Tennessee State Capitol
Starting today, the cupola up at the top of the State Capitol will be restored. The cast iron parts will be repaired and repainted. The copper roof will be replaced and the stonework will be repaired or replaced.
If you remember when we talked a few weeks ago about the stone used on the capitol, we learned that ancient Vanderbilt grad student Paul M. Jones called the limestone from that quarry, “not suitable for the nicer work,” and lo and behold! The Department of General Services explains the necessity of this work: “The State Capitol was constructed in 1859 using native Nashville limestone, and the building has deteriorated over the years due to the quality of the limestone and from exposure to the elements.” Good work, Paul M. Jones, in identifying a problem we’d be suffering from 120 years after you wrote your thesis!
But there are two other cool tidbits in the press materials. The grandfather of the man leading the project this time was involved in the last restoration of the cupola in 1956-58. And the contractor for the project is Rock City Construction. A lot of Nashvillians are unaware of this, but before it was the name of a tourist destination in Chattanooga, Rock City was Nashville’s nickname. There’s not much evidence of its popularity left — Rock City Street in Inglewood, Rock City Machinery down on Thompson Lane, and Rock City Construction (who abandoned us for Franklin, but we forgive you) — but it’s nice to see it still lingers and pops up from time to time.
It doesn’t sound like the restoration should affect visitors to the Capitol, so now might be a cool time to stop by and observe a little bit of Nashville history getting spruced up.
