The Dunscomb House

By Dennis Wolf 4 hours ago

By Dennis Wolf

In 1844, Charles Lofland purchased the land the Dunscomb house sat on from the South Memphis Land Company for $1,500 ($64,796 in 2025 dollars).  The Dunscomb House, also known as the Little Greek House, was located at 584 South Front Street, just south of downtown Memphis.  The home was built and originally owned by Col. Hugh Rice Austin and his wife, Elizabeth Ann Ragan Austin.  Being a Mississippi cotton planter, Austin spent the warmer months in Mississippi and built the house as his winter residence.

Built between 1844 and 1850, the home was of the Greek Revival Style.  It was one-story with a basement, and constructed of masonry and stucco.  The porch was supported by four Ionic columns.  The niches at the corners of the front of the house once held marble figures of Greek household gods, which contributed to the name “Little Greek House.”  The home had magnolias in the front, and a rose garden in the rear.  The architect was French, but his name is unknown.  The builder was Wardlow Howard.

In 1864, the home was owned by the Austin’s daughter, Letitia S. Austin Frazer, and her husband, Charles Wesley Frazer, a Memphis attorney.  Their daughter, Virginia Frazer Boyle, grew up in the home.  At the age of 10, Virginia Boyle read one of her poems to Jefferson Davis, who declared her to be “poet laureate of the Confederacy.”  She was also the poet laureate of the Confederated Southern Memorial Association, became the poet laureate of the United Confederate Veterans in 1913, and in 1915 she became the poet laurate for the Sons of Confederate Veterans.  She composed many patriotic poems for World War I.

During the Civil War, the home was badly vandalized. In the late nineteenth century, it was turned into a boarding house.  In 1933, the Board of Architects selected the home as one of the six best examples of early Memphis architecture.  In January 1934, the National Park Service completed an Historic American Building Survey on the home (see drawings).

In 1936, the home was owned by J. S. Dunscomb, a prominent insurance agent who lived in the Parkview Hotel Apartments, and the house was occupied by tenants.  The sign on the column says “Furnished Rooms (see photos).”

The surrounding area became heavily industrialized with manufacturing businesses, warehouses, and rail yards.  The home gradually deteriorated and was demolished in 1946.

The exact location is uncertain from this research.  Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from 1888 and 1897 show the address of 584 Shelby Street (Shelby was the former name of Front Street) at the corner of Shelby Street and Trezevant Street (now called Nettleton Avenue).  Another source places the location on the southern edge of the Memphis Farmers Market, which is addressed as 566 S. Front Street.  Memphis did change the street numbers, so the location at Shelby Street (S. Front Street) and Trezevant Street (Nettleton Avenue), as shown on The Sanborn map, is most likely correct.

1888 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map

The Dunscomb House

The Dunscomb House

The Dunscomb House – Floorplans

The Dunscomb House – Architectural Details

 

S. (John Stratton) Dunscomb was born on October 26, 1860, and he died on February 12, 1940. Dunscomb was the secretary of the Hernando Insurance Company. The Hernando Insurance Company was incorporated in 1850 and was a major local fire and marine insurer with paid‑up capital of about $150,000 dollars ($6,174,063 in 2025 dollars), making it one of the elite insurance companies in Memphis.  The Dunscomb family was a prominent Memphis family, and they were active in business and civic affairs.  J. S. Dunscomb served on the Memphis City Council from 1906 to 1910.  The street Dunscomb Place, which runs north from 711 Jackson Avenue to North Parkway, east of McDavitt Place and west of Woodlawn Street, was named after the family.

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