We decided to go back today and visit the inside of the Hunter Museum.  It was supposed to be hotter than HE double tooth picks so clutching our $1 off coupon, away we went.

A little history of this museum

Mansion

In 1904, a wealthy insurance broker, Ross Faxon, commissioned a Cincinnati architectural firm to design a new home for his family. The family lived in the Edwardian-style mansion for nine years.

After passing through several hands, the home eventually was sold in 1920 to Anne Taylor Thomas, the widow of Benjamin F. Thomas. Benjamin Thomas was one of the founders of the world’s first Coca-Cola bottling company.

The same year the Mansion was designed in 1904, George Thomas Hunter, Benjamin Thomas’s nephew, had arrived in Chattanooga at the age of 17 to work as a clerk in his uncle’s business.  Hunter was unmarried and following his death in 1951, the Chattanooga Art Association approached the Benwood Foundation to ask that the Faxon-Hunter mansion be donated to their organization in order to found an art museum.  And they did.

Here are some pictures inside the mansion, but remember, NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY!  We learned that the hard way, we got yelled at :(.  Naughty, naughty!

2nd floor

Wow, now that is a BIG mirror

HGTV viewers would be jealous of this 🙂

Stairway going up, or down as the case may be

Museum from the river

Then how about these fireplaces?

This is the inside of that fire-place

Cool huh?  And the stone on some of them.  Wowzer!   The fireplaces, hardwood floors, wall moldings and hand-carved woodwork are all original, as are sconces and fixtures over the Grand Staircase.

In the 70’s an addition was added to the mansion.

Then in 2002 they added this section

Pretty impressive and really good views of the river

Tennessee River

And for those of you that want to see the art exhibits

 Can’t have a boating blog with out pictures of boats 🙂

 even if they are on fire 😉

And water

This one almost looks 3D

See that baby?  That’s a BOY! In a dress???

Risque

There was a warning when you entered the room this was in so little eyes wouldn’t make jokes.  No giggling boys!

Here is the modern art I remember when I was an Art Major in college back in the day.  

Look at this guys blue eyes

Cool mirrors, who’s that guy?

And glass exhibits

Even a glass dress

So all in all we had a good time and killed a few hours on a hot and muggy day.  We’ll see what tomorrow brings.  Hope you enjoyed the pictures :).