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The AJ Building: What's old will soon be new again

A Nashville developer plans to restore the historic Andrew Johnson building to a hotel. A benefit for TAMIS offers a sneak peek at its history before work begins.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — For nearly a century, the Andrew Johnson Building has loomed large over Knoxville. To this day, it remains a fixture in the city’s center.

For now, it sits empty, but its past provides a playbook for its future.

It’s a storied history, 17 stories, that dates to the mid-1920s.

Eric Dawson, an archivist with the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound, said a group of investors in 1925 decided a new hotel in Knoxville would be a good investment. At that time, Knoxville was growing and so was tourism given the birth of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Dawson says it was time for a newer, bigger hotel so buildings and homes were cleared to make way.

"They chose a spot along the river, and they were going to call it the Tennessee Terrace. Construction began in late 1926," Dawson said. "It’s called the Tennessee Terrace almost up until they open. Late in 1928, someone decided they wanted to call it the William Blount because Blount Mansion is right down the road."

Ultimately, hotel leaders passed on that name and held a contest. "The Andrew Johnson" won out. It opened in 1929 with a splash.    

"It was the tallest building in East Tennessee for about 50 years and had a giant neon gas sign 'Andrew John,' that was probably the biggest sign in Tennessee for many, many years as well," Dawson said. 

Its ballrooms, meeting rooms, and restaurants were a hub for locals, hosting concerts, art shows, and musical performances.

The Andrew Johnson also hosted distinguished guests, including French philosopher and writer Jean-Paul Sartre, Russian composer-pianist, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and famed aviator pioneer, Amelia Earhart. And most notably, country music legend Hank Williams spent his last night there. 

"The debate continues whether he perished in the hotel or on the road. He was certainly alive when he went in," Dawson said. 

Other country legends like Roy Acuff performed on WNOX radio’s live music variety show, "Midday Merry-Go-Round." It was broadcast from the hotel’s top floor through 1935.

By the late 1970s, the Andrew Johnson’s glory days had come and gone. It closed only to open and close again through the years as an office space, housing for UT students and Knox County School’s central office but a resurgence is on the horizon.

The nearly 100-year-old building is getting new life. Nashville developer BNA Associates has plans to restore it to a hotel with entertainment space.

You can tour the "AJ" before the work begins on Friday, November 15th. "Meet me at the AJ" is from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The evening will include music, archival video of the building and Downtown Knoxville. Proceeds benefit TAMIS.

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