A fond farewell for the ‘Father of Downtown’

Sign at Bennett Galleries on Kingston Pike

Knoxville said goodbye to Kristopher Kendrick Wednesday night with a packed funeral at downtown’s St. John’s Cathedral featuring an array of Knoxville notables. Kristopher would have loved it.

Sharon Pryse eulogized Kendrick as a “great neighbor.” He lived in her guest house for years before moving into the former Dulin Gallery of Art, which is next door to her on Kingston Pike. She described how he supported her during the illness and death of her first husband and how he buried her beloved dog when the dog drowned. Although he rarely accepted her invitations to dinner, she said he readily agreed to come for weekend breakfasts at 6 a.m. “I look forward to being your neighbor again in heaven,” she concluded.

Kendrick’s best friend, Jane Bailey, whom Kendrick referred to as his “sister,” first met him when she worked at Rich’s department store and he took a job there as a hairdresser. She helped him find a location for a beauty shop of his own in the basement of an old White Store and later in a feed and seed store on Kingston Pike. It was in these shops where his mother would often bring him his lunch in a shoe box, Bailey said. Often, he shared with her his visions of restoring old buildings, the first of which was Patrick Sullivan’s Saloon in the Old City. Eventually Kendrick became known as the “Father of Downtown” for his work to save historic structures. Shortly before his death, when he was living in his historic Hotel St. Oliver, Bailey said she and Kendrick looked out his window and observed all the activity on bustling Market Square. “What do you think of what you have accomplished?” Bailey asked him. His reply: “My dream has come true, Sister.”

Downtown developer David Dewhirst met Kendrick 20 years ago on Dewhirst’s first day in Knoxville. Within 15 minutes of meeting him, Dewhirst had written him a check for an apartment in the Old City based largely on what Kendrick told him were the possibilities of the place. “He said there was a little bit of magic in every room of an old building,” said Dewhirst, who said Kendrick became his mentor. “He said every historic building has a soul and it should be respected,” Dewhirst said. Several years ago, Dewhirst bought The Emporium on Gay Street from Kendrick based on an agreement Kendrick scribbled on a paper napkin. “Is this legal?” Dewhirst asked him. “Hell, this is formal,” Kendrick chuckled. “Kristopher changed my life and every day that I live, I’ll thank him,” Dewhirst said.

The Very Reverend John C. Ross officiated at the ceremony and told some Kristopher stories, too. When Kendrick’s toney restaurant, The Orangery, burned in 1984, one customer, Carol Chapman, told him she wanted to be the first customer when he rebuilt the establishment. But Kendrick realized that she was gravely ill and he feared she might not live until he could re-open the Continental-themed eatery. So one day he told her to get dressed up because he was going to send a car for her. She dressed in a beautiful gown with white gloves and the car he sent took her to The Orangery, which was still in shambles. There, in the middle of the wreckage, with walls that rose to an open sky, Kendrick had set a magnificent table with flowers and music and fine wine. He sat down to lunch with her. “I’ve never had a more beautiful time,” she said as she left. She passed away before The Orangery re-opened. “That’s the kind of friend Kristopher was,” Ross said.

Kendrick always was known for his style and his flair. Just the other day, Ross related, when he was very frail and confined to a wheelchair, Kendrick announced that he wanted to go to the Rossini festival downtown. He was wearing pajamas and was too weak to really dress. So his daughter, Karen, helped him put on a nice shirt with his pajama bottoms and wheeled him to Gay Street to see the festivities. In typical Kristopher fashion, he topped off his outfit with an ascot.

Kendrick was a beloved fixture on Knoxville’s social scene. And our city’s luminaries turned out to bid him farewell Wednesday. Among the several hundred congregants: Jim and Natalie Haslam, Ann Bailey, Anne Sprouse, Sarah Stowers, Kreis and Sandy Beall, Bill Regas and his sister Frankie Gunnels, Greg Hall, Dr. Harry Christenberry, Tom and Melissa McAdams, Arthur Seymour Jr., Jerry Becker, Dr. John and Patty Purvis, Michael Moore, Jane Chedester, Elsbeth Freeman, Matthew McClellan, George Krieps, Manya Pirkle, Janet Testerman, Gay Lyons, Gail Harris, Andie Ray and former mayor Randy Tyree.

In his tribute, Dewhirst mentioned that Kendrick had a habit of planting red geraniums at each of his restored buildings. It was his trademark. “I guess I’m going to buy some geraniums on my way home,” said Kim Trent, the executive director of Knox Heritage, as she stood to leave the funeral. “I have just the pot for them.”