Pillow-McIntyre House
c. 1852 • 707 Adams Avenue
The two-story Greek Revival style Pillow-McIntyre House was built in 1852 by C.G. Richardson and later owned by J.M. McCombs. General Gideon Johnson Pillow purchased the mansion in 1873. Pillow commanded the Tennessee Volunteers in the Mexican War. Pillow was known to be a questionable leader, and most of his troops were killed or wounded at the Battle of Cerro Gordo. The surviving officers blamed Pillow for the loss, and a court martial was held. The court martial cleared Pillow of all charges and he continued to serve with questionable merit.
Pillow married his second wife in 1872, who ran up $53,000 worth of debts in a short amount of time. The house was sold upon Pillow’s death in 1880 to Peter McIntyre, founder of the first glucose refinery in Memphis. McIntyre was married to Ella Goyer, daughter of Charles Wesley Goyer, who lived across the street at the James Lee House.
Their daughter, Florence McIntyre, inherited the house in 1942 and turned it into the Memphis Art Association’s Free School, later to become the Memphis Academy of Art. The school occupied the home until 1963 and was then used as office space for a group of Civil Rights lawyers. The Pillow-McIntyre House is now under renovation to be an event space and is one of the only pre-Civil War Greek Revival houses left in Memphis.
Copy Source: With gratitude to Perre M. Magness, author of the book Good Abode, for portions of this narrative.