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Burlington (Nashville, Tennessee)

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Burlington
Alternative namesElliston-Farrell House
General information
Architectural styleRenaissance architecture
Town or cityNashville, Tennessee
CountryUnited States
Completed1816; 1859
Demolished1932
ClientJoseph Thorpe Elliston; William R. Elliston
Design and construction
Architect(s)William Strickland

Burlington, also known as the Elliston-Farrell House, was a historic mansion on a plantation in mid-town Nashville, Tennessee, US. It stood on modern-day Elliston Place.

History

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The plantation was established by Joseph T. Elliston, a silversmith who served as the fourth mayor of Nashville from 1814 to 1817.[1] In 1811, Elliston purchased 208 acres for $11,435.75 (~$244,877 in 2023) in mid-town, from "what is now 20th Avenue to a line covering part of Centennial Park, and from a line well within the Vanderbilt campus today to Charlotte Avenue."[1] He subsequently purchased 350 acres "along what is now Murphy Road, including the Acklen Park [West End Park] area."[1] It ran across West End Avenue, which had not yet been built.[2]

Elliston built a small house in 1816 and named it Burlington "after the Elliston homestead in Kentucky."[3] The house stood on modern-day Elliston Place.[4] It was designed by William Strickland in the Renaissance architectural style.[5]

His son William R. Elliston, who served as a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1845 to 1847, inherited the plantation in 1856. He built a bigger house on his father's old house in 1859 with his wife Elizabeth Boddie.[5] The Ellistons were enslavers.[6]

Their daughter, Lizinka, inherited the plantation. With her husband, Edward Buford, a Confederate veteran, she built a new house in 1887.[7] By 1889 they had sold most of the land to the West End Land Company for development.[2][3] Part of the land was also donated to build the campus of Vanderbilt University.[6]

The house was dismantled in 1932.[5] However, the materials were used by the Shepherds, who were descendants of the Ellistons, to build a new mansion called Burlington in Green Hills, designed by architect Bryant Fleming.[4]

In 2012, Vanderbilt University named Elliston Hall for Elizabeth Boddie Elliston.[6] In a 2017 article, USA Today questioned their decision to honor an enslaver on their campus.[6]

Further reading

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  • Elliston Farrell, Josephine (1958). Burlington: A Memory. OCLC 10338885.

References

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  1. ^ a b c Davis, Louise (August 14, 1983). "Early Silversmiths Left Marks on City. Names of Elliston, Calhoun Figure Big in Nashville History". The Tennessean. pp. 93–94. Retrieved April 14, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b "Staid Elliston Place May Lose Identity". The Tennessean. March 29, 1958. pp. 1, 5. Retrieved April 5, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b Thompson, E. D. (March 2, 2016). "The Elliston Family still serves Our Area". The News. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  4. ^ a b Cason, Albert (June 25, 1981). "Mansion Purchased, Opening Way to Luxury Homes". The Tennessean. pp. 1, 5. Retrieved April 4, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b c Whitsitt Edwards, Amelia (1999). Nashville Interiors, 1866 to 1922. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. pp. 27–32. ISBN 9780738502205. OCLC 44274945.
  6. ^ a b c d Epstein Ojalvo, Holly (February 13, 2017). "Beyond Yale: These other university buildings have ties to slavery and white supremacy". USA Today. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
  7. ^ "Edward Buford, Wholesale Firm President, Dies. End Comes At Home On Elliston Place; 86 Years Old". The Tennessean. June 12, 1928. pp. 1, 5. Retrieved April 18, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.

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