122 S 12th Street - Ambrose House This two-and-a-half story brick Victorian residence is another Hugh Cathcart Thompson design. The original owners paid a mere $7,000 for the house in 1890. It is known as "The Ambrose House" for a subsequent owner that became treasurer and board member of the N.C. & St. L. Railroad and whose family lived here for forty years. As many urban buildings, it gradually suffered from the neglect which afflicted East Nashville. By the early 1980s it reached the lowest point as a boarding house for, well, it wasn't the "Chicken Ranch", but you get the idea. The Richardsonian Romanesque masonry details are softened by an Eastlake-style front porch, which wraps the corner turret tower. By 2003, when the house was last sold, it had been stripped of its original slate roof and finials, exterior cornices, interior trim, mantels, doors and plaster. The staircase was missing its original large, carved newel post at the bottom of the stair.Gordon Gilbreath for the past six years has overseen restoration and reconstruction: the porch, slate roof and finials were reconstructed from a 1900 photograph and surviving fragments; the original front door was found, restored and rehung; a replica of the newel post was fabricated according to measurements and pictures taken of the original; new moldings were made to match the originals and new plaster was applied throughout. This residence and special events venue is going to last another 100+ years! Metropolitan Historical Commission Award Winner |