{"id":844,"date":"2025-12-25T02:20:39","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T07:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/?p=844"},"modified":"2025-12-25T02:20:39","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T07:20:39","slug":"architects-of-old-roane-county-courthouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/architects-of-old-roane-county-courthouse\/","title":{"rendered":"Architects of Old Roane County Courthouse"},"content":{"rendered":"

(from the archived RCHC Web site<\/em>)<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n

Architects:  Augustus O. Fisher<\/strong> and Frederick B. Guenther<\/strong><\/p>\n

The specifications are signed by A. O. Fisher<\/strong> and J. D. Lowery<\/strong> identified in Min. Book Q p. 571 as builders and undertakers.  Fisher<\/strong> identified himself in Mitchel’s Directory for 1860 as architect and carpenter.<\/p>\n

Min. Book Q p. 336 states “The Plan and Superstructure of said building which had been undertaken by John D. Lowery<\/strong> and A. O. Fisher<\/strong> to build the same according to said plan at the price of . . . $9,400.”<\/p>\n

Min. Book Q p. 526 authorized payment to Henry Liggett<\/strong> innkeeper for “boarding Guenther<\/strong> when draughting plan of new courthouse.”<\/p>\n

Augustus O. Fisher<\/strong> son of Jacob Fisher<\/strong> was born October 14, 1809.  His grandfather had emigrated from Holland to Pennsylvania and his father from there to Fincastle and later to Evansham (Wytheville), Virginia where A. O.<\/strong> was born and reared. He came from a family of craftsmen and artists.  His father, Jacob<\/strong>, was a carpenter and builder; his brother, Flaviou Josephus<\/strong>, became a noted artist of Washington, D.C.; and other members of the family became instrumental in the success of Underwood<\/strong>–Fisher<\/strong> typewriters.  A. O.<\/strong> as a boy was an apprentice to his father, and at age 21 he became a journeyman.  The Fisher<\/strong>s were very active in the building trade in the vicinity of Southwest Virginia.  In 1835 A. O.<\/strong> migrated with his father to Athens, Tennessee in the Hiwassee District newly created from Cherokee Lands.<\/p>\n

He remained with his father’s firm of Fisher<\/strong> & Rider<\/strong> for a few years but began to take jobs upon himself earning a good reputation. Noted builder and contractor Thomas Crutchfield<\/strong> employed A. O.<\/strong> to build “Old College” and East and West Halls of the parent institution of the University of Tennessee.  Early East Tennessee institutional buildings – Blount College (extinct), Mouse Creek Academy (heavily modified), and the Roane County Courthouse – conceived in Federal and Greek Revival idioms but totally regional in application illustrate interesting similarities.  Fisher<\/strong>‘s role in the design of all this is not altogether certain.<\/p>\n

In the later 40’s Fisher<\/strong> removed to Roane County.  At first he built and managed an iron foundry.  In the 50’s he was in partnership with John D. Lowery<\/strong> in general carpentry and undertaking.  However in 1860 he listed himself as architect and carpenter in Mitchel’s Directory<\/em> and he was evidently involved in some degree of design work.  Little is presently known of his later life.  He died in Chattanooga April 22, 1877.<\/p>\n

Frederick B. Guenther<\/strong>, a native of Dresden Germany, came to Morgan County, Tennessee as an agent of a New York land and immigration company in 1844.  He was one of the founders of the town of Wartburg, Tennessee and is responsible for the town plot.  Many early buildings were erected there by him including a court house and jail built at company expense, not public, in order to entice the county to make it the center of justice, commercial, and social activity.  He was known as “a generally amiable and honest person who unfortunately was more of a theoritician [sic]<\/em> than a practician.”  Yet he was well respected among immigrants and natives alike for his attempts to improve that mountainous region for habitation.  When the German and Swiss emigrees [sic]<\/em> arrived with their funds totally expended, he gave them loans from the company purse.  When shareholders received no profits pressure was brought to bare and Guenther<\/strong> resigned.  Working with him in Morgan County were such young men as Charles Rothe<\/strong>, Richard Graf<\/strong>, and A. E. Gredig<\/strong> who were destined to make substantial architectural contributions to Tennessee cities in the later 19th and early 20th Centuries.<\/p>\n

Prepared by Joseph L. Herndon<\/strong>, Team Historian, Historic American Building Survey, September, 1974.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(from the archived RCHC Web site) Architects:  Augustus O. Fisher and Frederick B. Guenther The specifications are signed by A. O. Fisher and J. D. Lowery identified in Min. Book Q p. 571 as builders and undertakers.  Fisher identified himself in Mitchel’s Directory …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,13,36,52,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biographies","category-communities","category-historic-sites","category-migration-settlement","category-roane-tn-heritage-site"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":846,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844\/revisions\/846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}