Table of Contents
This month’s Designing Chattanooga dives into bed + breakfast Bluff View Inn, which comprises 3 homes of the city’s former elite.
The homes
Maclellan House — circa 1889
- 7 rooms, including honeymoon suite
- Previously home to the Maclellans, who started what is now known as Unum
- Original furniture can still be found in the house
- English Tudor style | Popular in the early 20th Century, originally designed to weather colder climates + has distinguishable features like half-timbering accents, windows with multiple panes, and a standout, arched front door
TC Thompson House — circa 1908
- 4 guest rooms, 2 apartment suites
- Original residence of former Chattanooga Mayor Thomas Clarkson Thompson (who also opened what is now the Children’s Hospital at Erlanger)
- Victorian style | Characterized by being 2 or 3 stories tall with steeply-pitched roofs, tall windows + decorative elements
Martin House — circa 1927
- Home to the Back Inn Café + 3 guest rooms
- Was home to Rosalind Martin — a Lookout Mountain native who volunteered with the Chattanooga Red Cross chapter during WWI + served as a chapter regent for the DAR for 5 terms — and her family
- Colonial revival mansion | Originated around 1876 + is often characterized by side-gabled roofs, cornices, columns, and grand front doors
Fast facts
- Many rooms in each home are named after well-known Chattanoogans, like the Anna Houston room in the Martin House + Chambliss room in the TC Thompson House.
- Current owners of the Bluff View Inn — and the entire Bluff View Arts District, for that matter — Dr. Charles and Mary Portera purchased the Newell Home (now River Gallery) in 1991.
- The Martin House was the second purchase for the Porteras, and the rest is history.
Poll
