1085 Poplar Ave. Memphis, TN
Circa 1877/ rebuilt 1884 from fire damage. Victorian style
Thomas Newton Patton (1837-1906) built this home in 1877 as a wedding gift for his second wife, Helen Amanda Coulter Patton (1857-1939). At the time, the site was well out in the country. After a fire, it was rebuilt with original bricks salvaged.
Helen was a Bartlett native and had attended Presbyterian School for Girls (current site of Christian Brothers College). Helen was involved in the community and with Lindsey Memorial Presbyterian Church and the Women’s Auxiliary - a school was formed in her name. Patton’s first wife was Mary W. Terry Patton (1840-1869)(m. 1866), and his third wife was Martha Luisa Wilson Coulter Patton (1836-1882).
Patton and his sons James H. Patton and Harris P. Patton owned National Rose Springs & Mattress Co. He also owned Memphis City Transfer Co. for about 40 years. The Pattons resided there until 1900.Â
In 1900 Samuel Bejach (1847-1917), a Russian merchant, and Lumbia Dillard Bejach (1860-1946) purchased the property. He owned it 15 years before he sold it. His son Lois Dillard Bejach was locally famous for pushing Bejack’s Law (1913) through the Tennessee legislature - it provided for womens’ property rights. Lumbia resided at her home until her death in 1946.
Within a few years, by 1949, the place was owned by Mazie W. Sanders Cawthorne Bissette (1884-1951). She was married three times: Archie Quinn; Walter L. Cawthorne (m.1914); and Lucian Branch Bissette. She restored the home and ran the antique shop Heirloom Shoppe from it for a couple years until her death. Â
In 1958, Lessie Ross Gates (1904-1965) bought the property and transformed it into the Lessie Gates Coach House Restaurant, one of the finer dining places in Memphis. In 1964, it became a private club. In 1965, Gates was murdered in the rear of the home.Â
Harlan Fields bought the former Patton mansion and opened The Four Flames Restaurant opened with its iconic 4 columns with flames atop They represented the four signature desserts: Cherries Jubilee, Bananas Foster, Peach Melba, and Baked Alaska. in the front. In the 1970s/80s, it continued as one of the finest dining restaurants in Memphis. It closed, however, in the 1980s and was vacant until being repurposed as a child agency.Â
In 2024, it is the Memphis Child Advocate Center. NR 1979
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