The History of the UAHF Lowe House

If you stand at just the right angle under the chandelier in the music room of the Lowe House and began talking, a fascinating thing will occur - your voice dramatically resonates throughout the room.

It is one of the many entrancing features of the Lowe House constructed in 1902. The property, located at 210 Williams Avenue in Huntsville's Twickenham Historic Preservation District, was originally designed more than a century ago by architect Herbert Colwell for long-time Alabama politician, the Hon. A. S. Fletcher.

The house is historically significant because of its style and location. The blond-brick mansion with turrets is loosely based on the style of the 16th century chateaux region of France. Some of the most breath-taking interior features of the Chateauesque style house are the grand stairs, Tiffany-styled stained glass windows and vast fireplaces.

Property owners can be traced to one of Huntsville's early prominent residents - Col. LeRoy Pope. He bought the original estate in 1809, and then sold the property eight years late to attorney Henry Minor, who had moved to Huntsville from Virginia. The two acres of land sold for $46.50.

Minor served as attorney general for the Mississippi Territory prior to Alabama's statehood, but he moved to South Alabama to become a Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. In a curious twist of fate, it was Minor's great-great grandson, Philip Mason, who was instrumental in establishing a University of Alabama branch campus in Huntsville.

During the brief time Minor owned the land, he built a Federal Period two-story brick house on the property. The property would change hands numerous times, and around 1826 the dwelling served as an exclusive academy for girls. One of the staunchest supporteres of the school was Col. Pope, the original landowner.

It was during the late 1860s that A. S. Fletcher acquired the deed to the property on Williams Avenue. Fletcher would tear down the property's original home around 1900. Eventually, Fletcher and his wife, Mattie Lowe Fletcher, would build the Chateausque style mansion for $20,000. The home has stood regally for more than 100 years.

At the death of A. S. Fletcher, his nephew, Robert Joseph Lowe, inherited the property. He and his wife, Jame Knight Lowe, moved into the house. When Mrs. Lowe passed away in 1997, she bequeathed the Lowe Mansion to the University of Alabama Huntsville Foundation (UAHF).

There is little doubt every room in the house has a story to tell. Two of the most beautiful and significant rooms of the house are the dining room and the original stained glass windows, and the music room with its built-in bookshelves.

Visible from the side and rear of the present house is a two-story building, part of the original home built on the site, that includes and intact smokehouse - only one of five remaining in Madison County. Inside, the building contains the original packed-earth floor, and blackened roof framing.

This history of the UAHF Lowe House was posted on the front gate of Lowe House during the June 2014 History & Mystery Tour sponsored by the Huntsville Pilgrimage Association.