Andrew Johnson Hotel, Knoxville

The Andrew Johnson Building is a high-rise office complex in downtown Knoxville, completed in 1930. At 203 feet (62 m) it was the city's tallest building and the cornerstone of the downtown skyline for half a century, from 1928 to 1978.

The total of its 18-story height is made up of 15 floors, a mezzanine, and a two-story penthouse. The building is rectangular, with a recess running up the middle of the west facade. The ground floor extends out beyond the rest of the building to provide a base for the unique second story, which includes an open-air pavilion. Sitting at the very top of the building is the penthouse, which is seven bays wide and adorned with brick Ionic pilasters.

Originally home to the Andrew Johnson Hotel, this building has seen many esteemed guests over the years. Among them were Amelia Earhart (American aviation pioneer who stayed at the Andrew Johnson in 1936 – the year before her disappearance), jazz legend Duke Ellington, and the great Russian composer and pianist, Sergei Rachmaninoff, who stayed here after his performance at the University of Tennessee Alumni Hall in 1943.

Among other noteworthy personalities logging at the Andrew Johnson was the country music star, Hank Williams, who spent here the last few hours of his life. On New Year’s Eve of 1952, he checked into the hotel for what would be his final day. Though Williams was pronounced dead in West Virginia some time later, many believe that he had already been dead when leaving the hotel. Witnesses said, Williams was carried out semiconscious, apparently injected with some painkillers, to his automobile by a chauffeur and a hotel employee, who wondered about Williams's condition, and later suggested that he might have been dead at that point. Hank Williams was only 29.

In 1980, the Andrew Johnson Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Currently, it is used for office space by Knox County.