University of Tennessee

University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee

University of Tennessee report to the Getty (PDF) 35.8MB

Founded in 1794, the University of Tennessee (UT) was the first non-sectarian institution of higher learning established in the United States. The campus has a long and impressive history, occupied by both armies during the Civil War, linked to the Tennessee Valley Authority and Oak Ridge, and a site for the 1982 World's Fair. The University has 220 buildings on 550 acres, including nine excellent examples of early twentieth-century Collegiate Gothic architecture built between 1921 and 1935. Grant funds will be used to inventory and assess campus buildings and sites, review administrative policies, and recommend improved approaches to preservation across the University.

University of Tennessee received a Getty grant in 2006 for $150,000 to support campus heritage planning.

Report Summary

Purpose: Grant funds will be used to inventory and assess the university’s 220 buildings and sites on its 550 acres, review administrative policies, and recommend improved approaches to preservation across the University. Also improve awareness, support and learning opportunities of the university’s historic resources.

Historic Designation: A prehistoric mound located on-campus was approved for the National Register of Historic Sites in 1976; there is no current heritage designation or application for campus buildings.

Founded in 1794, the University of Tennessee (UT) was the first non-sectarian institution of higher learning established in the United States. Today’s 550-acre campus has 220 buildings, including nine excellent examples of early twentieth-century Collegiate Gothic architecture built between 1921 and 1935. Many of the buildings were designed in College Gothic style by Barber and McMurry. The site has a long and impressive history: occupation by both armies during the Civil War, linkage to the Tennessee Valley Authority and Oak Ridge, and hosting the 1982 World's Fair.

Planning Process:

• Respond to student and faculty criticizing tradition of non-preservation
• Review historic records of area documentation
• Engage graduate students to inventory and photograph campus buildings and features
• Have graduate students assess campus buildings and features by applying Secretary of the Interior’s standards for historic significance
• Identify significant and contributory campus buildings
• Identify campus areas or structures eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Sites
• Survey faculty, government representatives, public, peer institutions regarding preservation practice, planning, and a 25-year vision for the school
• Identify model preservation strategies from the survey of peer institutions
• Present recommendations in form of the report

Outcomes: Products

• Report from the Faculty Senate Task Force on Historic Preservation (2006)
• Tabular presentation of preservation activities at peer institutions
• Illustrated digital database of campus structures

Outcomes: Policies and Plans

• Persuade university to change planning and building from a fixed-map based approach to a comprehensive policy based approach, stressing sustainability and employing a more transparent process of decision making
• Designate a university Campus Historic Preservation Officer
• Restore the university position of Campus Planner
• Adopt nationally recognized standards, principles, and practices of historic preservation
• Add explanations to commemorative structures, if possible using explanatory plaques
• Nominate eligible, remaining campus structures, mostly 19th-century and organized into two groups, for the National Register of Historic Districts
• Publicize preservation activity and create a related development campaign

Unique features:

• Existing structures primarily from the post-1950’s
• Response to rather than continuation of university practice
• Publication of monument texts
• Survey of peer institutions regarding preservation policies and practices
• Encouragement of off-campus historic preservation in the neighboring community