Sunnyside (Nashville, Tennessee)

The two-storey mansion was built in the 1840s.[2] It was designed in the Greek Revival architectural style.[2] It was built for Mary Childress Benton,[3] the sister-in-law of Senator Thomas Hart Benton, after she became a widow.[2] When her great-niece Mary Douglass married Theodore Francis Sevier, it became their family home.[3]

In the 1860s, the mansion was purchased by John Armstrong Shute, who gave it to his daughter, Mrs Stephen W. Childress, as a present.[2] It was damaged during the Battle of Nashville.[2] Shortly after, it served as a hospital for wounded soldiers of the Confederate States Army.[2] After the war, Childress renamed the mansion Lee Monte, after Confederate General Robert E. Lee.[2]

In 1882, the mansion was purchased by Dr. L.G. Noel, a Professor of Dentistry at Vanderbilt University.[3] In 1927, Granville Sevier, who was Mary Douglass Sevier's grandson, bought back the home, adding to it and renovating it.[3] His children bequeathed Sunnyside to the City of Nashville in 1945.[3] Three years later, in 1948, Sevier Park was established as a public park around the property.[3]

The mansion was restored in 2004.[3]

It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since October 1, 1974.[4]