Lowenstein House
c. 1891 • 756 Jefferson Avenue
A year after arriving in Memphis, Elias Lowenstein and his two brothers opened B. Lowenstein and Brothers, a dry goods business, in 1861. Their business prospered, and Elias Lowenstein became the director of two banks, a cotton mill, and an insurance company. He married Babette Wolff and had eight children. Babette passed at the early age of forty-six in 1887.
Elias Lowenstein built the Lowenstein House in 1890, combining Italianate, Queen Anne, and Romanesque styles. The interior exhibits an impressive three-story stairwell, stained glass ornamentation, ornate fireplaces, and elaborate glass chandeliers.
Celia Lowenstein Samelson, daughter of Elias Lowenstein, turned the home into a property for the Nineteenth Century Club in 1921. The home became a residence for young working women moving to Memphis to find factory work during the World War. By 1929, the home was overflowing, and a small porch on the western end of the house was replaced by a two-story wing to accommodate the working women.
The demand for the home had subsided by 1977 and the home was returned to the Lowenstein heirs. In 1979, the Lowenstein House became a treatment center for mental health outpatients. The treatment center has since relocated, and the Lowenstein House served as a private residence. It is now undergoing renovation led by developer and preservationist Bill Townsend.
Copy Source: With gratitude to Perre M. Magness, author of the book Good Abode, for portions of this narrative.