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Alexander Inn
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| Location: | Oak Ridge, Tennessee |
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| Built: | 1943 |
| Governing body: | Oak Ridge Revitalization Effort |
| Part of: | Oak Ridge Historic District (#91001109) |
| Designated CP: | 1993 |
The Alexander Inn, originally known as The Guest House, is an historic building in Oak Ridge, Tennessee that was built during the Manhattan Project to house official visitors and that later was used as a hotel. It is included on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing property in an historic district.
The Guest House was built in 1943. A wood-framed building, similar to many other World War II period “H-plan” buildings, it served as guest quarters to a number of dignitaries during the top-secret Manhattan Project, including Enrico Fermi, Robert Oppenheimer and General Leslie Groves. In 1949, a 44-room addition was completed. The name was changed to the Alexander Inn in September 1950. The hotel was sold by the government to Mr. W. W. Faw for $34,000 in 1958. At that time, private bathrooms and a ballroom were added, and the kitchen was expanded.
The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993 as a contributing property in the Oak Ridge Historic District.[1]
The Alexander Inn ceased operating as a hotel in the mid 1990s. Since that time the building has fallen into serious disrepair. On December 18, 2009, the Oak Ridge Revitalization Effort, a local nonprofit organization, announced that it had purchased the historic property. In March 2010, the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance listed the inn at the top of its first East Tennessee’s Endangered Heritage list of endangered historic buildings and places in a 16-county region of East Tennessee.[2] The current, no-interest mortgage of $353,700 expires on June 30, 2011, after that date the property will revert to its former owner. The Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association (ORHPA), a group concerned with protecting the city's history, is now working with ORRE to develop a new non-profit organization that will focus entirely on restoring the Inn.[3]
The Alexander Inn and its grounds are central elements for the crime novel Bones of Betrayal by Jefferson Bass (the writing team of Jon Jefferson and Dr. William Bass), published in 2009 (ISBN 978-0-06-128474-8, ISBN 0-06-128474-2).