Edgefield Neighborhood- Russell Street

As you turn the corner onto Russell Street and walk toward 10th, you’ll pass homes that cover a wide range of architectural styles. Edgefield remains one of the the only sizable concentrations of Victorian era residential architecture in Nashville. This portion of Russell Street was developed in the late nineteenth century and became home to some of the neighborhood’s wealthiest residents. This was thanks to the development of the streetcar in the 1870s. For only five cents, one could catch a ride into the city every quarter of an hour. This major expansion in both geography and feasibility allowed citizens to live and raise their families in bigger, more expensive houses outside of the heart of the city, but continue to work downtown with relative ease. 

These buildings are testaments to the changes that affected the neighborhood—both good and bad. From the 1916 Fire, the tornadoes of 1933, 1998, and 2020, Nashville’s federally funded urban renewal projects of the 1950s to 1970s, and the construction of Interstate 24, the neighborhood has suffered much, but continues to endure. 

Note the red brick home at 800 Russell, the Horn House. Built in 1890, this Queen Anne dwelling has a distinct corner tower with a metal domed roof. Down the street at 809 Russell, you will see another Queen Anne home with a tower. This two-and-one-half-story brick structure has a large veranda, supported by fluted Tuscan columns. You might also notice the elaborate stained glass in the transoms above the second floor windows, an oval opening onto the veranda, a lunette over the large window to the right of the façade on the first floor, and a small window directly above the second floor.

816 Russell is a turn of the century house which displays Sullivanesque influence like the rounded corners of the building, the low Syrian arch over the recessed doorway, and the bay window above the door with its unusual stone lower section. The church at the corner of 9th and Russell was constructed in 1905 as the home of the Edgefield Cumberland Presbyterian Church. In 1913 it became the home of the Russell St. Church of Christ after a building exchange with the former congregation. The damage caused by the 1998 tornado forced the congregation to merge with a larger congregation in Madison. Today the building is home to The Russell, a twenty-three room boutique hotel. Further down Russell, at 931 and 940, are three story apartment buildings, now condos, that date to the early 20th century.

Turn RIGHT onto South 10th St. and walk to Fatherland St. Cross the other side of 10th and begin the narrative as you walk down Fatherland into the East End neighborhood. Turn LEFT onto South 11th St. and continue listening as you walk. Stop when you reach Woodland St. in Five Points.