Knoxville’s industrial roots are a core part of its identity and visual landscape. Just outside the historic downtown, neighborhoods are defined by train tracks, warehouses and factories.
One of them turned out to be a masterpiece hiding in plain sight.
It was at a routine project meeting that a group discovered a prominent architect’s name in the title block of some unassuming old blueprints. They had gathered at the building to review them and were suddenly awed by the warehouse’s new significance as the work of Albert Kahn.
‘Shocking’ Kahn discovery
A long time ago in Knoxville, Kahn designed a building for the Chevrolet Motor Company. And over the last 96 years, Knoxville forgot about it…