Holston Hills Country Club
The 1927 Donald Ross course at the center of the neighborhood plan.
Holston Hills · Knoxville, TN
Period-revival estate work along the Holston River and the Donald Ross course
Holston Hills is a 1920s country-club suburb of Tudor and Colonial Revival houses on large lots around a Donald Ross golf course. Additions here are about matching brick, stone, and roof pitch on houses that were built to be looked at.
History & architecture
How Holston Hills was built
The neighborhood grew as an early-20th-century planned residential community on the Holston River in East Knoxville, organized around a country club rather than a streetcar line.
Holston Hills Country Club was founded in 1927 with an 18-hole Donald Ross course on roughly 180 acres, and the course still shapes the street layout and lot pattern.
Construction through the 1920s, 30s, and 40s produced a concentration of period-revival architecture — Tudor Revival, Colonial Revival, and English cottage forms — typical of prestige golf suburbs of that era.
- Typical era
- 1920s–1940s, with later infill
- Dominant styles
- Tudor Revival, Colonial Revival, and English cottage
- Typical lot
- Large golf-course and river-adjacent lots
- Review
- Verify local overlay status; otherwise permit-only
Landmarks & shared spaces
Places that anchor Holston Hills
Holston River Park
City park on Holston Hills Road with soccer fields, a dog park, canoe launch, and fishing piers.
Holston River Greenway
Paved riverside trail along the neighborhood's edge.
The Holston River frontage
Defines the eastern and southern boundary and the neighborhood's recreational identity.
Businesses & districts
Where Holston Hills gathers
Asheville Highway corridor
The nearest everyday retail and service strip.
Rutledge Pike
Secondary commercial corridor serving East Knoxville.
Downtown Knoxville
A short drive west for dining and offices; the neighborhood itself is almost entirely residential.
Zoning & overlays
Common zoning codes in Holston Hills
These are the base districts and overlays we see most often on Holston Hills lots. Always confirm your parcel's district and overlays on the Metro zoning map before design decisions get expensive.
RN-1Single-Family Residential Neighborhood
Fits the neighborhood's large-lot pattern: 10,000 sq ft minimum, 75 ft width, front setback within 10 ft of the blockface average and never under 25 ft, 8 ft sides with a 20 ft combined minimum, 25 ft rear, 35 ft height, 30% coverage and 40% impervious.
ENEstablished Residential Neighborhood
Where it applies, EN is stricter: 22,000 sq ft minimum lot, a 40 ft minimum front setback tied to the blockface average, sides at 10% of lot width, 25% building coverage and 35% impervious.
Overlays that apply here
NR
National Register documentation
Holston Hills appears in National Register nomination material for its 1920s–40s country-club suburb design. National Register listing on its own does not restrict private exterior work.
H-1
Local historic overlay — verify
Only a locally adopted H-1 overlay triggers a Certificate of Appropriateness. Confirm your parcel's overlay status with Knoxville-Knox County Planning's historic preservation staff before assuming either way.
F
Floodplain
River-adjacent lots can sit in mapped flood hazard areas, which sets lowest-floor elevation and can trigger substantial-improvement rules.
HP
Hillside Protection Overlay
The neighborhood's name is accurate — sloped lots carry disturbance limits and extra grading and drainage detail.
Permitting path
- 1Confirm with Knoxville-Knox County Planning whether your parcel carries a local H-1 overlay. National Register documentation alone does not require design review; the local overlay does.
- 2If an overlay applies, exterior work needs a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Knoxville Historic Zoning Commission before the building permit, reviewed against the adopted district guidelines.
- 3Either way, confirm the Recode base district on KGIS — the difference between EN and RN-1 changes the minimum lot, the front setback floor, and the coverage cap.
- 4Check the flood map on river-side lots and the hillside overlay on sloped ones; both change where a footprint can go before design starts.
- 5Then submit to Plans Review and Inspections for the building permit.
Why it matters
Holston Hills's place in Knoxville
Home to one of Tennessee's most significant Donald Ross golf courses, in continuous play since 1927.
A well-preserved example of 1920s–40s planned country-club suburban design, unusual on Knoxville's east side.
Anchors public river access and recreation for East Knoxville through Holston River Park and the greenway.
Events & festivals
What happens in Holston Hills
Club golf calendar
Spring–fall
Tournament play on the Ross course brings regional visitors through the neighborhood.
Holston River Park programming
Year-round
City recreation use of the ballfields, dog park, and canoe launch.
Dogwood Arts Festival
April
Citywide spring festival with trails and open gardens across Knoxville.
Designing here
What this means for your Holston Hills project
- Period-revival houses are unforgiving about proportion. An addition should carry the existing roof pitch, eave depth, and window rhythm rather than introduce a second vocabulary.
- Matching 1920s and 30s brick and stone is difficult. Where a match will not work, a deliberate change of material on a set-back connector reads better than a near miss.
- Rear additions and enclosed garden rooms suit these floor plans; the 25 ft rear setback and the coverage cap set their limits.
- On EN parcels, the 25% building coverage and 35% impervious caps are tighter than most owners expect once a drive court and terrace are included.
- Golf-course-facing elevations get seen constantly — treat the rear as a second front elevation in the design.
FAQ
Questions about Holston Hills
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