652 Adams Ave. Memphis, TN
Circa 1842. Italianate style home.
Isaac B. Kirtland (1807-1885) and Lucy Sperry Kirtland (1809-1887) built the home on 1/25 acres. It is located on Adams Ave in the Victorian Village community of Memphis. He was president of an insurance company and a banker.
Twelve years later, in 1864, Benjamin Babb (1818-1889) and Mary Smith Kennedy Babb purchased the property and added a second floor. They married in 1859. Mary was the niece of Mary Smith Magevney. He arrived in Memphis about 1844. He was a cotton factor and owned Benjamin Babb & Co. in 1881.
About twenty years later, in 1883, the home was sold to James Colombus Neely (1826-1901) and Mary Frances “Fanny” Blocker Neely (1839-1905). He was another cotton factor. He restyled it and added a third floor. Also his addition of window screens was a first in Memphis. At that point, the home boasted 25 rooms. A Neely daughter Jessica “Pearl” Neely Grant and her husband Daniel Grant lived at the house at different times of their life. The youngest Neely daughter Frances Blocker “Daisy” Neely Mallory (1871-1969) married Barton Lee Mallory (1865-1938) in 1900, and they came to the mansion to live and raise their family. His father was W.B. Mallory.
In 1969, the last resident Daisy Neely-Mallory died. Daisy gave the house and furnishings to the Daughters of the American Revolution to use as a museum in 1973.
In 1987, the City of Memphis and Museums owned the Mallory-Neely House as part of the Pink Palace Family of Museums. See W.B. Mallory House
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