505 Building and McKendree UMC

Part I. 505 Building

It's a bird; it's a plane; no, it's the 505! This structure is unlike most that we’ve visited on this tour, but as it’s the state’s tallest residential high-rise we wanted to stop and tell you a bit about it. Construction began in December 2015 with Solomon Cordwell Buenz as the lead architect. The 505 was the brainchild of Nashville developer Tony Giarratana, and it was built by Chicago-based Archer Western Construction. 

This 524-foot-tall beauty is a whopping 126 feet taller than any other apartment or condominium in Tennessee, and it was completed in January 2018. This all-glass skyscraper houses 543 residential units and stands 45 stories tall. On the lower 29 floors, you will find new one- and two-bedroom apartments and above them are condominiums and penthouses with stunning views of the city.

Giarratana was motivated by the growth of Nashville and the number of people moving to downtown to live and work. With over 11,000 people living downtown in 2017, the 505 is a major step forward in providing residential options in the heart of downtown.

Facing the 505, turn to your right and continue walking west on Church Street. McKendree United Methodist Church is next door and will be on your left.

Part II. McKendree United Methodist Church

Fourth time’s the charm for McKendree United Methodist Church. The original church was dedicated in 1833 by William McKendree, the first American-born Methodist bishop. Designed by David Morrison, the church utilized sophisticated classical elements with a Doric two-columned recessed portico. Eighteenth-century neoclassicism partly influenced Morrison’s works, but it would be his design of McKendree that would make him Tennessee’s first architect of the Greek Revival style. 

In 1876 the congregation elected to build a larger church. Architect Hugh C. Thompson designed the new building in the Norman Gothic style with three towers. The church opened for services in 1879, but tragically the building was destroyed by fire just nine months later. Church leaders decided to rebuild on the same footprint and hired Thompson again. The congregation of nearby Vine Street Temple offered their building to McKendree for Sunday worship after the fire. Slowly, over the next two-and-one-half years McKendree Methodist Church rose from the ashes.

Rededicated in May 1882, this third structure would stand for just over twenty years. It was once again the victim of fire, this time on July 4, 1905, when celebratory fireworks were accidentally shot into an open window at the church. Be sure to check out our historic images that show this marvelous building.

The fourth, and current, building is a Classical Revival style with four Ionic columns and a pediment flanked by bell towers. Designed by North Carolina firm Wheeler, Runge and Dickey, the building was completed in 1910. This firm maintained an office in Nashville from 1907 to 1913, and though only in town for six years, they added much to our local cityscape including: the Edgefield Baptist Church, the Monroe Street Methodist Church, the Trousdale County Courthouse, and the Davidson County Courthouse expansion. 

By the 1960s, McKendree United Methodist Church needed more space and desired to modernize certain interior elements. They hired architects Wilson and Odom to design an addition on the front of the existing church. Completed in 1967, the addition extends the building 50 feet closer to Church Street, providing space for a fellowship hall, kitchen, and meeting rooms. Their addition follows the basic form of the 1910 facade, but in a restrained and stripped neoclassical style and without its bell towers. Fun fact: If you look closely at the building’s left side, you can still see the flanking towers of the 1910 structure rising above the roof.

Congratulations! You have completed the Capitol and Church Architecture Tour. We hope you have enjoyed the views and your walk. Nashville is a city proud of its progress, and this certainly extends to the city’s ever changing skyline. As British architect, Norman Foster, sums it up: “As an architect you design for the present, with an awareness of the past, for a future which is essentially unknown.” Visit Nashville Sites to take one of our other tours and visit us again soon!

To return to the first stop on the tour, continue down Church Street and cross Sixth Avenue North. The Public Library will be on your left.

Signing off—Tim Walker.