built in 1941 by Eugenia Williams (1900–1998) and designed by noted Houston architect and Knoxville native John Fanz Staub (1892–1981). Set on 24 acres overlooking the Tennessee River, the 10,600‑square‑foot residence is one of the region’s finest examples of Regency‑style architecture. Williams later willed the property to the University of Tennessee in honor of her father, Dr. David H. Williams, a Knoxville physician and early Coca‑Cola investor. From 2020-2026, the Aslan Foundation purchased the estate and undertook its restoration, ensuring the home’s legacy endures for future generations as a house museum and event venue.
The Fairview House
The Fairview House, originally known as Fairvue, is one of Jefferson City’s most significant historic properties. Built in 1850 by Stokeley Donelson Williams in the Roman Classical Revival style, the home was named to reflect its sweeping views of surrounding farmlands and distant mountains. In 1894, the property was sold to Carrie James, beginning a new chapter in its long rural legacy. Recognized today as a designated Century Farm, Fairview stands as a testament to the region’s agricultural heritage and the families who shaped it.
Giffin Grammar School
Giffin Grammar School is a historic South Knoxville landmark, originally built in 1928 as a small neighborhood‑scale school and designed by Barber & McMurry in the Colonial Revival style. A 1950 addition introduced six classrooms, a gym, and a cafeteria, created by architect Bruce McCarty of Rutherford and Painter in the International style. The school closed in 1995 and later served as the headquarters for Remote Area Medical (RAM) until 2014. Today, Giffin is being transformed into affordable family housing as part of a broader community redevelopment effort, preserving its legacy while giving the building a new purpose.
The Mauney House
The Mauney House, built in 1890, reflects a long succession of late‑19th and early‑20th‑century residents, beginning with Reverend Isaac Van Dewater and later including a clerk, a Knoxville Woolen Mill foreman, a locomotive engineer, a superintendent, a marble company engineer, and police officer Edger T. Keisling, known for his Prohibition‑era raids. Jonathan H. Mauney, the home’s namesake, lived here from 1921–1922 while serving as the first superintendent of Fort Sanders Hospital and participating in local civic and archaeological circles. Architecturally, the house is an an excellent example of the Victorian Cottage style.
The Standard
Constructed in 1930, 416 W. Jackson Avenue was built for the Ingersoll-Rand Corporation, a company known for manufacturing mining and industrial machinery. Over the following decades, the property functioned as part of Knoxville’s expanding industrial corridor along Jackson Avenue, which developed to serve the region’s commerce and manufacturing industries during the early twentieth century. In 2011, the property was purchased by Dewhirst Properties, which began rehabilitation efforts that adapted the building for new commercial use while retaining its historic character.