Ghost Houses

Looking around the Internet the other day, I chanced on an article about two married architects in Knoxville who had essentially rehabilitated an existing home in Old North Knoxville, and in order to remain true to the historical roots of the building, sought and obtained approval for the construction of two more homes immediately adjacent to their project.  They now have three structures, one of which they use as their home, and I think that they rent the other two out for income, especially earmarked for improvements to the continuing renovations on their own home.

It’s an interesting article and part of the difficulties stemmed from the customary zoning provision that only one principal structure was permitted on any one zoning lot. It’s not clear how they overcame that obstacle, whether by a zoning change, or by some type of special approval through the board of zoning appeals, but overcame it they did, and construction went forward.

It’s an interesting article and one well worth reading. I admire the dedication of these young professionals as well as their ability to design and implement the project. I have no talent along any of those lines, and trying to rehab an old structure to me sounds like an insurmountable challenge.

By the way, the "Ghost Houses" nickname comes from the coloring both inside and outside the homes.

Read the article here.

Also, there are some interesting photographs of the homes on this blog from Knoxville.