Originally Woodlawn/ current address 211 Ensworth Ave. Nashville, TN
Circa 1908. 2-story English Tudor style with red sandstone
Red Gables was completed in 1908 on Woodlawn Dr. near Ridgefield Dr. The home has since been incorporated into Ensworth School.
It was built in English Tudor style of red sandstone and half-timbered cement (hence the Red Gables name) by Judge Claude Waller (1864-1918) and Martha Nelson Waller (1868-1943). Waller was a lawyer and became the City Attorney for Nashville in 1894. Then he was a judge for the newly-created Second Circuit Court (1895-1897), and for a number of years represented the NC & St. Louis Railroad as well as the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. In 1898, Waller became General Counsel to the reorganized Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad and remained until his death. He was in practice with Charles N. Burch (Burch and Waller) before his judgeship; afterward was in practice with J. W. Dickinson (Dickinson and Waller). The original property of 40 acres sloped down to Harding Pike, and the Waller family called the estate Red Gables. After the death of Judge Waller, the estate was subdivided into 4 & 5 acre plots to the east and west of the home, and at some point, the street Ensworth Ave. was cut through to connect the new homes. Red Gables was kept with 8 acres.
The next owners were Henry A. Batchelor, Jr. (1879-1933) and Wallace Estelle Shook Batchelor (1880-1952). The Batchelor's daughter, Harriet, married William J. Tyne, the son of Thomas J. & Jane Ratterman Tyne connected with Longleat and Ratterman Home. Harriet was the daughter of Col. Alfred Montgomery and Teressa Estill Shook. Col. Shook was a capitalist and pioneer in the coal and iron industry in the South. Evidently, he was pivotal in starting the University of the South when land grants from the Sewanee Mining Company were close to expiration. She later became a founder of Ensworth High School. They built the first private concrete swimming pool in Nashville.
About 1933, Red Gables was sold to Joseph Benjamin “Joe” Palmer, Jr. (1915-1956) and Alma Carolyn Pirtle Palmer (1914-2002). He was cousins with Walter & Nellie Stokes of Stokes Farm. Joe was co-founder and president of Palmer-Hooper Motor Company. In 1936, Red Gables was owned by Mr. and Mrs William T. Hale, Jr. Hale was in the grain business.
In the 1940s, John Edward “Jack” Norman, Sr. (1904-1995) and his wife Carrie Sneed Norman (1905-1985) resided there. They wed in 1926. Jack was one of the South’s renowned lawyers who generally was known as a criminal defense attorney. He helped to establish the annual Shrine Circus in Nashville.
In 1955, they sold the house and property to the group that created Ensworth School. The Normans moved to Printers Alley downtown. Ensworth School was opened in 1958 as a K-8 coed private school. In 2002, the Ensworth’s board of trustees decided to expand the school to a high school and find a new campus - spearheaded by Dr. Thomas F. Frist and his wife Patricia C. Frist. The group purchased the Devon Farm property on Highway 100, and in 2004, Ensworth High School opened. Since the high school opened, the middle school has been called the Red Gables campus and until 2019, the high school was the Devon Farm campus; as of Fall of 2019, the high school campus is now called the Frist campus to recognize the tremendous influence of the Thomas Frist family. See Devon Farm, Longleat, Ratterman Home
Sources:
Nashville Pikes Vol. 3 150 Years Along Harding Pike, p. 150
The First 25 Years - Ensworth School, Ann H. Wells
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