You can own a piece of history from the Parkview. Liquidation auctions of furniture and other items from the historic building overlooking Overton Park will be held from 10 to 3 p.m. September 17th and 18th at the Parkview at 1914 Poplar Avenue.
The Parkview, which was a residential hotel before becoming a retirement community, is slated to reopen as condos, apartments, and retail businesses, says Helen Todd of Aqua Treasures, which is conducting the auction. In 2020, Force Properties, a California-based business, bought the Parkview, which it will renovate.
Auction items include event tables and chairs, commercial kitchen appliances, dining room chandeliers, old books, interior design decor, a baby grand piano, and much more, Todd says.
A preview will be held from 1 to 6 p.m. September 16th.
As to where this stands in their estate sale business history, Todd says, “This qualifies for us as the head of the estate sale and auction category for seeing the architecture and history within the city of Memphis.”
In a Memphis magazine story on The Parkview, Anne Cunningham O’Neill wrote, “When the 10-story Parkview Hotel opened on New Year’s Eve 1923 at 1914 Poplar Avenue, it was located well away from downtown Memphis — just inside the city limits, which were at that time at Cooper Street. This was the golden age of grand hotels.”
And, O’Neill wrote, “With its commanding views of Overton Park and its luxurious rooms and common areas, the Parkview was immediately billed as the South’s finest residential hotel and an address of rare distinction. Its fortunes waxed and wanted in the Depression years, but in the 1940s the Parkview once again became one of the city’s elegant social hubs. Designed principally as an apartment hotel, it offered rooms to traveling guests, and the popular dining room, known for its good food and musical ensembles, was open to the public.”
