Sterick Building, riverfront cobblestones on endangered list
The Commercial Appeal | By Tom Bailey Jr.
Photo by The Commercial Appeal files
Two of Downtown's highest and lowest structures are now listed among the 10 most endangered historic sites in Tennessee. The 31-story Sterick Building, boarded up at age 80, and the 19th century cobblestone landing along the riverfront are on the Tennessee Preservation Trust's annual list. The ranking is designed to rally public support behind the preservation of historic structures.
The estimated 800,000 cobblestones were part of the steamboat wharf built between Beale and Jefferson from the 1850s to 1890s. They provide a rare example of 19th century cobblestone wharves and constitute the "most intact cobblestone landing on the major inland waterways of the U.S.," according to a news release from the trust. They are now threatened by "neglect and inappropriate development," it stated. The "development" apparently refers to the Riverfront Development Corporation's plan to restore and preserve the cobblestone landing. "Inappropriate renovations, redevelopment challenges and a looming land-lease expiration" threaten the building, states the trust's press release. Citizens and preservation groups around the state nominate sites to be placed on the endangered list.
The Sterick's "mere presence Downtown as a landmark is tremendously significant," said June West, executive director of Memphis Heritage. "We don't think we'll see any more of that nature built for quite a while." Preservationists realize renovating the Sterick Building will be difficult, given its age and such "environmental issues" as asbestos, West said. So Memphis Heritage, which nominated the building to make the list, is seeking to buy time for the building until conditions change or opportunities arise. Sterick LLC owns the structure.
Memphis Heritage and Friends of Our Riverfront jointly nominated the cobblestones, West said. Friends of Our Riverfront has opposed the RDC's $6.8 million plan to preserve the cobblestones by, in part, putting rip-rap at the base of the slope so the stones don't erode into the harbor. The group also has opposed plans to build three concrete walks along the cobblestones, and say both the rip-rap and walks mar the historic character of the landing.
Lance Murphey/The Commercial Appeal files
The RDC also believes the cobblestones to be an "incredible historical" site, RDC president Benny Lendermon said Tuesday. The concrete walks not only take up less than 1 percent of the cobblestone landing, they also provide a way to bury the overhead utilities, he said. Putting a concrete apron instead of rip-rap at the base of the landing would double the restoration cost, Lendermon said. The RDC consulted with the state historic preservation office -- not the same as the Tennessee Preservation Trust -- before designing the project and, as a result, "changed a number of things," Lendermon said.
It is the first time either the cobblestones or Sterick Building made the endangered list, which doesn't always work. For example, the old Rosemark School building made the 2008 list, but was demolished by Tipton-Rosemark Academy. Memphis's Zippin Pippin roller coaster made the 2006 list, but was purchased this year by Green Bay, Wis., and dismantled. Both the cobblestones and the Sterick Building are on the National Register of Historic Places.