Knoxville · Downtown – Market Square
The Oliver Hotel
Peter Kern's 1872 bakery and ice cream parlor on Market Square, now a 28-room hotel with the Peter Kern Library bar.
- Built
- 1872Corner Kern Building built 1872 by Peter Kern for his bakery and confectionery; the adjoining Jersey Lily Saloon building was added c. 1880.
- Style
- Italianate
- Architect
- Baumann & Baumann (NRIS)
- Type
- Boutique hotel
- Rooms
- 28
- Area
- Downtown – Market Square
- Credentials
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The story
Peter Kern, a German immigrant and prominent Knoxville businessman, built the corner building in 1872 to house his bakery, confectionery and ice cream parlor, and in 1878 developed an ice plant to make the ice cream sold there. A matching three-story building added on its north side around 1880 housed the Jersey Lily Saloon; the two share nearly identical Italianate window patterns. When the pair was listed on the National Register in 1982 as the Mall Building, it was being rehabilitated as a luxury hotel. Today the 28-room Oliver keeps the founder’s name in its Peter Kern Library bar.
Good to know
- Address: 407 Union Ave., Knoxville, TN 37902
Sources (3)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.