A local nonprofit that preserves historic places in Nashville has chosen nine properties to work on protecting next year.
Historic Nashville, Inc. says its focus will be Second Avenue, which was damaged in the Christmas bombing. But it will also advocate for buildings tied to the city’s music industry and civil rights movement.
Historic Nashville is hoping to protect two musical spaces.
One is Southern Ground, which was once a church, then a clubhouse for veterans and even home to the Nashville School of Fine Art. Now, it’s a recording studio owned by musician Zac Brown. But he recently put it up for sale, so the preservationists are worried about what that means for the property’s future.
There’s also the Elks Lodge on Jefferson Street, which used to be a live music venue in the historically Black neighborhood. In the 1950s and ’60s, big names like Ray Charles, Little Richard and Etta James performed there. The North Nashville building sustained damage during the 2020 tornado.
“Preserving a building with such significance in the local community and the city’s musical history should be a priority,” Historic Nashville said in a press release.
The group also chose several other sites that are central to the city’s Black history, including the Patton Brothers funeral home and the Woolworth building. The former lunch counter is being converted into a theater, and Historic Nashville wants the renovation to honor its civil rights legacy. It’s recommending that the new tenants of the building consult with experts on the civil rights movements, a trained preservationist and a conservator.
The ninth property on Historic Nashville’s 2022 list is an old Coca-Cola bottling plant in Midtown, which it fears will be torn down by developers.
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