This elegant mansion was once the home of General Lawrence Davis Tyson, who served as the university’s professor of military science (1891–95). General Tyson was a lawyer (law degree from UT, 1894), the military governor of Puerto Rico following the Spanish American War, Knoxville’s US representative, and a US senator from Tennessee. He was married to Bettie McGhee, a descendant of the founder of Knoxville.
The land upon which the house stands was once part of the extensive land holdings of Oliver P. Temple. Temple, whose financial holdings were seriously affected by the panic of 1873, sold the land to James B. Johnson in 1875, as part of a court case decree. The land changed hands several times before being purchased by James M. Meek in 1884. Around 1890 James (and Elizabeth Walker) Meek had built the first house—a white frame structure—on the property and referred to it as a “country house.” James Meek surrendered the property to the court trustee as partial settlement of debt to Lawrence Tyson in 1895.
The Tysons commissioned Knoxville architect George Franklin Barber to redesign the house in “classic colonial style” in 1907. Barber faced the frame structure with soft, yellow brick and added columns, terraces, balustrades, and the porte-cochere. The builder for the conversion was Julius Lewis of New York. It is today missing some of its columns, its front steps, and its North portico, and it no longer has welcoming steps down to the extensive formal gardens that can serve as the setting for theatricals, dance recitals, and concerts, but the structure is much as it was when Barber redesigned it.
As the residence of the Tysons, the house had 11 main rooms, including a ballroom, breakfast room, and servants’ quarters. The woodwork in the house—mantels, flooring, paneling, etc.—was ordered especially for the property and was made locally by the C. B. Atkin Company. A mural enhanced one of the high ceilings.
In December 1934, following the death of Bettie Tyson, her daughter, Isabella (Mrs. Kenneth) Gilpin, gave the house and grounds to Knoxville’s St. John’s Episcopal Church, as a memorial to her parents. Titled the Bettie and Lawrence Tyson Memorial Center, it was used as the Episcopal Student Center from 1935 until the university purchased the house and land in 1954 for $75,000.
Tyson House was first used by the university to house the Division of University Extension Library (1954–69), then as offices and studios for the Art Department (1969–81). UT Art Department Head C. Kermit (Buck) Ewing described the house as a “Johnny-come-lately pretentious thing,” adding that the house symbolized the pretentious age in which it was built and was the last remaining example of the type and general architecture in the area. With the completion of the Art and Architecture Building, the building was assigned to house UT’s Alumni Programs (1981), which had been located in Aconda Court.
In 1982 UT replaced the original roof of Tyson house, and Chancellor Jack Reese insisted that it be replaced in kind, with Spanish tiles, over the objections of UT’s architect, who wished to use less costly materials. The recent expensive roof replacement proved to have been prophetic, since in 1983, as plans were being made to begin construction on the expanded John C. Hodges Library, UT system officials proposed that Tyson House be razed to provide a staging area for the massive construction. Reese declined, pointing out that the State had just made a significant investment in the building, having been assured that the building had a long-term useful purpose on campus. In 1986 the interior was largely restored.
The deed of gift of the house and grounds to St. John’s required that the grave of “Bonita,” the beloved canine pet of the Tysons, be maintained, and the same proviso is in the deed now held by the university. (Following the sale of the property to UT, the Episcopal Student Center was at 1718 Melrose Place until the present Tyson Episcopal Student Center was dedicated in September 1956, replacing the Tyson House badminton court.)
UT placed the property on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012, one of three properties it successfully nominated for inclusion on the register. The other two properties were Hopecote and Ayres Hall.