Annesdale, one of the city’s most historic properties and grandest homes an Italianate villa, built in 1850.
An Old Fashion Neighborhood Hidden In The Heart Of Memphis
The origins of the neighborhood can be traced back to 1850. Dr. Samuel Mansfield built an Italianate mansion on the outskirts of Memphis on a knoll above the stage route to Mississippi. In 1869 Colonel Robert C. Brinkley bought the home as a wedding gift to his daughter, Annie Overton Brinkley, and her new husband, Colonel Robert Bogardus Snowden. The two hundred acre estate was Annesdale in her honor.
Their sons, John and Robert, along with their father, built in 1903 what is recognized as "the first subdivision in the South, "Annesdale Park". After this successful venture, the Snowden brothers developed the Snowden Homestead Subdivision in 1910. These exclusive lots were sold for top prices and featured all of the modern conveniences of the era. The streets were named after their children.
The early residents kept the neighborhood fashionable through the teens, twenties and thirties. Kemmons Wilson, Mignon Dunn, and Walk C. Jones are famous names that called Annesdale Snowden home. The depressionand WW II took their toll. The neighborhood began it's decline. Zoning changes to multi-family further deteriorated the area through the 1950's and 1960's.
Then in 1975, the Annesdale - Snowden Association was formed with the goals of halting commercial encroachment and of improving the general appearance of the neighborhood. As a result of a request by this group, the Memphis City Council approved down-zoning to the original single-family configuration in 1977. Further proof of the area's value came in 1979 with listing in the National Register of Historic Places And in 1983, the neighborhood was honored by the City Council as first listed in the Memphis Landmarks Register. Thus, today, the area is known as the Annesdale - Snowden Historic District.
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Household items were sold from the Annesdale-Snowden home on March 2010 and below is an article by the auction company with a little history on the house and some of it's contents.
(Contents from the historic Annesdale mansion-villa in Memphis, Tenn., plus several other private Southern collections and a marvelous collection of antique guns, will highlight a sale scheduled for Saturday, March 13, 2010. The event will be facilitated by Hal Hunt Auctions.
Annesdsale is a beautiful structure, originally built in 1855 by Dr. Samuel Marsfield as a wedding present for his wife. In 1869, a Mr. Robert Brinkley bought the mansion as a wedding gift for his daughter, Annie Overton Brinkley. The 200-acre estate (pronounced “Annie’s Dale”) was named in her honor. The treasures of Annesdsale comprise the collective assembly of five generations of one family.
Monumental gold leaf over-the-mantel mirror, 8 feet 6 inches tall.
In 1876, Annie and her husband, Col. Robert Bogardus Snowden, spent their wedding anniversary at the Philadelphia Exposition, where they purchased many fine and unique furniture items that will be included in the sale. Their purchases included a 14-foot-long banquet table with matching marble-top sideboard, and a fantastic king-size bed with matching ornate mirror.
R.J. Horner round oak table, 60 inches in circumference, circa 1890s.
In 1932, the Snowdens purchased four magnificent and matching Gothic bookcases (also to be sold, with the sales receipt from 1932 and photographs) from the heirs of Helen Johnstone Harris, known as the “Bride of Annandale.” Annandale is another mansion estate, similar in name to Annesdale, located in Madison County, Miss., and burned to the ground years ago.
Gorgeous rose medallion porcelain bowl, 19th century.
Harris was known as the Bride of Annandale because, on the eve of her wedding to Henry Vick, he was tragically killed in a duel. Three years later, she married a Confederate Episcopal chaplain, George Harris, and the couple built a mansion at Mt. Helena Plantation in Rolling Fork, Miss. The bookcases and other furnishings were moved by rail to Rolling Fork.
One of a pair of 19th century Old Paris porcelain figures (the other a woman) that will be on the block.
Some of the other items that will be sold at the March 13 auction include a Regina bow-front music box changer made around 1900, playing 15½-inch discs and rare because it has a stained glass door (not a plain glass door); numerous pieces of Sevres and Old Paris porcelain; and a John H. Belter rosewood dressing vanity, rosewood bed and étagère in the Rosalie pattern.
One of four matching American Gothic bookcases from the historic Annesdale mansion-villa in Memphis
Also set to cross the block will be monumental bronze clock sets with cherubs; several pieces of great Pottier & Stymus Victorian furniture; and furniture by R.J. Horner, to include a winged lady’s partner’s desk, a winged desk and dining room table; a triple-door bookcase with Atlas men; and a matched pair of winged griffin lamps tables, about 42 inches in circumference.
Tall, high-back American Renaissance bed with bronze plaques, 69 inches by 82 inches.
Clocks made by R.J. Horner will include an 8½-foot-tall mahogany grandfather clock with winged griffins and cherubs, and an oak grandfather clock labeled Tiffany. Also sold will be furniture by Thomas Brooks; a J. & J.W. Meeks laminated marble-top center table; and old paneled glass lamps and leaded glass lamps by makers such as Wilkinson and Chicago Mosaic.
This highly carved black walnut clock was made by Ferdinand Lapp.
The bed furnished by the Snowdens at the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876 is a high-back Renaissance bed, an oversized queen (almost king) at 69 inches by 82 inches and with bronze plaques. Also purchased at the Exposition was a highly carved black walnut clock, similar to a mantel clock and made by Ferdinand Lapp. The clock was so striking it won awards at the show.
Acanthus leaf carved canopy bed, mahogany, circa 1890s.
Rounding out the expected top lots: an acanthus carved 4-poster bed, 10 feet tall (from Annesdale); two gold leaf, 8-foot-tall over-the mantel mirrors in original condition (also from Annesdale); a 19th-century rose medallion center bowl with bronze mounts; two walnut Victorian regulator grandfather clocks (one a Gilbert, Regulator #7; and one an Ansonia, Regulator #11); and a monumental Mitchells & Rammelsberg walnut half tester bed, 9 ½ feet tall, circa 1865.)
Click Here for pictures of the home by the Memphis, Commercial Appeal.
Source: Internet