Lotz House: Civil War House Museum

Matilda Lotz was the daughter of German immigrant Johann Lotz who built the Lotz House in 1858. The Lotz House has seven of Matilda’s original oil paintings on display including “Sheep at Rest,” “Donkey,” “Wolf,” “Harry Wilkes,” “The Herd,” “Black Sheep” and “The Work Horse.” 

While on the guided tour of the Lotz House you will learn about the history of many of the antiques and furnishings. You’ll see some of the most exquisite examples of John Henry Belter and Prudent Mallard furniture from the 1820’s – 1860’s. What’s more, you’ll also see several pieces of furniture made by Mr. Lotz himself. 

In each room, you’ll view exceptional pieces of Old Paris Porcelain designed for a wide variety of use. The Lotz House contains an extraordinary number of rare and scarce porcelain pieces including tea sets, Veilleuses and even a very rare Old Paris water or juice chiller. While you may be familiar with Audubon paintings and prints, you may not be aware that John James Audubon actually painted from birds he captured and stuffed to examine them in their more natural form.  

You’ll see Audubon’s stuffed birds placed under their original glass dome. In fact, the former editor at large at The Magazine Antiques, said this about the Lotz House collection, “It’s by far the finest private collection of American Victorian Furniture in the Southeast.”

Notes:

The Lotz House is now open and adheres to Tennessee’s Covid-19 guidelines and protocols for the safety of our visitors. 

We are following state protocols and will restrict the number of groups on a tour to ten for each floor of the two-story home located on ground zero where the Battle of Franklin was held. 

Our tour guides are wearing masks and we strongly urge visitors to wear masks as well. Our staff sanitizes common surfaces between tours to ensure cleanliness. 

The Lotz House will offer the popular Walking Battlefield Tour led by Thomas Cartwright and Seth Breon will resume the Lotz House Cellar Tour