Historic Nashville Inc. on Monday released its annual Nashville Nine preservation list, calling for action in preserving a slew of landmarks that are “endangered or threatened by development, neglect or demolition.” Included on this year’s list from the historic preservation nonprofit is the building formerly home to Emerald Sound Studio, the birthplace of recordings by the likes of Johnny Cash and Bon Jovi. The organization says the building on 16th Avenue South “represents the creative heart of Music Row.”
The list also includes the Estes Kefauver Federal Building on Broadway and the Hibbett House on Murfreesboro Pike, which was built in roughly 1830 and has been recognized by the National Park Service as a witness structure to the Trail of Tears.
“The Nashville Nine serves as Historic Nashville Inc.’s strongest advocacy tool for the preservation of Nashville’s unique history and sense of place,” HNI president Ellen Dement Hurd says in a release. “Through our work with property owners, elected officials, government agencies, neighborhood leaders and the public, we educate, evaluate and create informed solutions for preserving the places that matter most to Nashville.”
The Fisk University professor’s ‘Alicia’ is on display through Aug. 31 at the Carl Van Vechten Gallery
Other sites in the 2025 lineup include the 218-year-old Buchanan Log House on Elm Hill Pike, one of the oldest log structures in Middle Tennessee, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984; the Heiman Street home and studio of visual artist Alicia Henry, who died in 2024; Green Hills’ Walter Stokes Elementary School; and Donelson Elementary School.
The list also names two historic pieces of infrastructure under threat: settler-era dry stacked stone walls along Granny White Pike and Tyne Boulevard, and Works Progress Administration-era stone posts along Highway 100 and Old Hickory Boulevard built in the 1930s.
Read more about Historic Nashville Nine’s preservation efforts at historicnashvilleinc.org.
