Thomas Hope of Tennessee, c. 1757-1820, house carpenter and joiner

The purpose of this study was to document with currently available information the architecture and cabinetry associated with Thomas Hope of Knoxville, Tennessee, c,1757-1820. The specific goals were to record and preserve all information currently available concerning the houses, woodwork, and furniture associated with Thomas Hope; to document these works historically and stylistically, noting the extent to which currently available information linked these works with Hope; to record available information about the life of Thomas Hope, a figure in the history of the local area and in the history of architecture and cabinetry in the South.

Primary sources of information for the study included the architectural handbook owned by Hope, personal entries in that handbook, and three letters written by Hope. Wills, estates, deeds, census records, early newspapers, and manuscripts provided additional information, Historic and stylistic background was studied, Works attributed to Hope were photographed; representative architectural floor plans and elevations were drawn.

Some cases were included in which any proof of connection with Thomas Hope was limited by lack of existing information.

It may be only by publishing material still fragmentary and imperfectly substantiated that the route to further and more trustworthy information is discovered.¹

¹"Where Elias Hasket Derby Bought His Furniture," Antiques, VXX (November, 1931), 280.