Home Of Teenage Elvis Presley Seeks Ideas for Use
The developers of the historic renovation of Lauderdale Courts, now
Uptown Square, are soliciting ideas from the public on how to use the apartment
where teenage Elvis Presley and his family once lived. Uptown Square is part of
a historic renovation and community development endeavor called Uptown Memphis.
Ideas can be submitted via the internet through March 31, 2004.
From 1949
to 1953, Elvis and his mother, Gladys and father, Vernon lived at 185
Winchester, Apt. 328. It was from here Elvis would wander to close-by Beale
Street for inspiration by listening to the likes of B. B. King and Rufus Thomas.
It was the architecturally designed communal courtyards that gave Elvis his
first stage to perform before family and neighbors. He also would use the
laundry room to practice his guitar.
On the National Register of Historic
Places, Uptown Square was set for the wrecking ball before journalists, grass
root preservationists and Elvis fans stepped in and called attention to the fate
of the building. Built in the 1930's by a cadre of Memphis' finest architects as
a Roosevelt era WPA housing development, Uptown Square consists of 66 buildings
on a 22 acre lot of Downtown Memphis.
Developers The Uptown Partnership
and the City of Memphis will be completing the first phase of the 347-unit,
garden-style apartment community by end of January 2004. The Elvis unit is part
of the third phase to be completed in spring 2004. This also coincides with
Memphis' celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll throughout
2004.
The Uptown Partnership, a Belz-Turley Community Development
Company, and Elvis Presley Enterprises are working closely to make the unit
special.
"While the rest of the apartments have wider floor plans, the
Elvis unit and the two units above it will maintain its original floor plan,"
stated Henry Turley, managing partner for The Uptown Partnership. "We have some
ideas of what to do, but thought this would be great to get the public to weigh
in on this historic renovation."
Teenage Elvis
Home
"Uptown Square will be an exciting new neighborhood and a
great place to live in downtown Memphis," said Jack Soden, President/CEO, Elvis
Presley Enterprises. "Moreover, another early phase of Elvis' life will be
preserved and remembered."
Uptown Memphis is the resurgent 100-block
Downtown neighborhood, just east of Harbor Town in Memphis, Tennessee. The
Uptown community covers 100 city blocks stretching roughly from the Mississippi
River east to Ayers, and from Poplar Avenue north to Cedar and Chelsea Avenue.
Uptown includes some of Memphis' oldest neighborhoods such as Greenlaw, the
first planned "suburban" community in Memphis and the teenage home sites of
Elvis Presley. Soon to feature 1,000 new homes and apartments, along with public
improvements such as new parks and streetscapes, Uptown is the concerted
public-private revitalization by Downtown Memphis pioneers Jack Belz and Henry
Turley as master developers and the City of Memphis.
For more information and to contribute visit ...
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Tupelo's Own Elvis Presley DVD
Never before have we seen an Elvis Presley concert from the 1950's with sound. Until Now! The DVD Contains recently discovered unreleased film of Elvis performing 6 songs, including Heartbreak Hotel and Don't Be Cruel, live in Tupelo Mississippi 1956. Included we see a live performance of the elusive Long Tall Sally seen here for the first time ever. + Plus Bonus DVD Audio.
This is an excellent release no fan should be without it.
The 'parade' footage is good to see as it puts you in the right context with color and b&w footage. The interviews of Elvis' Parents are well worth hearing too. The afternoon show footage is wonderful and electrifying : Here is Elvis in his prime rocking and rolling in front of 11.000 people. Highly recommended.
Tupelo's Own Elvis Presley DVD Video with Sound.
