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Hermitage Hotel- Nashville, TN
The Hermitage Hotel is absolutely opulent. Walking into its grand lobby is like visiting an art museum- layers of intricate molding, terra cotta ornamentation, elegant arches and a stunning skylight make it difficult to linger on any one detail for too long. All around magnificent, the lobby is a welcoming space you won’t want to leave; one that will remain with you long after you check out. Designed by École des Beaux-Arts trained architect James Edwin Carpenter, later known for his luxury high rise Park Avenue apartment buildings, the hotel was commissioned in 1908 by a group of Nashville locals, who raised $300,000 in financing through sale of stocks. Named…
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Union Station Hotel- Nashville, TN
Opened in 1900 as an elegant urban railroad station, Nashville’s Union Station has found lasting success as an elegant luxury hotel. Far removed from the chaos of Lower Broadway, it’s a quiet oasis, filled with reminders of its past life. Designed by Richard Montfort for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, the massive Richardsonian Romanesque structure was a symbol of Nashville’s strategic importance to the company. Built of Bowling Green gray aslar limestone, with large semicircular arches and a clock tower capped by Mercury, the station instantly became a Nashville icon. Inside, passengers were greeted by a 65 foot, barrel vaulted, luminous prism stained glass ceiling, highlighting the prestige associated with…
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Tennessee State Capitol- Nashville, TN
For a capital city historically known as the “Athens of the South,” a stately Greek Revival was really the only option for their capitol building. Designed by William Strickland, and set atop a hill overlooking the city, the timeless building was modeled after a Greek Ionic temple, with a cupola patterned after the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates, rather than a dome. Although the cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1845, the building would take fourteen years to complete; construction outlasted Strickland, who died in 1854, and was interred in a tomb he designed in the building’s northeast corner. Constructed of Bigby limestone, excavated, shaped and transported by slave and convict…
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Nashville Architecture Gallery
Nashville is a one fun city to explore. As both a university town and the state capital, it has a fabulous mix of classic and modern buildings, represented by a wide variety of architectural styles. Devastated like many other Southern towns following the Civil War, its strategic shipping location along the Cumberland River allowed for its economic recovery in the later part of the 19th century, leaving it flush with vintage buildings. Full of reuse projects and energy, its a town that takes advantage of its past, while looking to the future.
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Lookout Mtn. Incline Railway- Chattanooga, TN
There are just not enough funiculars around these days. While they may be few and far between, if you find one, you are guaranteed to end up somewhere with a fabulous view. Among the most impressive, in regards to both engineering and vista, is Lookout Mountain Incline Railway in Chattanooga.
