Candlelight Tour of East Nashville Offers “a Treat at Every Door”
by National Trust for Historic Preservation on October 16th, 2009Written by Dwight Young
Some neighborhoods sail placidly through the years, starting out as great places to live and just getting better as time goes on, as the trees get bigger and the houses acquire patina.
East Nashville isn’t one of those neighborhoods. This part of Music City has been beaten up, put down and knocked around in pretty much every conceivable way. There was a big fire in 1916, a flood in 1932 and a tornado in 1998 – all of which left numerous houses in ruins – and in the middle of it all, hell opened up and unleashed Urban Renewal, and “progress” flattened much of what the earlier calamities had missed. When I first saw East Nashville in the 1970s, it looked like the setting for an episode (any episode) of “Cops.”
Not any more. East Nashville is a survivor – and, more to the point, a preservation success story. The area’s rocky past hasn’t been totally erased (there are still a good many vacant lots that must have had houses on them at one time), but the reborn neighborhood is now a leafy, lovely, livable enclave conveniently close to downtown. It was, in short, a great venue for last night’s Candlelight House Tour.
As usual, there was an appealing mix of styles, from homey bungalows to big Victorians decked out in turrets and gingerbread and wraparound porches. One place had a huge attic that the owners didn’t even know about when they bought the house – but they promptly turned it into a kids’ wonderland, with bedrooms opening off a central space topped with a great vaulted ceiling. Another – the home of the architect who designed the Ryman Auditorium – had a beautiful staircase with a newel post so massive and imposing that I expected awestruck villagers to kneel before it and placate it with offerings of fruit and goats. And speaking of staircases – in another house, every single room seemed to be several steps higher or lower than every other room; the owner admitted that it could be a bit hard on the knees, but the pride in his voice made it clear that he’s more than willing to put up with it.
Two knockout modern houses offered evidence of the vibrant new life that blends so well with reminders of East Nashville’s history. In one, the “wall” of a bedroom was a garage door that could be rolled up to let the outdoors in, and a guesthouse/studio was linked to the main house by a second-floor bridge spanning a secluded patio. The other had gorgeous floors of polished concrete that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers could have made good use of, plus a vast rooftop deck with planting beds and a very inviting hammock; only my commendable sense of propriety (augmented by an annoying drizzle) kept me from staying up there, lolling in that hammock and admiring the view of the city skyline.
There’s always such a nice feel to these tours, especially with Halloween just around the corner. People wander the dark streets like grownup trick-or-treaters – and sure enough, there’s a treat at every door. Thanks, East Nashville.
Dwight Young joined the staff of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1977. He currently serves as Senior Communications Associate and writes the regular ‘Back Page‘ feature in Preservation magazine.
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