Cleared lot on former Lupton estate in Riverview
photo by John Shearer
Steps between hedges lead up to former Cartter Lupton home
photo by John Shearer
New Riverview home to feature large support walls
photo by John Shearer
Lyndhurst Drive entrance column apparently from materials used on Lyndhurst
photo by John Shearer
Column that was part of entrance driveway to former Lyndhurst mansion
photo by John Shearer
The enlarged former Cartter Lupton home, as seen from Riverview Oaks Road
photo by John Shearer
The sprawling Chattanooga Golf and Country Club buildings across from former Lupton estate
photo by John Shearer
Historical marker by club
photo by John Shearer
Many of the old Lupton estate border hedges remain
photo by John Shearer
About the last remaining section of undeveloped land of the sprawling former Lupton family estate In Riverview has recently been cleared for development.
In recent weeks, construction work has begun on a custom home on a small piece of formerly wooded land alongside Dorchester Road near Hixson Pike.
According to a representative of the Dexter White Construction company, the home, being built for an unspecified client, is actually one of two homes that are scheduled to be built at the site by the firm.
The land had been owned since 1977 by the late Joe Schmissrauter family and by his son, Kurt Schmissrauter, before the younger Schmissrauter sold it in recent months to the White firm.
Until 2012, the younger Mr.
Schmissrauter and his family had also lived in the nearby former Cartter Lupton home that sat on acreage that included the lot now being developed. Mr. and Mrs. Joe Schmissrauter had purchased and moved into the home in 1977 after Cartter Lupton’s death and lived there until their deaths in 2000.
The site where the new home is being built is also believed to have been part of the original estate of the 34,000-square-foot Lyndhurst mansion constructed about 1910 by J.T. Lupton, the first family member to be connected with Coca-Cola bottling.
Cartter Lupton, his son, built his large home on the south part of the Lyndhurst acreage in the late 1920s. As a result, Cartter's son, “Jack” Lupton, who continued to grow the family’s bottling interests and became one of Forbes magazine’s richest Americans, likely as a child enjoyed trekking through the wooded area where the construction is taking place along with his sister, Elizabeth Davenport, and half brother, Joe Henderson.
The wooded area just east of the cleared lot was said to have contained some unique flora that was originally part of a planned landscaping project.
Lyndhurst was torn down in 1960, and some homes were built there on what is now Lyndhurst Drive a short time later. Some homes were also built on the former estate alongside the newer Riverview Oaks Road closer to the former Cartter Lupton house not long after his death.
jcshearer2@comcast.net