"Important Step" for 1911 School
By Margaret Foster | Online Only | July 21, 2010
Portions of a historic Franklin, Tenn., school building abandoned since the 1990s may be restored and integrated into a new theater complex.
Fleming Hall was constructed in 1911 on the campus of the private Battle Ground Academy. When the school relocated in 1995, Williamson County took ownership. County officials had considered tearing down the structure, but reversed course earlier this month and passed a resolution to protect viable parts of the building.
On July 12, Williamson County commissioners voted 22-1 to preserve as much of the original structure as possible, only approving demolition of newer additions that are in poor condition.
County Commissioner Mary Brockman, who rewrote the resolution to emphasize restoration, not demolition, of Fleming Hall, says, "I think you could restore the whole front section, not just the facade. You have to have the will to [restore] it, and I don't know how strong our will is. This is really an important start."
Although much of the building will likely be razed, local preservation groups have declared the vote a victory.
"It is so much better than it could have been," says Mary Pearce, executive director of the Heritage Foundation of Franklin and Williamson County, which has been fighting for years to save the former school. "It's still yet to be seen how much of a model project it'll be, but it's certainly moving in the right direction."
Two of the Heritage Foundation's board members, who are historic-preservation contractors, plan to work with county officials to assess what can be saved, Pearce says.
"At the very least we will be preserving the facade and we will be rebuilding the sides and rear to match what was there, recreating them," she says. "At the very best … the whole shell can be saved." The county commissioners have given the local J.L. Clay Senior Citizens Center permission to build a 750-seat theater around restored portions of Franklin Hall.
Two years ago, the National Trust for Historic Preservation gave the Heritage Foundation a grant toward a structural study of Fleming Hall. Perhaps the county should have acted earlier, Brockman says. "It's just been languishing; it's in such a state of disrepair. If you look back 10 years ago, [the commissioners] could have saved it at that point."
Fleming Hall is too important to lose, says Dan Brown, former executive director of Tennessee Preservation Trust, because the loss of Fleming Hall would be devastating for Franklin. "It's at the core of what made Franklin what it is. These are the kinds of things you can't lose. This is an institution that's been at the heart and soul of their community."
Did you know? In 2009, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named Franklin, Tenn., to its list of America's Dozen Distinctive Destinations.
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