In 1948, a two-bedroom flat-roofed house at 68 W. Outer Drive went up for auction. Thaddeus Fitzpatrick bought it and had it moved to Tazewell, where it became his family's summer place on Norris Lake. Over the years the family added a screened porch, a front porch and a pitched roof. Oak Ridge Today reported that the historic fixtures and much of the original design made it through those decades at the lake.
That same house now sits on the grounds of the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge at 461 W. Outer Dr. On Saturday, December 5, it will be decorated for the holidays as it might have looked around 1945. The museum calls "A Flattop Home for the Holidays" a new event. It also opens a crowded weekend on the city's calendar, and it is the one stop that weekend where the Secret City's own history is the decoration.
A house that spent sixty years getting back to Outer Drive
The flattop is a Type B-1. The National Park Service's Oak Ridge wayside page on the Flat Top House lists it among the city's "alphabet" housing types. That system ran from Cemesto types A through H to Flat Tops A, B, C, S and V. The Oak Ridger described it as 576 square feet, with two bedrooms, one bath and a combined living and dining room. The flat roof gave the type its name.
The trip home took two moves and several decades.
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1948 | Sold at auction from 68 W. Outer Drive and moved to Tazewell |
| 2008 | Returns to Oak Ridge on October 16, set up beside the American Museum of Science and Energy |
| 2018 | AMSE Foundation deeds it to the Children's Museum and the house moves to its current site |
| 2025 | Restoration, furnishing and interpretation project at the Children's Museum |
Isabelle and Kenneth Smith donated the house to AMSE, and its return made news in The Oak Ridger when it arrived just west of the museum. The 2018 move to the Children's Museum took local money to get across town. The Oak Ridger reported that the AMSE Foundation put $5,982 toward the move and the Smith family gave $10,000, and the museum launched a $25,000 community fundraising campaign. Lee McGetrick managed the move, with Beth Shea as the museum's executive director and Marian Phillips as board vice president. The National Park Service was also set to plant a victory garden nearby.
What the 2025 restoration found inside
The 1945 setting rests on the most recent step in that timeline. In 2025 the museum hired Jacob M. Simpson to oversee the house's restoration, furnishing and interpretation. His project write-up shows how closely the team worked from the original records.
His write-up covers three findings in particular.
- The design came from the Tennessee Valley Authority. Simpson writes that it was not widely known before the project that Oak Ridge's flattops were first designed by TVA for its Depression-era dam construction projects. TVA drew three versions, the one-bedroom A-6, the two-bedroom B-1 and the three-bedroom C-1. All three were used in Oak Ridge alongside two new designs. The museum's house is a B-1.
- The floor started as sheet linoleum laid in 6-foot-wide rolls. That product had long been discontinued, so the team chose a vinyl composition tile close to the original color.
- The kitchen has a Knox Stove Works stove. Working from a TVA floor plan showing where the furniture sat, Simpson tracked down original and period furniture, including a Knox Stove Works Twin Temp stove.
The finished restoration photos date from mid-2025, and the final placement of items was completed after Simpson moved away in May 2025. That makes this December the first holiday season since the restoration wrapped up, and the first time the museum has put a holiday event around it. The stove, the floor and the furniture layout are what will sit under the 1945 decorations on December 5.
How December 5 works
The city's event listing lays out the basics:
- When: Saturday, December 5, 2026, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Where: Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, 461 W. Outer Dr., Oak Ridge
- Included: Access to both the museum and the Flattop House, special activities, holiday-themed refreshments and a chance to visit with Santa Claus
- Cost: Paid admission that supports the nonprofit museum. Museum members get in free, and no other discounts apply.
Tickets went on sale November 1 and are sold through the museum's SimpleTix event page. Since the usual discounts don't apply that day, a membership is the only way to get in without a ticket. The museum's regular hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m. December 5 is a Saturday, so the event runs during normal opening hours.
The weekend the flattop opens
The flattop event lands in the middle of the city's first holiday weekend, between a Friday night tree lighting and a Saturday full of indoor and outdoor plans. Here is the order on the city's community calendar:
- Friday, December 4, 7 to 8 p.m.: The city's Christmas tree lighting at A.K. Bissell Park.
- Friday, December 4: Holiday ice skating opens at Oak Ridge Mall and runs through Wednesday, December 30.
- Saturday, December 5, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Farm Holiday Market at Jackson Square.
- Saturday, December 5, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.: A Flattop Home for the Holidays at the Children's Museum.
- Saturday and Sunday, December 5 and 6: "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" at the Oak Ridge Playhouse, after school performances on December 3 and 4.
The market closes at 1 p.m. and the museum stays open until 4 p.m., so a Saturday can start at Jackson Square and end in the flattop's living room. A family could also take in the tree lighting Friday night and save the 1945 version of the holidays for Saturday.
Where the history theme picks up next
The flattop's 1945 setting isn't the only nod to the past this season. The Children's Museum spent part of 2026 on its America 250 celebration. That included a youth poetry contest themed "From Sea to Shining Sea," judged by Oak Ridge poet Rose Weaver and supported by Consolidated Nuclear Security and the Tennessee Arts Commission. The same anniversary shapes the Christmas parade a week after the flattop event.
The Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce hosts the parade on Saturday, December 12, from 6 to 8 p.m. The Oak Ridger reported that this year's theme is "All-American Christmas," a patriotic take on the season as the nation marks its 250th anniversary. Entries are encouraged to compete in the annual decorating contest.
That Saturday has an afternoon option too. The Oak Ridge Civic Music Association presents "Home For The Holidays" at 3 p.m. at First Baptist Oak Ridge, with the Oak Ridge Chorus and Youth Choir. Before either weekend, ORCMA's Holiday Jazz Concert with the Swing Time Big Band is at 6 p.m. on Saturday, November 21, at FUMC Oak Ridge. Later in the month, the Playhouse brings back its "Holiday Variety Hour – and a half" from December 16 through 20.
The 1945 decorations go up for one day. The house itself left Outer Drive in 1948, came back in 2008, moved to its current site in 2018 and was restored in 2025. It stays on the museum grounds after December 5.
At The REAL ESTATE Office, we've watched Oak Ridge's early homes outlast the decades, and it's a pleasure to see a 576-square-foot flattop get a holiday open house. If you live in one of the city's historic homes and want to know what it's worth today, we'd be glad to put together a free home valuation for you.
