Empire Bldg Reidl Collection

Located on the northeast corner of W. Church Avenue and Market Street (then known as Prince Street), and designed by Knoxville architect Albert Baumann, construction on the Empire Building began in 1901. The Knoxville Journal and Tribune reported that “the building will be of the finest modern office construction with steel and concrete floors and roof, making it absolutely fireproof” an important distinction in the wake of the catastrophic 1897 fire on Gay Street. Replacing a residential dwelling on that corner, the new Empire building, once completed, claimed to be Knoxville’s tallest building, being nearly twice the height of the Deadrick building, its neighbor immediately to the north. The Empire Building was torn down in the 1970s. Shared by Alec Riedl.