Tunisia RPCV Tucker is a long-time proponent of the architectural restoration and creation of a living Downtown in Memphis
Downtown more vibrant thanks to work of architect Jack Tucker
K. Denise Jennings
Building for the site, whether it be the mountains of the Ozarks, Muslim ruins in North Africa or structures in Downtown Memphis, is the philosophy that drives Memphis architect Jack R. Tucker.
Tucker, who is a long-time proponent of the architectural restoration and creation of a living Downtown in Memphis, prides himself on respecting the space in which he's asked to build.
"The definition of site can be different," says Tucker. "With old buildings the building is the site, and in nature it's the trees, the rocks and the terrain. The site always has a real influence on what you design. It's much easier to have something to build off of."
Tucker has had some interesting things to "build off of" in his lifetime, including a stint in Tunisia while working for the Peace Corps.
As a young boy, Tucker recalls his family always building something. His father was in real estate and built houses. Tucker shared his interest in building and early on gained an interest in art.
"I didn't like it more than football, but it was right up there," he says.
In summers during high school Tucker worked for his girlfriend's father, who was an architect.
Later, while getting his degree in architecture at the University of Arkansas, Tucker crossed paths with renowned architect Fay Jones, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright and an accomplished architect in his own right, famous for such structures as Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs.
Jones was Tucker's professor of architectural history at the University of Arkansas, and Tucker worked for him during and after school for several years in the 1960s.
"Jones taught me a lot," Tucker says. "He was an artist."
Tucker's travels and work in Tunisia while in the Peace Corps in the mid 1960s brought meaning to these teachings. North Africa is full of centuries-old towns with ruins from early civilizations.
The Tunisian people were anxious to rebuild and regenerate their towns, but their aggressive approach was threatening to destroy the rich heritage that defined the towns.
Tucker helped encourage the city leaders to consider adaptive reuse of historic structures while maintaining their architectural integrity.
Tucker returned to the U.S. in 1966, which was in the midst much political, social and architectural change. The civil rights movement was in full-force, and architects were emerging with a battle cry to protect the heritage of the U.S.
In 1968, three months after Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, Tucker moved to Memphis to take a job with Roy P. Harrover & Associates Architects. Tucker vividly recalls driving into Memphis with a friend in the passenger's seat of his Austin Healey at 8:30 p.m. on a Saturday.
"It was totally quiet," he says. "There was not a soul on Main Street on a Saturday night."
Tucker was determined to get Downtown Memphis straightened out. His first priority was to move Downtown.
"In Memphis I needed to be Downtown near the river," he says. "That's the city's soul."
In 1976 Tucker moved into Timpani, a historic building on Union that he and a small group of Downtown pioneers renovated. At the same time, Tucker got involved in a grass-roots effort to restore confidence in Downtown. Tucker made friends in high places and put his money where his mouth was, renovating Downtown one project at a time.
"My intent was to prove that you could live Downtown, and you could have retail and office space all Downtown," he says.
"Jack put his own money into Downtown before most people thought it was a sensible place to live," says Carol Coletta, a long-time friend of Tucker and his partner in Timpani. "The work he's done with our place and other buildings and historic sites Downtown showed the way to really sensitive adaptive new uses of historical structures."
CONTACT freelance writer K. Denise Jennings at kdj@midsouth.rr.com
