You Asked For It

You guys should have NEVER encouraged me. It your own fault. Ahhh. The Frist Center. There's nothing fab about this photo except that it is of one of my favorite Nashville locations.

For the non-Nashvillian readers, Nashville's main post office was built in 1933 & 1934 with a classicism style exterior and an Art Deco style interior. The post office moved to a modern facility in 1986 leaving a small branch open on one floor in the three story structure.

The Frist Center for the Visual Arts opened as an art museum in 2001. There is still a post office branch on the bottom floor, accessible from the outside. The Frist Center's logo comes from an Art Deco pattern inside. A notched edge was added to make the design resemble a stamp, paying homage to the building's origin. To see the logo and learn more about this wonderful place visit here. The building alone is worth visiting but then there's the art... such a happy place.

A column at the front entrance.

A corner of the ceiling of the front entry.

The Lobby

When the building was being refurbished into an art museum there was a lot of cleaning needed. When workers were cleaning the ceiling they found stars. The stars had been hidden from years of coal smoke from the old furnace.

The original lobby tables from the post office are still in place. The beautiful granite tables are accented with decorative metalwork. This is a view from the underside of the table.

This is a side view of one of the table legs. I really like the detailing coupled with the flag in the background.

More ceiling stars in sepia tones. The original colors are navy or black and white.
Standing under the stairs in the stairwell. I really like this shot.

An outside window of the Frist.

This star is on the base of the flag pole at the Frist Center.

The decorative bars on the post office windows on the lower level. You can see Union Station in the reflection.

One of the patio areas at the back entrance of the Frist. This is just outside of the cafe.

This is the covered patio. I've enjoyed several meals at these tables.

A magnolia at the back of the Frist.

This was taken near the covered patio area at the Frist Center. The marble ledge gives a beautiful reflection of Union Station.

Union Station

The back porch of Union Station.

A close shot on the back porch.

The back staircase leading from the porch to the old train yard and current parking lot.

A corner view from Broadway. Notice the archways on the bottom level - they are below street level.

The stained glass windows are exquisite.

More than the stained glass I enjoy the iron scrollwork all around Union Station. I couldn't decide which of the next two photos I liked best so I decided to post both.

The lower level archways. You can see the bridgeway in the background that leads from valet parking to the entrance.

Finally, the Batman Building. Okay, it's really the AT&T building (formerly BellSouth) but we all know it by its obvious knickname.

This shot is from Union Station. It's funny how short the building looks from this angle. It sure doesn't look like the tallest building in TN.