1 of 3
Photos by Shannon Fontaine.
2 of 3
3 of 3
A mansion like Burlington in Green Hills shouldn’t be on the market by most standards of logic.
Typically, a home so deeply steeped in one family’s history— in this case, the Ellistons, a founding Nashville dynasty—rarely changes hands, and when it does, the keys usually go to a relative. Yet the seven-bedroom mansion at 210 Burlington Place is currently for sale for the first time in more than 30 years.
Although constructed in 1932, Burlington retains architectural elements salvaged from the Ellistons’ 1850s ancestral home—bricks, hand-carved Italian marble mantels, a gazebo, wrought iron window grills and railings, and a solid mahogany front door. The original mansion, alternately known as the Elliston- Farrell House or Burlington, was built in 1859 on 500 acres surrounding modern-day Elliston Place. It was demolished in 1932.
An evolution of the 1859 home, the Burlington of 1932 was also built in the Italian Renaissance style. A 10,457 square-foot monument to grandeur, the home calls to mind the Gilded Age when industrial titans were building mansions along the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean on Newport, Rhode Island’s shore. With its symmetrical façade, Burlington is cut from that same natty cloth: that of the fabled American country house. Burlington features 14-foot ceilings, elaborate plasterwork, and massive arched windows, details seldom seen in the modern era (and, in some cases, impossible to replicate). Features that were cutting edge in the 1930s, including a bell board, silver vault, and laundry chutes, impart an inimitable authenticity to Burlington’s many rooms.
“Historically significant properties such as the Burlington mansion will likely appeal to a buyer who respects and appreciates the architecture of pre-1920 great American country houses,” says Melanie Baker, who is handling the sale for Zeitlin Sotheby’s International Realty. “This will be a buyer who understands the mansion’s historical significance and need for preservation.”
1 of 2
2 of 2
The mansion’s interior woodwork, hauled initially from Cincinnati by boat for use in the Elliston-Farrell House, is on full display in the main drawing room, the most significant space in the home. The room’s personality is as crisp and elegant as a tuxedo; its ivory walls encircle floors of black-and-white marble arranged in a geometric pattern.
Bryant Fleming, the American architect and landscape architect who designed the Cheekwood botanical garden and mansion in 1929, created Burlington in utter luxury. The home features an enormous dining room, a primary suite with dual bathrooms, a sunroom, a full basement with fireplace and service kitchen, and the primary kitchen, which includes the original Garland range.
The home reflects Fleming’s understanding of perfectly proportioned rooms that act as a backdrop for family life while also functioning as an elegant repository for art and antiques.
“Very likely the ultimate buyer of the Burlington mansion will have amassed antiquities over the years and will yearn for a home of proper architectural proportions such as this Bryant Fleming treasure to showcase a furniture and accessories collection,” Baker says.
Dotted with boxwoods Fleming imported from England, Burlington’s 1.03-acre grounds include a two- bedroom guest house and terraced gardens that allow for abundant outdoor entertaining. Burlington was most recently purchased in 1989 by the late Andrew Woodfin “Woody” Miller. Regarding the home, his son, Tracy Miller, says, “How do you sum up what a place like this means? A home made with love and elegance and craftsmanship lends its glamour and grandeur to even the smallest moments. Burlington is as timeless as it is historic.”
Naturally, Burlington is listed on the register of Historic Homes of Tennessee. An absolute treasure, the mansion awaits a new homeowner to celebrate its storied heritage.