Saved From Demolition, Cordell Hull May Become Offices For Tennessee Lawmakers

Tennessee lawmakers could soon have a new base of operations — the Cordell Hull Building.

Republican leaders are weighing a move out of the War Memorial Building and Legislative Plaza, lawmakers’ home for more than four decades. Those office buildings need $58 million in repairs, according to House Speaker Beth Harwell. She says it would be $14 million cheaper to fix up Cordell Hull.

“The Cordell Hull Building had to be renovated anyway,” she said. “It’s a really, really neat building, and we’re going to try to restore it so it really looks good.”

The office building was built in the 1950s
and sits across the street from the state Capitol.
Gov
. Bill Haslam’s
administration announced plans three years ago to tear it down, saying it had become obsolete. But
preservationists rallied to save the nine-story structure.

Moving into Cordell Hull would let the state turn the interior of Legislative Plaza into a public parking garage, Harwell said.

The historic
War Memorial Building, which includes an early home of the Grand Ole Opry, would be preserved, as would the open space atop Legislative Plaza.