One of the biggest and oldest homes on Missionary Ridge should get a new owner this week.
The historic W. Frank Hutcheson mansion on Crest Road will go on the auction block at 6 p.m. Thursday. Henry Glascock, who was hired to sell the 10,954-square-foot house to the highest bidder, said the seven-bedroom house boasts hand-crafted features from the late 19th century and has already attracted nearly two dozen interested and qualified buyers.
“We don’t know how many may actually participate in this auction, but this is truly a unique home with exceptional architecture so its sale has definitely attracted a lot of interest,” Glascock said. “It’s really a work of art as much as it is a home.”
Built in 1894, the three-story house was designed by noted architect Samuel Patton and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The home has been well preserved over the past 122 years with only three owners.
The historic W. Frank Hutcheson mansion on Crest Road will go on the auction block at 6 p.m. Thursday.About the house
› Location: 360 S. Crest Road in Chattanooga› Built: 1894› Home size: 3-story home includes 10,954 square feet› Lot size: 2.2 acres› Bedrooms: 7› Baths: 5 full and 1 half› Fireplaces: 8
The home has been owned for the past 33 years by Dennis and Constance Stohler, who raised their five children in the house and have tried off and on for the past decade to sell the property. Dr. Stohler, a retired orthopedic surgeon, paid $488,500 to buy the house in 1983 and added a swimming pool four years later.
The property was last appraised by the Hamilton County Assessor’s office at $887,900, according to county records.
Katherine Stohler Dillard, the second oldest of the five Stohler children, recalls growing up in the house as a great place to play and explore.
“It was a pretty fun house to grow up in,” she recalled Monday. “Mom and Dad never treated it as a big-shot home and we would roller skate through part of the house and explore the entire property growing up.”
In 2006 when she was a Realtor for the James Co. in Chattanooga, Dillard tried to sell the home for her parents. But the Great Recession soon undermined the market for large homes in Chattanooga. The house, which had been listed for more than $3 million, was most recently listed by Realtor Jay Robinson for $1.65 million before the owners decided to pursue an auction sale.
The home was built by W. Frank Hutcheson, a local industrialist who helped start Peerless Woven Mills in Rossville, Ga., among other businesses.
The property being sold at auction includes the main residence, the carriage house, five additional vacant lots and English antique furniture.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.