The Central Gardens Association contracted with Winter & Company, a nationally acclaimed historic neighborhood consulting firm to help the neighborhood produce improved guidelines in an illustrated and more easily understood form. By using photographs taken in midtown Memphis and drawings, this document attempts to answer many of the questions neighbors ask when planning an addition or other covered change to their property.

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Memphis Landmarks Comission

A Short History
The Central Gardens Association Board, aware that existing governmental regulations of construction and demolition in the neighborhood was not reliably sensitive to the residential and historical nature of the area, began studying the issue of historic zoning in 1990 by appointing a special committee recommended that the association seek official recognition by local authorities as a historic conservation district, thereby allowing all new construction and demolition projects to be reviewed by the Memphis Landmarks Commission. The board unanimously adopted the recommendation on August 1990, and approved a budget of $5,000.00 to cover the anticipated fees and expenses in obtaining the conservation district designation (Minutes of the Central Gardens Board, August 21, 1990).

Throughout 1991 and early 1992 the Long Term Planning and Legislative Committee chaired by Dick Vandemark undertook the task of identifying all Central Gardens property owners, defining the boundaries of the district, determining the inclusion of churches, schools, and the library in the area, and drafting design review guidelines specific to the neighborhood. In February, the committee was granted the authority to call a public meeting necessary for the application process. On March 23, 1992, over 300 residents gathered in Marion Hall of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral to deliberate the issue of historic zoning. By a very large majority, they voted to ratify the pursuit of conservation status. The necessary paperwork was submitted two days later to t he Memphis Landmark Commission. Following unanimous approval of the application by that body, the next step was consideration by the Memphis and Shelby County Land Use Control Board where the outcome was the same.

The City Council was to consider the request on July 28, 1992. In preparation, board members wrote letters to the councilmen, solicited neighbors' attendance, and provided childcare for residents who needed it. To the dismay of all, after only two minutes into the meeting, without warning or discussion, and literally in about three seconds, it was moved to voted to drop the item from the agenda altogether. The frustration continued in the months that which lay ahead. However, the dogged determination and persistence of the board of directors, the Long Range Planning Committee, and CGA president Barbara Vandemark (1990-91), Mark Vorder-Brugge (1991-92), Sandra Palazolo (1992-93), and Eddie Peterson (1993-94) eventually prevailed for the April 20, 1993, board minutes reflect: "Memphis City Council has voted to grant historic conservation status to the Central Gardens Area."