Tennessee Brewery

495 Tennessee St., Memphis, TN, 38103 United States

Building Area (sf): Brewery: 65,369 sf; Wash House: 84,530 sf; Bottle Shop: 17,670 sf; Garage 109,636 sf

Completion: June 2018

Architect of Record:

LRK

Tony Pellicciotti (Principal in Charge), Rebecca Courtney (Principal in Charge of Interiors), Lauren Tolbert, Kandi Williams, Lisa Law, Jodi Davis, Krissy Buck Flickinger, Wendy Cooper Kelly

• Owner/Client:
• General Contractor: Montgomery Martin Contractors
• Electrical: Chad Stewart & Associates, Inc. (Structural), HNA Engineering, PLLC (Mechanical/Plumbing), DePouw Engineering, LLC (Electrical), PDG (Civil), Graham Reese Design Group (Furniture Design for Tower Ventures), Blair Parker Design (Landscape Architect)
• Engineering:
  
• Other:
  
• Photography:
  Chad Mellon (01, 06, 07, 08, 10), LRK (02, 03, 04 right), strongtowns.org (04 left), Nick McGinn (05), Brad Bell (09)
  

Commissioned to preserve the building from imminent demolition, the architect conceived a radical project expansion that included four new buildings of predicable cost for “dollar-cost-averaging.”

Originally opened in 1890, this historic brewery sat abandoned for 50 years during which it cycled between being fully exposed and securely enclosed. Ironically, the well-intentioned preservation efforts created the most damage, trapping humidity inside and severely deteriorating parts of the steel structure to the point of failure.

With a demolition date set for August 2014, the architect was engaged for one last study. It was clear that the physical condition, the large atrium, and 16 elevation changes in a six-story building made stand-alone renovation infeasible. The architect’s response to this challenge was to grow the project – to expand to include the adjacent parcel site across the street. The historic character of the brewery was leveraged to add value to the new construction, which in turn provided predictable, cost-effective construction.

The result is a whole greater than the parts. The design transformed blight into an inclusive mixed-use community of 148 residential units and 16,000 square feet of commercial and office space.

The project delicately balances the tension between historic rehab, traditional architecture, and contemporary design. The Romanesque Revival architecture of the brewery was artfully renovated, preserving character and embracing new insertions like the industrial clad rooftop townhomes, and reviving much of the interior street art as a reference to the building’s recent history. Immediately adjacent, a new traditionally designed structure deferentially supports the landmarks status of the brewery, while a contemporary industrial form and character was employed across the street - proving the whole is more than the parts.