Unique And Historic Scholze/Reynolds Home On Lookout Mountain On The Market

Located at 282 Stephenson Ave. on Lookout Mountain is a unique home for sale that could almost be referred to as a tile palace.

With countless artistically designed mosaics of multiple colors, it seems to have more tiles on numerous walls and floors than a tile warehouse in a big city might have in its stockrooms. Like glass on a unique and custom-designed mid-century modern home or ‘70s adornments at Elvis’ Graceland, tile artwork is definitely the residence’s most eye-catching feature.

That is, even though the sprawling stucco-covered home also has a unique turret-towered entrance and a separate ballroom/event building with a fountain in the middle, among several other unusual features.

Also rare about this home is that it has not been for sale often – until now. For what is believed to be only about the third time since George Scholze Sr. of the once-burgeoning Scholze Tannery family built it more than 90 years ago, it is now on the market.

It is being listed by Lizzer Graham of Fletcher Bright Realty for $2.3 million. The residence features 3,998 square feet of living space that includes three bedrooms, including a uniquely raised one, and five full bathrooms, with one almost fit for a prince with detailed tilework. And if that is not enough to turn a head, it also has several almost-hotel-like gathering rooms.

It also has plenty of wrought-iron ornamentation and doors that Ms. Graham said were possibly done by noted metalsmith Samuel Yellin, some stained-glass windows rumored to have been made by the famous Tiffany firm, and some interesting small circular murals in one kitchen wall.

Another feature is some drapery that reportedly came from the Fairyland Club.

And for those who like to entertain, the 3.6-acre grounds also include a 2,114-square-foot building Ms. Graham calls a “party house” and which includes a patio, a tile-covered bar, fireplaces, large wooden ceiling beams, and a unique fountain in the middle. The latter once was used as a champagne fountain in the lavish entertaining days of old, according to an old writeup in the Saturday Evening Post magazine.

In short for a lover of early 20^th century residential ornamentation and architecture, there seems to be something interesting around every corner.

The home, which appears to be in good shape but with a kitchen last renovated a few decades ago, also includes a three-car garage with an apartment above it.

Ms. Graham, the daughter of the late noted former realtor and Dismembered Tennesseans bluegrass musician Fletcher Bright, recently offered a tour of the home, which was emptied out following an estate sale in October.

As we walked around for close to an hour examining it, she was full of observational quotes describing the out-of-the-ordinary home. For example, at one point she said with a chuckle of some of the uniquely shaped rooms, “There are not many right angles in this house.”

And while standing in the ballroom building, she added, “You could have 200 of your best friends in here for sure.”

She was also full of high praises for the home’s sturdiness and high-quality construction and craftsmanship, and its equally strong place in the community in terms of history and uniqueness.

“It’s iconic. There’s not another one in Chattanooga, I do believe,” she said. “And this lot is gorgeous. This is a lot of space for Lookout Mountain.”

The home is believed to have been built by at least the mid-1930s. Some online searching of old newspapers with the help of Jennifer Rydell at the Chattanooga Public Library’s Local History and Genealogy department found one article that could date the home or at least part of it to even earlier. Or perhaps the ballroom building was built after the house.

Ms. Rydell found an article from 1928 that said they were readying for their daughter, Nell Hildegarde Scholze, this “Windsor” home that was named after Elizabeth Scholze’s maiden name. The daughter had spent more than a year in the Denver, Co., area enjoying the mountain air due to tuberculosis or a related respiratory ailment, with her mother alongside her.

Unfortunately, Hildegarde died in July 1931, right after also spending several months at a sanitarium in Tucson, Az., with her mother accompanying her again. Hildegarde had been born in 1907, the same year her grandfather died, and is buried in the Scholze mausoleum at Forest Hills Cemetery. She had also been taken by her mother to New York, Switzerland, and Los Angeles for treatment, her obituary said.

Her parents, George and Elizabeth Scholze Sr., also lived at the Stephenson Avenue home with their son, George Jr., who in his adult years built a home at 940 Scenic Highway that was the scene of a memorable auction of its own fine belongings in 1982. George Jr. lived until 1972, while his wife, Maurine, died in 1982.

George Scholze Sr., whose parents had both been born in Germany, had taken over father Robert’s tannery operation after the elder Scholze’s unfortunate death in 1907 following an accident at St. Elmo Avenue and (Old) Wauhatchie Pike not far from the Robert Scholze family home. Robert and George Sr. were being pulled in a buggy when their horse became disturbed and took off running. George Sr. jumped off to try to grab control of the reins but Robert was unfortunately thrown from the buggy.

Robert Scholze at this time was already said to be quite wealthy from this business that ironically also dealt with materials used in the horse industry.

Born in St. Elmo in a home where the tannery was later located, George Scholze Sr. later traveled extensively, including a multi-week airplane trip in 1935 to South America related to his work.

Ms. Graham said the story was passed down to the Lentz Reynolds’ family, whose descendants are selling the home as part of the estate, that the Scholzes had also traveled to Europe and fell in love with the tile work in Spain and elsewhere and wanted a Spanish villa-style home. As a result, the outside was also adorned with stucco.

A big question that could not be answered with a casual look in the library or through an online search of available newspapers is who the architect of the home was. Ms. Graham said she has also not been able to track that down.

It was likely a dream commission for whomever was selected. That is due to the home’s rounded entrance hall complete with a rounded front door, a large room that might have been an original entertainment hall, several fireplaces, and the top turret and basically unfinished bedroom accessible only from the outside. Whether the latter’s design was done before Hidegarde’s passing and to help her get the freshest mountain air possible is at least one idea.

Ms. Graham said they did hear the story that the outside of the top tower room was used by George Scholze Sr. to watch the parties going on in the ballroom building to the rear of the home. He apparently did not attend some of them, or at least for long.

They appear to be more of the benefit-type events for Ms. Scholze’s passions like the now-razed Pine Breeze Sanitarium, no doubt due to her daughter, and the Chattanooga Music Club. Old newspaper articles talk of a “fiesta” at the home in July 1940 to benefit Pine Breeze and a Christmas party as well that same year. An old Saturday Evening Post article talks of one there in 1949.

The home also features a winding circular driveway in the front for guests.

Mr. Scholze Sr., whose well-known siblings of yesteryear included Mrs. Joe V. Williams and Mrs. Sim Perry Long, died after suffering a heart attack at the home on March 6, 1947, an old newspaper article says. He was 72.

Ms. Scholze, who was 11 years Mr. Scholze’s junior, had come to Chattanooga from Michigan as a child after her mother died and lived with her uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. George W. Wheland. She died on Feb. 17, 1951, at the age of 65.

A glance in some old city directories shows that, for a period, other people lived in the home or grounds with the Scholzes. A 1938 city directory says that Mrs. M.M. Allison and Mrs. L.L. Brown also resided there.

In 1955, a newspaper article said Mr. and Mrs. Forrest P. Ryan purchased the home and several acres, while Mr. Ryan and Shelbourne Warren of Hamilton Concrete Products purchased an additional 32 acres of the adjoining family land for new residential development.

For a period, the home must have had apartment-like units or living arrangements, as city directories in the late 1950s and early 1960s list multiple people living there, including Mr. Ryan. He operated the Appliance Center, Ryan Industries, and Ryan and Warren Real Estate.

By the late 1960s, the Dr. C. Lentz Reynolds family purchased the home and began residing in it, Ms. Graham said. Dr. Reynolds was a dentist with his office at 308 Cummings Highway at the time they began living there, an old city directory says.

Dr. Reynolds and his wife, Margaret, died within 72 hours of each other in late June and early July 2024, an online obituary says. A 1952 McCallie School alumnus, Dr. Reynolds met Margaret, who was from Lenoir City, in Memphis while he was in dental school. In keeping with the spirit of Ms. Scholze’s love of music, they had both played instruments, with Dr. Reynolds being a member of the UT Pride of the Southland Band, according to the obituary.

She later taught school and was also active with the dental auxiliary and charitable organizations. They were survived by daughter Lisa Shanahan and son Cecil Lentz Reynolds III.

And now the home that is quite eye-catching but perhaps less conspicuous than some homes in terms of awareness among the general Chattanooga community of today is ready for a new family to own it.

And with its ornate tile work commissioned by this family who worked in another fine craft related to leather goods, it seems to be a one-of-kind home.

As Ms. Graham said in trying to sum up the home, “It’s very unique. It’s not something you see every day.”

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Jcshearer2@comcast.net