Printers Alley Residence

Details

Baronne Antoinette de Charette purchased the original two-story property in 1870.  As a 16-year-old girl, Antoinette Polk rode her horse to successfully warn a brigade of Confederate soldiers that Union soldiers were approaching. Later, she married a French baron.

In 1890, the property was sold to B. F. Wilson, who added three floors to the building.  He leased the building to the Webb Stevenson Co., a manufacturer of tin ceilings, stoves and other metal products.

A fire in 1892 damaged the top two floors and completely destroyed several adjacent buildings.  Three firemen were killed fighting the blaze when a wall collapsed on them.  Reconstruction of the building began in 1894 and the property passed through several owners over the next fifty years.  In 1952, the fourth and fifth floors were taken down after another fire destroyed the 215 Printers Alley building next door.

In 1954, Jack Norman, Sr. purchased the building. He was a noted trial lawyer, author and influential in the Tennessee Democratic Party. Norman and his wife Carrie often entertained high profile guests including Jack and Jackie Kennedy at their Printers Alley home.