Repurposed/revitalized historical buildings in Nashville

[markhollin]

Update on post of July 19, 2017: the structure at 1110 16th Ave. South that has housed numerous residences and music businesses since it was built in 1955, is now reconfigured again and open with Smacksongs as the tenant. It has approximately 7,100 sq. ft. spread over two floors.

[markhollin]

The one story manufacturing site that most recently housed Bong Java roasting/storage at 601 9th Ave. South in the southern portion of The Gulch has been transformed into office and retail space.  The 11,680 sq. ft. Space was originally built in 1969.
 

[markhollin]

The two story brick storefront at 429 Broadway was originally built in 1920 and has 4,451 sq. ft.  It is currently joined with the space just to the east, and is home of Rippy’s Bar:

[markhollin]

Built in 1900, the 6 story brick charmer at 222 Polk Avenue was originally an apartment building called Watauga Flats. Later, it became a hotel catering to government guests with business at the Capitol, just a few blocks away.  For the past few decades it has been 25 units of condos. 

 

[e-dub]

great little building, that one.

[markhollin]

309 Church Street was originally built in 1874.  The 5 story edifice was first home to Union & American Newspaper, which eventually became the Nashville Banner. In recent years it was combined with its eastern neighbor, The Exchange Building, and is now the Lofts at Exchange.  I have often thought the first floor entrance could be repurposed into a stylish restaurant (with additional windows or entrance that would look westward onto the alley) that could help extend the Printers Alley entertainment district further to the south side of Church, eventually stimulating development along the alley all the way down to Commerce.

 

[markhollin]

Built in 1960, the former Piggly Wiggly grocery store at 3611 Gallatin Pike/3616 Baxter Ave. has 10,771 sf of space on 1.5 acres of land.  A recent buyer has plans for multi-use including a coffee shop, restaurant, yoga studio, and juice bar.

 

[markhollin]

907 Gleaves St. in The Gulch was a one time warehouse/light manufacturing unit, but is now home to Kobalt Publishing and Wellspire Event Space.  It has 14,250 sq ft spread over one floor, and was erected in 1974. 
 

[markhollin]

Stocking 51, Phase II update.  Warehouse/manufacturing structure originally built around 1920. Being rehabbed for office/retail space.

Looking SE from51st Ave. North at RR crossing:

 

Looking north from 51st Ave. North at Centennial Blvd:

[rookzie]

I just wanted to share the content of an e-mail message from a close friend whom I have known since around 1977, and with whom I have engaged in regional rail-fanning activities since then. (Yup, I've been a train freak for nearly all the 66 years of "born days", as if most readers hadn't known [yah think!])

Very recently he and I discussed a bittersweet topic on historic "displacement", as it were, as opposed to historic preservation or re-purposing, the subject of which has been brought foremost to mind by a series of somewhat unrelated events quite a while in the planning stages.  With my having lived in a dozen places spanning the Midwest to the Atlantic, and with his being a transplant from Chicago during, I believe, the early 1970s), I still have at least a half decade on him.

Ralcon Wagner, a long-time amateur photographer, has been a published professional in several special-interest publications, both journals and books.  Following his recent retirement some two+ years ago from his state position, he has adopted his avocation as his new focus, transformed into reality in part by his very supportive wife.
_____________________________

Quote

From: "Ralcon Wagner"
To: "Rick Smith"
Sent: Monday, January 8, 2018 8:52:12 AM
Subject: Preserving Historically Things Photographically

 

About fifty years ago, I saw a movie called 2001; A Space Odyssey.  In a strange way, it changed my life.  For dozens of years,  I would stand on bridges or at various locations while photographing trains and other things (during the late 1960s and early 1970s) and try to imagine what that area would look like in 2001 or perhaps 50 years in the future. Actually, I still do this technique, more than ever. Even stranger, is having to back to those same locations 40 and 50 years later, and taking more modern pictures of the same scenes.  Some of these include the approach tracks to Chicago's Grand Central or Dearborn Stations or maybe the NYC Railroad and R.O.W.at Mattoon, Illinois (Now abandoned and ripped up).  It's really strange to have lived old enough to witness all the drastic changes taking place and then go back and rephotograph things after the changes.

 

I'm staying busy these days trying to photograph as much of Nashville as possible before it changes too much. My next target of opportunity is the Sullivan Tower, with all it's post-modern Art Deco glory,  I've already taken some images of it in November. Now I have to walk around the building and record what I can.  Yes, that entire complex is coming down in the next few months.  When all the new crap is built and completed, we won't be able to recognize the area at all.

 

I learned during the late 1960s, photographing all the passenger trains before their discontinuance, that the only way I could preserve history is to record it with photos. I have been a member of Historic Nashville Inc. for three years.  In their defense, they really have done so much for Nashville preservation, stating with Union Station, and the Federal Customs House. Saving old buildings takes a lot of money.  Sadly, the developers have more cash.  Nashville leaders were so impressed with the Nashville Yards development deal, I think they took a blind eye to the important buildings that would be lost as part of the deal. It's all about greed.

 

If I live long enough, I hope to focus a lot of future publishing projects to "then-and-now" type of books.  There are a few books out about Nashville currently, but in my personal opinion, they are terrible, with awful "after" images recorded by the authors who knew very little about simple photographic principles, such as correctly cropping your composition, not shooting directly into the sun or having objectionable shadows on the subject you are photographing. I hope to essentially re-do the really bad books with better images and improved layout (with different publishers).  But I digress.

 

I've devoted a lot of time last year, and in the next two years to trying to record the parst of Nashville that are going away before our eyes.  After the weather gets warmer (at least upper 40s), I hope to spend a day recording everything I can of the State Fair Grounds before it is replaced with the soccer stadium.  Regardless of what has been said about preserving some of the fairgrounds, I fully believe that all of the fairgrounds will be altered by the time the project is done with nothing remaining other than the soccer stadium and its support structures and massive parking lots.  In the upcoming South Nashville book, the largest chapter in the book is devoted to a photographic history of the fairgrounds, with most of the photos ranging from 1905 to the late 1960s (the cover of the book features a 1950s shot of Cascade Plunge swimming pool).

 

The project's second largest chapter deals with Nashville's seldom-talked about urban renewal program (often referred to as "slum removal" or "slum-clearing") during the 1940s and 1950s.  I have never seen a Nashville book illustrated with images of depressed neighborhoods and rebuilding new urban areas. The urban renewal chapter covers the transition of the 12th Avenue South area around Edgehill and also Lafayette Street between 1st Avenue South and Fairfield Avenue. and the detailed construction of the J.C. Napier Homes during the 1940s and 1950s.  I'm very happy I was able to find an aerial photo of the "Rock Crusher Hill" neighborhood around 10th Avenue South and Chestnut Street/Edgehill Avenue from 1939. Most of the neighborhood was comprised of wooden shacks with outdoor privies.  The area was unchanged until the late 1950s. Then, it was completely obliterated.  I'm sure I'll catch some heat from critics about showing Nashville in a negative view, but I enjoy controversy, especially when the truth is involved!

 

_____________________________

Ralcon Wagner with Ricky Smith (Frederick D. Smith), at the former Amqui Interlocking switch tower, Madison TN, 1978

[MLBrumby]

Wow! Great information! I'll buy his book. BTW: Someone in my family received (from someone else) a copy of the Then/Now book about Nashville. I was surprised b/c neither lives in Nashville. They relative who received it has one about Atlanta. I intended to "thumb through" the book but ended up checking out every page. Happily, I knew all of the places. I'm such a geek. Perhaps one of the things Ralcon (such an unusual name) means in his comment about those books is that they (at least the one I saw) focus on the major landmarks. Would be nice to see more streetview and general scenes (then vs. now). 

[markhollin]

Built in 1920, the 2,450 sq. ft. 3 story residence at 123  South 11th Street in East Nashville is currently the home of the FLWR Shop:

 

[markhollin]

The Lofts at 160 (32 residential units) make up the current interior of the 3 story brick building at 160 2nd Ave. North. It was originally erected in 1869 for warehousing and sales of freight from the Cumberland River barges.



 

[markhollin]

3 Crow Bar is the current tenant of the 1 story, 1,408 sq. ft. building at 1024 Woodland St. at Five Points.  It has always housed various retailers/eateries since it was built in 1935.

 

[Pdt2f]

^ Funny, that window that goes all the way down to the floor with the prominent “3 Crow Bar” neon signage is only a couple of years old. A car ran through the wall there in maybe 2014 or so, and when they rebuilt it they just decided to make the window go all the way to the ground. 

[MLBrumby]

Apparently the first two photos show the same corner at different times; before and after a paint job of some sort. I think the cream color with dark trip looks far better than the institutional green, but I'm guessing it's now the latter. 

[markhollin]

The Stillery Midtown is now open at 1921 Broadway. The 4,904 three story brick structure (which appears to have about another 1,500 sq. ft. added-onto) which was originally built in 1940, has also been featured in this thread Feb. 12th and Sept. 15th of last year as the transformation was taking place. 
 

[CenterHill]

I count at least 6 different architectural styles going on there.    LOL 

[PaulChinetti]

I swear that place has been under construction for like 5 years. Every time I'm out in midtown or drive by it seems like there has been the same 2 guys working on it. Just plodding along.

[arkitekte]

1 hour ago, CenterHill said:

I count at least 6 different architectural styles going on there.    LOL 

Yeah, it's a mess...I'm laughing trying to see what's going on...is HGTV a style? There wasn't much architectural significance to the original structure, so thankfully not much at all will be lost when someone decides to tear this down in 5 to 10 years. 

Edited January 16, 2018 by arkitekte

[MLBrumby]

59 minutes ago, CenterHill said:

I count at least 6 different architectural styles going on there.    LOL 

That's why it looks like a dump. 

Too many people see prominent characteristics about different designs and want to combine ALL of them in the same structure. I recall this in a neighborhood in North Atlanta back in the 1980s when my mother thought she wanted to move. It was a new neighborhood at the time and nearly all the houses had French colonial quoins and ornate cornices, Palladian windows, and dormers with same French designs above the windows. It was ostentatious and crappy looking then and now they just look dated. The houses on that street that have not been radically altered or torn down now look like mildew ravaged crackdens. Their lots are worth more than the houses on them. 

[BnaBreaker]

When you're struggling with indecisiveness, just going with "all of the above" is usually not the best solution.  

[e-dub]

5 hours ago, arkitekte said:

...is HGTV a style? 

it most certainly is now!

[markhollin]

The Bennie Dillon Building at 700 Church Street was one of Nashville's first "skyscraper" at 12 stories when built in 1927 as the dream of local businessman and friends George Bennie and William Dillon.  It was designed by Asmus and Clark, the same firm responsible for the Masonic Grand Lodge, the Berger Building, and the Nashville Trust Building. 

It is unique in the fact that it is one of the only downtown buildings designed in the Italian Renaissance style. The original storefront was altered in 1960, but was reverted back to its original appearance during a renovation project in 1999 that used Asmus and Clark’s original drawings as a guide. The base is separated from the shaft by a row of decorative molding with terra cotta shields and floriated attachments. Eleven identical stories make up the shaft followed by an elaborate cornice at the crown. Multi-colored terra cotta details cover the building, many of which are shields. There are also terra cotta lines of molding to create the illusion of columns running up the sides of the building. 

It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1984. It was used as offices until converted into condominiums in 1999. The interior was modernized for this purpose, with the exception of the main floor which still retains the original marble lobby. (info from NashvilleDowntown.com)

 

[markhollin]

The storefront at 103 South 11th Street in East Nashville has served many purposes  since it was constructed in 1920.  Currently, the 3,227 sq. ft. space is home to Eastside Cycles.