1433 Union Ave. Memphis, TN
Circa 1906. 2.5 story brick Beaux Arts style
Roland Jones Darnell (1854-1916) and Matilda Johanna Louise Taenzer Darnell (1861-1911) built this uncommon Beaux Arts style home - ranked as one of the "grandest" in Memphis. They wed in 1885. Both Roland and Mathilda were natives of Indiana; Roland lived in New York, Indiana and Missouri early in his lumberman professional life. Mathilda's parents had emigrated from Germany.
Darnell was a successful lumberman and understood the value of Southern hardwood trees. He knew the stands of hardwoods elsewhere in the old Southwest were being depleted. He and his family moved to Memphis in 1880. The next year, in 1881, he became a partner with his father in I. M. Darnell & Son. In 1898, he went out on his own as owner of R.J. Darnell Inc and became one of the most important lumbermen in the South. He became president of Darnell-Love Lumber Co. with a mill near Leland, MS and was vice-president of the local lumbermen's club.
By 1890, Memphis was “the hardwood capital of the world.” Two years later, in 1892, a railroad bridge was built across the Mississippi River for the sole purpose of moving Arkansa lumber to Memphis mills - “Hickory for London, Walnut for Munich, and Oak for Tokyo.” per Historic Memphis site. A year after Darnell’s death, In 1917, the company was sold to A.R. Orgill.
The home was vacant in 1919. From 1920-25, Leslie Marton Stratton, Jr. (1905-1954) and Elizabeth Lane Miller Stratton (1906-1965) owned the place. Stratton was a hardware dealer. Elizabeth’s parents were Charles and Mary Miller of Memphis. Mille was a prominent concrete contractor. Stratton’s company consolidated to Early-Stratton Hardware and became one of the biggest companies in the South. Stratton was director of Union & Planter’s Bank & Trust Co., president of the YMCA, and treasurer of the Methodist Hospital.
In 1926, the Nineteenth Century Club purchased the home and have held it through 2011. In 2013, Union Group LLC purchased it. The new owners initially planned to raze the mansion in large part because of the expense of upkeep. After lengthy court battles, the Union Group changed its direction and planned to preserve much of the mansion. The Union Group is owned by Shon and Dana Lin. They opened the restaurant Izakaya in 2017. It did not work, closed and reopened as Red Fish Sushi Asian Bistro. The mansion is the last one remaining on Union - once the home to a row of grand homes. NR 1979
[Matida's brother, Edward E. Taenzer, was in the lumber business and in business with Darnell. Taenzer was involved in Taenzer-Thompson Lumber Co., E.E. Taenzer & Co. and Darnell-Taenzer Lumber Co. About two years prior to Darnell's death, Taenzer moved to Los Angles with his father as well to establish Pacific Coast lumber operations and receiving Tennessee and Mississippi hardwood lumber for Los Angeles area growth. They shipped the lumber on rail lines across the country.]
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