Treetops was constructed in 1912 by George Augustus Schwab (1874-1949) and Deane (or Jeane) Mason Schwab (1878-1976).
It was an immense 2 story brick Georgian home about 4560 Harding Rd (It would stand today in the front of the Belle Meade Kroger parking lot.) The estate extended west from the original White Bridge Rd to Sugartree Creek - basically encompassing the general area of the Belle Meade Shopping Plaza. It was famous for formal gardens which cascaded to Richland Creek behind the house.
Schwab’s father had been bookkeeper for George A. Dickel and in 1898 got control of the Cascade Distillery. George worked for Dickel, then was on the boards of the American National Bank and the NC & St. Louis Railroads in 1922. (Son George Schwab, Jr. lived at Foxview in Williamson County.)
At some point, George C. Leffler (1897-1954) and Curtis Pauline Ingram Leffler (1903-1971) owned the house and opened Sherrie’s Restaurant (named for their daughter, Sherrie). The Leffler family lived on Cherokee Rd. just north of the site. The restaurant closed in 1956, and was demolished for the construction of a long-gone older grocery store and parking lot. The estate was sold as well, and Belle Meade Shopping Plaza was developed and opened a couple years later in 1961.
According to news sources, the May family purchased the property of the Kroger store and the shopping plaza in 1997. The other grocery store was converted to the Belle Meade Kroger in 1978. See also Foxview
Sources:
Nashville Pikes Vol. 3 150 Years Along Harding Pike, p. 163
https://localtoday.news/tn/belle-meade-kroger-moves-to-a-nearby-building-development-87554.html
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