The Knoll Mansion

The Knoll

2008-09-22T16:59:00.009-05:00

THE KNOLL MANSION FEATURED IN "393 MAGAZINE"
(click here for link to article)

From an era of elegance, this Tudor Revival mansion takes us back in time to an age of grace and gentility. It speaks of time-honored values and traditions, conservative good taste along with an inherent romanticism and craftsmanship. It conjures associations of aristocracy, unstudied wealth and genteel country living.

The Knoll awaits you, your children and grandchildren. It is ready for your Southern hospitality, lawn parties on summer days, house guests and dinner parties. Contact James Harwell, Broker, (601) 482-1656, for more information on this home, for sale in Meridian, Mississippi.

On the pages that follow you will learn more about The Knoll, its history, and who named it. You will view photographs and have a glimpse of its noble heritage.

THE KNOLL MANSION

It has 15,000 square feet with four stories (counting the basement and attic).

There are 13 fireplaces and two bars.
The house features 24 major rooms, including a French parlor, a gentlemen's smoking room, a library, a music room, a formal dining room, a butler's pantry, and a breakfast room.
It has a one-lane bowling alley.
The Knoll also includes numerous bedrooms and baths on the second floor.

THE KNOLL GALLERY (click)
Photography by Hannah Tibbetts
393 Magazine

Photograph by Hannah Tibbetts
393 Magazine

Free Counter

393 Magazine April/May 2009

2008-09-22T16:15:00.002-05:00

DOUBLE CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.
ALSO, HOLD DOWN CONTROL KEY ON LEFT

WHILE MOVING WHEEL UP ON MOUSE

TO ENLARGE FURTHER.

The Knoll Gallery

2008-09-22T16:00:00.013-05:00

To stop the photo for a longer view,
click the bar above, in the lower left corner.
Click again to restart.

THE KNOLL MANSION ALBUM (click)
Photography by Hannah Tibbetts
393 Magazine

Photograph by Hannah Tibbetts
393 Magazine

History

2008-09-22T15:00:00.011-05:00

Photography by Hannah Tibbets
393 Magazine

The following article, written in 1972, provides historical information about The Knoll as well as a description of the mansion up until that time.

“The Knoll” . . . A Glance Into the Past”

(Excerpts from an article written by Carol Perkins
Published in The Meridian Star, Sunday, October 8, 1972)

Probably no house in Meridian has evoked the curiosity in as many people as the one built by M. R. Grant in the first decade of the 1900’s.

Grant, who was in the building material business, selected the finest materials available for the construction of the four story home situated on a hill above winding Poplar Springs Drive.

He had lived in it only a few years when he sold it to Walter D. and Annie Laurie Meeds about 1912.

The Meeds, who were very active in the community affairs, named the house “The Knoll.”

Among many of Mrs. Meeds’ accomplishments was the organization of the first Junior Club in Mississippi, called the Junior Fortnightly Club, the goal of which was to stimulate young women in securing a college education. . . .

Walter Meeds owned and operated a lumber company, was Potentate of the Hamasa Shrine Temple and among other civic, cultural and philanthropic endeavors, assisted financially with the building of the First Presbyterian Church. . . .

The Meeds sold the house to J. W. Sanders in 1925. The VFW purchased it in the 1950s for a clubhouse but it proved unsatisfactory because of the parking problem and the neighbors’ complaints. They sold it to Charles Mosby. He and his family lived in it until his death in 1970. It was then sold to a family who lived there only a few months before leaving for an extended tour of the United States. [At the time of the writing of this article in 1972, The Knoll was owned by John and Sara Smith.]

The house is entered through a large reception hall which features darkly stained woodwork and formal columns typical of the architecture of 18th century England.

The Corinthian columns are noted for their ornately carved capitals, richly decorated with Acanthus leaves and ram horns.

The parlor, library and music room are to the left of the entrance hall.

The parlor, decidedly French, is dominated by a large built in mirror, at one time graced on either side by 22-inch-tall hand-painted vases. A crystal chandelier complements the overall opulence of the formal room.

The library features a fireplace styled in Shakespearean fashion with high backed seats. A dominate feature of the first floor, this room also has beautiful wood paneling.

The music room with its Gothic arches and a cathedral styled ceiling was built for Mrs. Grant, who was an accomplished pianist and composer. A small dais next to the windows is for the piano.

The trio of rooms are separated by sliding doors to be opened for concerts Mrs. Grant would give. As one sat in the French parlor one could see a carved wood panel in the music room which Mrs. Grant hoped would conceal the pipes to a pipe organ she planned to install but never did.

To the right of the reception hall is the den. The handles of the doors were custom made with the insignia of the 32nd Degree Mason. Both Grand and Meed held this degree. The room also features two large bookcases with richly designed leaded glass doors. . . .

A smaller hall to the porte cochere is graced with a mirror, Corinthian columns and side panels of leaded glass next to the door. A dining room, pantry, kitchen breakfast room and half bath complete the first floor.

The dining room features a ceiling lamp suspended on a heavy chain with a shade of amber and green stained glass. The dado and the door to the large butler’s pantry were both designed to accent the diamond shaped window panes. Lamps on each side of the large brick fireplace are also of green and amber glass. The fireplace shield is of heavy cooper.

Between the pantry and kitchen was a large ice refrigerator reaching from floor to ceiling. The unique feature was that ice could be loaded into it from an outside back porch.

A butler callboard in a wall outside the kitchen has each room in the house listed upon it with an arrow beside the room named. Anyone wanting a servant had only to push a bell located in each room.

The wide stairs of the entrance hall divide on the first landing into two stairways, diamond shaped. The light is lamps on the newel posts appeared to guard the second floor.

A skylight dominates the wide hall of this floor. It has leaded amber glass panels of filtered through from glass windows in the roof. In the attic one can look down upon the leaded glass skylight for it is in a large wooden enclosure covered with heavy wire. The attic floor space is equal to that of the second floor.

There are five bedrooms, three baths and a sewing room on this floor. Several of the bedrooms and the sewing room open onto balconies. From the sewing room a chute was once used to carry soiled clothes to the basement laundry room.

The basement is divided into two sections, each reached by separate stairs. A bowling alley and an adjoining poolroom were designed by the Grants to entertain their guests.

On the other side of the basement is the laundry room, a furnace room with a large coal bin, and a wine cellar and a very large storage room. Mrs. Meeds used the latter to store barrels of flour, sugar and all vegetables and fruit she preserved. Grant was fearful of the Meridian water supply so there was also a large water tank there. . . .

1911 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost

Historic Preservation District

2008-09-21T14:05:00.008-05:00

City councilman, ward 5, John Harris, Mayor John Robert Smith,
and Connie Royal revealed a new Historic marker Thursday afternoon
to many residents of the Poplar Springs area.
The Poplar Springs Historic marker was dedicated to
Mrs. Charles A. Ray Sr. and Mrs. Richard Lyle
who are longtime residents of the area.

* * *

POPLAR SPRINGS DISTRICT EMBRACES HISTORY

By Jennifer Jacob Brownjjacob@themeridianstar.com

For about the past 20 years, Meridian has been home to several nationally recognized historic preservation districts. But until Thursday, only one had markers proclaiming it as such.

After a fundraising campaign by Dr. Sonny Rush, the Poplar Springs Historic Preservation District became the second historic district in Meridian to have an official marker.

Though congress first passed legislation to designate historic places in 1968, it took a long time for the program to be funded, and most of Meridian's historic districts were designated as such in the 1980's.

To qualify as a historic district, an area must have a high concentration of buildings with historical architectural significance that are at least 50 years old. All of those buildings have to be documented, and photos and descriptions of them sent to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Once Archives and History approves the districts, they send the information on to the National Park Service, which then approves the district to be added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Designation as a historic district doesn't automatically come with a marker. The markers must be purchased at a cost of $1,700, and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History must approve the wording on the marker before it is granted.

The banners and historic marker in the Poplar Springs district are there because of a joint effort by homeowners. Dr. Sonny Rush developed a passion about preserving Poplar Springs as a historic residential area, and decided to recruit people to the cause.

He sent out letters and went door to door, getting his neighbors to join the Poplar Springs Historic Society. The society pooled money to fund the marker as well as numerous banners on Poplar Springs Drive light posts, and gained approval for them from the city council.

Now that the marker and banners are in place, Rush said the next thing on the society's agenda is to try to have Soule type benches placed along Poplar Springs Drive, possibly along with special light posts and street signs.

Rush called the Poplar Springs district the "St. Charles of Meridian," and said one of his main goals is to prevent parts of the district from being rezoned for business.

Dr. Rush gave a brief history of the district. Before it was ever a street, he said, Poplar Springs Drive was a cattle trail. There was a spring north of Meridian, and around the turn of the century, cattle meandered along the trail to reach the springs, giving Poplar Springs Drive it's curvy shape, which is fairly unusual in Meridian.

In the 1910s and '20s, wealthy families in Meridian began to move north, he said, building many of the large homes that still stand along Poplar Springs Drive. The area was developed by M.R. Grant, who named it Marion Park after his daughter. There was a streetcar that brought passengers from downtown Meridian to the Poplar Springs area, and one of the banners marks the old streetcar stop.

Rush said he wants Poplar Springs to serve as a conduit from the Arts District downtown to North Meridian.

The two markers downtown — one marking the African-American historic business district, and the other marking the Union Station historic district — were acquired in the 1990s. At the time they were acquired, the markers recognized two separate districts, but in 2006, the two districts were merged, along with a few other historic areas downtown. Now, those two markers are both within the Meridian Downtown Historic Preservation District.

There are seven historic districts in Meridian: Highlands, which includes Highland Park; Merrehope, which includes the Merrehope and F.W. Williams homes; West End, just south of the Merrehope district; East End, which is east of downtown; Mid-town, which is just south of the Poplar Springs district and north of downtown; Poplar Springs, which runs north to south from Meridian High School to 22nd Street.; and the Meridian Downtown historic district, which is in the southern part of downtown, from Fifth Street to Front Street.

Source: The Meridian Star, March 29, 2009

Tudor Revival

2008-09-21T14:00:00.002-05:00

"Newfound prosperity gave birth to the original English Tudor architecture, which spans the reign of Henry VII in 1485 to the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. Coming on the heels of the Gothic movement, the houses gained popularity among the nobility who no longer felt the need to live in fortified castles. In fact, the oak-paneled Tudor was a step up -- cozier and more elegant than a Gothic pile of stacked stones

In the 19th century, having fallen for the style's inherent romanticism and craftsmanship, Victorian poet and designer William Morris, among others, helped spark an English revival in the vernacular style. And during the early decades of the 20th century, the style crossed the Atlantic. Developers constructed entire Tudor neighborhoods in wealthy, fast-growing suburbs, such as New York's Bronxville and Philadelphia's Chestnut Hill.

"Tudor style became popular in America as a means of suggesting ancestral ties to England". . . . (Source: Southern Accents)

The following video provides excellent information on Tudor Revival homes homes.

Meridian, Mississippi

2008-09-20T15:42:00.004-05:00

This video was created by Leading Edges Advertising
for the Meridian Downtown Association.
http://www.leadingedges.net/video/index.html

For an excellent website on Meridian, Mississippi,
full of useful and interesting information
as well as other videos, visit its official website.
Click here. (http://www.meridianms.org/)

Contact

2008-09-20T15:00:00.010-05:00

JDH Commercial Realty, LLC

For more information on The Knoll Mansion, contact

James Harwell, Broker,

(601) 482-1656, ext. 1

Lena McRae, Agent

(601) 482-1656, ext. 2

Website: JDH COMMERCIAL REALTY, LLC (click)

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