With its distinctive Queen Anne Revival design and connections to Chattanooga’s late-19th-century growth, the structure at 551 Oak St. is unlike any other on UTC’s campus.
Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 as the Isbester House, it was completed in 1896 as the residence of Caleb B. Isbester (1828-1899), his wife Virginia (1833-1901), and their two children.
Caleb B. Isbester was born in Scotland, immigrated to Pennsylvania with his family as a child, and moved to Chattanooga in 1877—by way of Nashville—to enter the foundry business. With a business partner, he established the Chattanooga Foundry and Pipe Company (later known as United States Pipe and Foundry Company).
Described as a “palatial home” by the Chattanooga Daily Times while under construction, the Isbester House reflects the prosperity and civic influence of local industrialists of the era. In fact, several years after Isbester died in 1899, the newspaper noted that there were “points of resemblance” between his career and that of Andrew Carnegie, writing that they were “both Scotch lads who … achieved marked success in the iron business and who did not consider money made merely for personal use.”
The Isbester House was further distinguished when it served as the residence for Chattanooga Mayor William Riley Crabtree (1867-1920). Crabtree, who married the Isbesters’ daughter, Virginia “Ginny” Isbester (1868-1926) in 1900, held the office from 1907 to 1909.
The property changed hands several times in the first half of the 20th century. From the mid-1930s through the mid-1940s, it was owned by the University of Chattanooga (UTC’s predecessor institution) and used as a men’s dormitory. It returned to private ownership for nearly four decades before being purchased in the 1980s and renovated for use as professional offices.
In 2011, UTC re-acquired the Isbester House. Following substantial restoration and preservation, it served as the office for Alumni Affairs beginning in 2016, becoming known as “Alumni House.” Today, the building is an administrative headquarters for campus, housing the offices of the chancellor, provost, and director of economic and workforce development.
In his role as University archivist, UC Foundation Associate Professor Noah Lasley works to acquire, arrange and describe official University of Tennessee at Chattanooga records and other valuable materials that document the University’s history and functions. His research interests include digital humanities, digital curation and archival instruction.
Lasley received a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in information science from UT Knoxville. Before joining UTC Special Collections in July 2016, he worked for several library units at UT Knoxville, including Modern Political Archives, Great Smoky Mountains Regional Project and Digital Production Area.