M Focus on: Building & Construction
Ashe Street Courthouse embarks on its By KEVIN KILBANE | The Municipal
The Ashe Street Courthouse has filled several important roles in Johnson City, Tenn., since its completion in 1910: federal bank and post office from 1910 to 1937; Washington County Courthouse from 1940 to 1985; and 911 emergency call center from the late 1980s through 2017. City officials now plan to prepare the Beaux-Arts-style architectural gem for a new role as an incubator and accelerator site for healthrelated businesses. “We’re hoping this space can be used for additional support for those startup businesses and entrepreneurs,” said Bob Cantler, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce serving Johnson City, Jonesborough and Washington County. The project, which should be completed by January 2023 or earlier, started with the goal of preserving the building, which became vacant in 2017, said Randy Trivette, assistant city manager for Johnson City, a community of more than 70,000 people tucked in a valley in the Appalachian Mountains in northeast Tennessee. “The architecture of the building is really, really amazing, and just with the time frame of when it was built and it still has held up as well as it has on the exterior,” Trivette said. “It just needs a little tender 32 THE MUNICIPAL | MAY 2022
loving care.” This includes cleaning and some repairs to bricks and ornate cornices decorating the exterior. The brick building, which stands downtown at Ashe and Earnest streets, originally was known as the Johnson City Postal Savings Bank and Post Office, according to the application to place the building on the National Register of Historic Places, which was written by the Heritage Alliance of adjacent Jonesborough, Tenn. The two-story structure, which was added to the National Register in late 2020, was the first federal building constructed in Johnson City, the National Register application said. Its location, near three railroad stations and the business district, made it a hub of communications and business for northeast Tennessee. For the planned renovation, the city partnered with Washington County, which owns the building, and the state of Tennessee. State officials approved $5 million for the work, with a request the building
