Wilks Brooks House

Memphis, United States

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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Heritage registerNational Register of Historic Places↗

The Wilks Brooks House in Memphis, Tennessee, is the oldest example of Greek Revival architecture in the Shelby County area, built between October 1834 and 1835 by Wilks Brooks and his fifteen-year-old son Joseph. The L-shaped, two-story dwelling features a central hallway known as a dog-trot with rooms flanking each side, and was constructed from wood—elm, poplar, and cedar—harvested on the property, along with locally made bricks and nails. Interior walls were finished with plaster reinforced by horsehair. Located on the Cherokee Trace, a historic American Indian trading route, the house served as the center of a plantation where cotton was grown and transported first by wagon, then by railroad after 1853. During the Civil War, it sheltered Confederate soldiers and later served as headquarters for the Union's 7th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. The Brooks family occupied the home until 1898, when it fell vacant for decades. In 1973, descendants relocated and reconstructed the house on the same property, completing restoration in 2002. The home is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and remains under private ownership with tenant occupancy.