Pillarsof Peabody What the College’s architecture says about its character VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY • SUMMER 2000 Dwelling on the past “Edgehill” house provides a window to Peabody’s history Volume 69 No. 2 Summer 2000 Contents CO U R T E FEATURES S Y S T E V E N E . C Pillars of Peabody 13 R O O K D A study of campus as character The Equation of Elizabeth Goldman 18 Peabody bids adieu to a longtime friend and powerful leader Those Were the Days 20 The “Fabulous ’40s and ’50s” return to the Rotunda The 20th Century’s Best and Worst 22 Education Ideas A panel of experts debates hits When Peabody “Edgehill” on its and misses in education Normal College be- original site, approxi- came George Peabody mately where the John F. Out of the Shell 26 College for Teachers in Kennedy Center’s MRL Build- 1909, the fledgling insti- The Child Language Intervention Project ing now stands, in 1889 tution required a new is helping kids with language delays to campus. The property se- PEYTON HOGE speak for themselves lected for that campus was located just east of “Edgehill” on its present site, 14 years Vanderbilt University after an extensive renovation by the across Hillsboro Turn- current owner DEPARTMENTS pike (now 21st Avenue), p. 22 and bordered to the Colonial and Classical Revival styles. Typical Around the Mall 2 north by Edgehill Av- Italianate detailing is found in the wide eaves enue. It would be an- century and until supported by decorative brackets and in the Alumni News 29 other five years before its closure in 1932, well-defined entry doors. The tall, narrow Visit Peabody College’s the College would open the store was a windows have a suggestion of an arch on the World-Wide Web site at its doors at the new Nashville staple, lower level. http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/ Class Notes 32 site—the site where it re- serving as a social Steven E. Crook, an investment manager mains today. gathering place for and former Nashville grocer who is the cur- ON THE COVER: Coming Attractions inside back cover the city’s gentry. The architecture of the Peabody campus is linked to But before the land rent owner of Edgehill, undertook an exten- the College’s founding philosophies on what shape the best was cleared and buildings were erected, a In October 1910, Edgehill was purchased sive restoration and revitalization of the house human environment should take. See story on page 13. large house called “Edgehill” sat at the corner from the Thompsons by Peabody College, and in 1986. Some of the elaborate wooden and (Photographs by David Crenshaw) of Hillsboro Turnpike and Edgehill Avenue, in 1911 the house was dismantled and moved glass cabinetry from the original Thompson situated in a beautiful 12-acre grove and sur- from the site—approximately where the John F. and Company mercantile, designed to protect Camilla Persson Benbow, Dean rounded by magnificent gardens. Kennedy Center’s MRL Building now stands— goods from the dirt of the street, are now used Clarence E. (Tres) Mullis III, Director of Development Built in 1879, Edgehill was the family home to its present location on Bowling Avenue, a as the home’s bookcases and cabinets. A his- couple of miles southwest of the Vanderbilt Phillip B. Tucker, Editor of Charles A.R. Thompson, the founder of a torical marker in front of the house tells about Bonnie Arant Ertelt, Staff Writer successful Nashville dry-goods store. In fact, campus. Moved along with the house were 12 its history and connection to Peabody. THE PEABODY REFLECTOR is published biannually by George Peabody College of Amy Perry Blackman, Designer Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University, Box 161, Peabody Thompson and Company, located downtown magnolia and ginkgo trees, which continue to Mr. Crook, who now calls his home “The Station, Nashville, TN 37203, in cooperation with the Vanderbilt Office of Alumni on Fifth Avenue, was the city’s most promi- grace the property today. Edge,” graciously shared with the REFLECTOR Nelson Bryan, Beth Fox, Lew Harris, Elizabeth P. Latt, Publications. The magazine is mailed free of charge to recent graduates and to alumni nent merchant for silver, china, furs, wools, Edgehill’s architecture is of the Italianate the vintage photograph shown on this page, Margaret W. Moore, Amy Pate, Jan Rosemergy, and friends of Peabody who make an annual gift of $25 or more to the College. Gifts should be mailed to the address above. Other correspondence should be mailed to: THE linens, and laces, as well as exquisite items style, which dominated American home con- which was given to him by a relative of Ned Andrew Solomon, Contributors PEABODY REFLECTOR, Office of Alumni Publications, Box 7703, Station B, Nashville, TN such as ball gowns, bridal trousseaux, gloves, struction between 1850 and 1880 and was Charles A.R. Thompson. It is the only early 37235. Comments about the magazine in the form of e-mail are welcome by writing the © 2000 Vanderbilt University editor at [email protected]. shawls, and parasols. For most of the 19th popular as a departure from the more formal photograph of Edgehill known to exist. PEYTON HOGE BACK SR Building Is New Home Peabody’s merger with Van- feed for Faye and Joe Wyatt Center derbilt 21 years ago that a Peabody structure has MERGER MERIT I thought the entire winter issue an outstanding and had a difficult time. I notice while com- Five years ago, under the leadership of Van- been named in honor of a one, in content and appearance. The “Where posing this letter that, under fluorescent light derbilt Chancellor Joe B. Wyatt, Peabody Col- University leader. It fol- The article about the Peabody and Are We Now?” article [within the “Part- and at a particular angle, it is easier to read. lege’s historic Social Religious Building was lows in the venerable tra- Vanderbilt merger (“Partners in Time,” Win- ners in Time” article] is a great overview and Might some consideration be given to this? transformed from a landmark in disrepair to dition of Old Main ter 2000) strikes me as excellent. My first- reflection, especially, I think, for the growing —HAROLD IVAN SMITH, EDS’74 one of the nation’s most advanced learning Building, later called Col- hand knowledge ended, of course, with proportion on campus who weren’t here when Kansas City, Missouri environments. As a permanent tribute to the lege Hall and permanently my retirement on June 30, 1982. You han- the events happened. And I loved the article enthusiasm with which Chancellor Wyatt sup- renamed Kirkland Hall in dle the complexities and sensitivities before on a longtime friend—and grandfather to one EDITOR’S NOTE: Mr. Smith is referring to the ported the model partnership between tech- 1939 in memory of James that date very well, and from what I can tell of my own children’s best friends—Charlie metallic teal ink used throughout the mag- nology and education that now is embodied H. Kirkland, Vanderbilt’s from a distance following that date, the same Allen (“Dream Builder”). So thank you on azine as a background color within boxed within it, the building has been renamed for second chancellor who led is true of the more recent treatment. all counts! articles and the “Department Notes” sec- Wyatt and his wife, Faye. the University for 44 for- Lettering behind the front columns of the Social Religious Building The tone, sensitivity, and attention to the —KATHY HOOVER-DEMPSEY tion. The metallic properties of the ink During a gala celebration held in the mative years. And the Joint heralds the new Faye and Joe Wyatt Center for Education. The important dimensions of the story all con- (Chair, Department of Psychology and create the glossy shine that has been a prob- Wyatts’ honor April 29, Board of Trust Chair- University Libraries com- original name of the SR Building remains engraved in stone above tribute to an understanding of the wisdom Human Development, Peabody lem for Mr. Smith and some of our other man Martha Ingram announced that the build- plex, built in 1941 to house the columns near the building’s dome. and success of the merger. Thank you for College), Nashville readers who have voiced the same concern. ing will now be known as the Faye and Joe the cooperative venture in- the careful hard work that made the arti- Beginning with this issue, a flat ink of a lighter Wyatt Center for Education. volving Vanderbilt, Peabody, and Scarritt Col- downlink and broadcast capabilities, and cle successful. color is replacing the troublesome metallic. “The Social Religious Building is one of lege, was renamed in 1983 as the Jean and video editing suites. TOO MUCH REFLECTOR REFLECTION —ALEXANDER HEARD this institution’s signature buildings, one of Alexander Heard Library to honor Vander- As Board Chairman Ingram stated April (Chancellor, Vanderbilt University, the most recognizable and prominent,” she bilt’s fifth chancellor and his wife. 29, the building is a “crossroads of the com- I wanted to write and voice appreciation for GETTING HIS MONEY’S WORTH 1963–1982), Nashville said. “It is the centerpiece of one of the great- This latest honor is fitting, both for Peabody munity,” hosting tens of thousands of people the last two issues of the REFLECTOR (Sum- est successes of the Wyatt years—the and for Joe B. Wyatt, who has been a cease- each year for symposia and social events. mer 1999, Winter 2000). Makes me proud I enclose a modest donation as an alumnus renaissance of Peabody College.” less champion of the College’s work.