Lookout Mountain Incline Railway
The 1895 incline, a National Historic Landmark, with its base station in the neighborhood.
St. Elmo · Chattanooga, TN
Chattanooga's incline-era historic district, with real design review
St. Elmo sits at the foot of Lookout Mountain, platted in the 1880s and grown around the Incline Railway. It is one of the few Chattanooga neighborhoods with local historic zoning, so exterior work here needs a Certificate of Appropriateness before a permit.
History & architecture
How St. Elmo was built
Col. Abraham Malone Johnson subdivided his farm into building lots around 1885, creating the street grid that still defines the neighborhood.
The first Lookout Mountain Incline opened in 1887 near 38th Street; the second incline, still operating today, opened in November 1895 and turned St. Elmo into both a commuter suburb and a tourist gateway.
Build-out from the 1880s through the 1920s produced the Queen Anne, gabled ell, pyramid square, and American Foursquare house forms that the city's own design guidelines identify as the district's defining types.
St. Elmo was an independent town before annexation into Chattanooga, and the neighborhood retains a distinct main street and civic identity because of it.
- Typical era
- 1885–1920s
- Dominant styles
- Queen Anne, gabled ell, pyramid square, American Foursquare
- Typical lot
- Modest gridded historic-suburb lots
- Review
- Certificate of Appropriateness required in the local district
Landmarks & shared spaces
Places that anchor St. Elmo
St. Elmo Historic District
The National Register residential core, coextensive with much of the local historic zoning.
Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center
Large nature preserve and arboretum at the neighborhood's western edge.
St. Elmo Avenue
The historic main street, still the neighborhood's commercial and social center.
Lookout Mountain escarpment
The wooded slope that closes every south-facing view and shapes the lots against it.
Businesses & districts
Where St. Elmo gathers
St. Elmo Avenue shops and restaurants
A compact walkable commercial node serving the neighborhood and incline visitors.
Tennessee Avenue corridor
Secondary commercial frontage with local service businesses.
Incline base station businesses
Tourism-driven retail and dining clustered around the railway.
Zoning & overlays
Common zoning codes in St. Elmo
These are the base districts and overlays we see most often on St. Elmo lots. Always confirm your parcel's district and overlays on the Metro zoning map before design decisions get expensive.
RN-1-5Residential Neighborhood Zone (5,000 sq ft)
Matches St. Elmo's platted lot pattern: 5,000 sq ft minimum, 50 ft width or the blockface average, 15 ft front or the average if less, 5 ft interior sides, 25 ft rear, 35 ft height, 60% coverage.
RN-2Residential Neighborhood Zone (mixed housing types)
Applies where duplexes and small multi-unit buildings sit in the historic fabric.
Commercial nodeSt. Elmo Avenue main street frontage
The main street carries commercial zoning rather than RN — verify the district if your property fronts it.
Overlays that apply here
H
Local historic zoning — St. Elmo
The city publishes adopted Historic District Guidelines for St. Elmo, finalized in 2014. Exterior alterations, additions, new construction, and demolition require a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Chattanooga Historic Zoning Commission.
NR
St. Elmo Historic District (National Register)
Separate from the local zoning. The National Register listing is honorific and opens rehabilitation tax credits; the local zoning is what regulates work.
Slope
Steep slope regulations
Lots running up the Lookout Mountain escarpment fall under the city's 2021 steep-slope rules for grading, disturbance, and drainage.
F/H
Flood hazard overlay
Low-lying lots near Lookout Creek can sit in mapped flood hazard areas — check before siting an addition.
Permitting path
- 1Confirm the parcel is inside a locally zoned historic district, not merely a National Register district. Local historic zoning is what triggers review; National Register listing on its own places no restriction on private exterior work.
- 2Inside a local district, exterior alterations, additions, new construction, and demolition require a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Chattanooga Historic Zoning Commission before the building permit is issued.
- 3Applications are measured against that district's adopted Historic District Guidelines, published by the city in 2014, together with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards.
- 4Chattanooga's new Chapter 38 zoning still applies underneath the historic zoning — the RN or TRN district sets lot, setback, height, and coverage limits regardless of the design review outcome.
- 5Then file for the building permit through the Land Development Office with the Certificate of Appropriateness in hand.
Why it matters
St. Elmo's place in Chattanooga
One of Chattanooga's few locally zoned historic districts, and the most intact incline-era suburb in the city.
The base of the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway, a National Historic Landmark and a major regional visitor destination.
A rare example of an intact pre-automobile main street still serving its original neighborhood.
Events & festivals
What happens in St. Elmo
Hello, St. Elmo
Spring
Neighborhood street festival organized by the community association, complete with a corgi parade.
St. Elmo Porchfest
Spring
Bands play on porches across the neighborhood for an afternoon.
Incline and Lookout Mountain visitor season
Year-round, peaking in summer
Tourism traffic through the base station shapes the main street's rhythm.
Designing here
What this means for your St. Elmo project
- Design review here is real, so plan on two approvals: the Certificate of Appropriateness first, then the building permit. Build the commission's monthly meeting cycle into the schedule.
- Guidelines favor additions that are subordinate to the original house — set back from the front plane, lower in ridge height, and legible as new work rather than as fake period fabric.
- Original porches, window openings, and roof forms on the street elevation are the elements reviewers protect most closely. Changes there are the hardest sell.
- Rear ells and rear two-story additions are the reliable strategy on these narrow lots, and they also keep you inside the 5 ft side setbacks.
- Window replacement is a frequent flashpoint. Repair and storm windows usually clear review faster than wholesale replacement.
- On lots running up the mountain, the steep-slope rules can constrain the footprint before the design guidelines ever do.
FAQ
Questions about St. Elmo
Keep exploring
Other Chattanooga neighborhoods
Sources
- City of Chattanooga — Code of Ordinances, Chapter 38 (zoning)
- City of Chattanooga — Zoning maps
- City of Chattanooga — Historic zoning & Certificates of Appropriateness
- City of Chattanooga — Property flood risk tool
- City of Chattanooga — Historic District Guidelines: St. Elmo (2014)
- Community Association of Historic St. Elmo
- Lookout Mountain Incline Railway — History
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