Conway Twitty’s Hendersonville home saved from demolition
HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A late country music icon’s home in Hendersonville could be saved from demolition in a shocking twist of events that unfolded Tuesday evening during the Board of Mayor and Aldermen (BOMA) meeting where developers agreed to restore the home instead of knocking it down as they originally planned.
Twitty City — a country music entertainment complex built by Conway Twitty — became a popular tourist destination until the singer-songwriter died in 1993. The following year, the property was purchased by Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) and renamed Trinity Music City.
Decades later, many of the structures on the complex were hit by a tornado on Dec. 9, 2023, causing severe damage.
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“The mansion roof came up and down and was twisted,” said Frank Amedia, speaking on behalf of TBN during a planning commission meeting. “The mansion before that was in bad shape. Now it’s in real bad shape, and it really doesn’t fit in a use for what we can do with a studio or with staffing.”
Earlier this month, Amedia presented TBN’s plans to demolish every structure on the property, except for the Huckabee Theater, to make room for 80 assisted living units, 96 independent living units, a clubhouse, pool, chapel, community building, two offices, and the expansion of the Huckabee Theater.
“We’re going to build a place where people want to live in the residential areas and a place where people want to work,” Craig Pulley with TBN said.
However, some Hendersonville residents spoke out against the plan, which included demolishing the Twitty Mansion.
“We’ve protected other historical houses here. Why can’t we protect it?” said Darlyn Farris, who lives in Hendersonville.
On Jan. 2, the Hendersonville Planning Commission voted to give the plan a negative recommendation to the BOMA in a tied vote, partly due to concerns over the demolition of the home.
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Three weeks later, Amedia apologized to the BOMA and the city for the original plans to knock the home down. Then, he presented plans to reduce the number of independent living facility units from 96 to 90 in order to restore the Twitty house.
“We heard the sentiment of the city very well, we prayed about it, we met with some people…and we just felt that this was the right thing to do,” Amedia said. “It’s going to cost us more money, but that wasn’t the issue.”
The BOMA unanimously passed first reading for the new plans, which included saving the Twitty home, on Tuesday, Jan. 23. The city expects to consider second reading of the plan during the Feb. 27 BOMA meeting.
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