The Baker Peters House is an antebellum house located on the south side of Kingston Pike in Knoxville, Tennessee, near the intersection of Peters Road and Kingston Pike. The house is a two-story Greek Revival structure. It has a porte-cochere on the east side for carriages, and a rear wing that projects out on the southwest side of the house. It also has a columned, two-story front porch. The main body of the house is brick, but the rear wing was originally finished in wood siding.
It was constructed circa 1840 by Dr. James Harvey Baker, a local physician. He continued to own the house until his death during the Civil War. Harvey Baker is listed in some sources as "neutral" and other sources as a "secessionist". However, his son Abner was a Confederate soldier. Baker was killed by locally raised Union troops while treating wounded Confederate soldiers in the house. The troops fired through a barricaded door in the home, and hit Dr. Baker. His son Abner was not at home at the time of the incident, but is reported to have killed the informant suspected of reporting Dr. Baker's activities to the Union soldiers. Abner was jailed and later hanged for the killing. The house was sold in the late 19th century to George Peters.
The Baker Peters House was one of several antebellum plantation homes on Kingston Pike. Mabry Hood House, located to the west on Kingston Pike, was demolished in the late 20th century to make way for Pellissippi Parkway. The Baker Peters House avoided a similar fate, but the site has been compromised by commercial uses. The building itself now houses a restaurant/nightclub, while the land around it is occupied by parking lots and businesses. Crescent Bend (The Armstrong-Lockett House), Bleak House, and Knollwood, all located farther to the east on Kingston Pike, remain in good condition.
The Baker Peters house is currently a jazz club and restaurant. It is also the home of the Baker Peters Cigar and Literary Society.
Famous quotes containing the words baker, peters and/or house:
“All of the valuable qualities ... like helping in the development of others—will not get you to the top at General Motors, were that path open to women.... The characteristics most highly developed in women and perhaps most essential to human beings are the very characteristics that are specifically dysfunctional for success in the world as it is.... They may, however, be the important ones for making the world different.”
—Jean Baker Miller (20th century)
“The Reverend Samuel Peters ... exaggerated the Blue Laws, but they did include “Capital Lawes” providing a death penalty for any child over sixteen who was found guilty of cursing or striking his natural parents; a death penalty for an incorrigible son; a law forbidding smoking except in a room in a private house; another law declaring smoking illegal except on a journey five miles away from home,...”
—Administration for the State of Con, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Adjoining a refreshment stand ... is a small frame ice house ... with a whitewashed advertisement on its brown front stating, simply, “Ice. Glory to Jesus.” The proprietor of the establishment is a religious man who has seized the opportunity to broadcast his business and his faith at the same time.”
—For the State of New Jersey, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)